Morning Word: Former state GOP head passes away

John Dendahl was a reporter's dream. The former state Republican Party chairman always was friendly and had a great sense of humor. He always returned reporters' phone calls and he always had something interesting, often provocative, to say.

"I was disturbed to hear that rumored Republican US Senate candidates, Allen Weh and Robert Aragon, have contacted you to express that my continued service as DARP Chairman to date is unethical, and given me an unfair advantage," he wrote to Billingsley.

The resignation underscores competing factions within the state Republican Party.

On Friday, County Manager Tom Zdunek confirmed in a telephone interview with KRQE News 13 that he plans to issue a request for proposals seeking an outside investment adviser to oversee trades and help manage the portfolio.

“That adviser would look the investment portfolio, hopefully with the concurrence of the county treasurer, and come up with an exit strategy to get us out of the long-term investments we’re currently in,” Zdunek said. “That strategy would be based on the cash-flow needs of the county and would prioritize our strategy into security first, then liquidity, then yield – instead of the other way around, as it is now.”

City Councilor Isaac Benton, who spoke against the ban along with fellow councilor Rey Garduño, said the City Council failed Albuquerque voters in allowing the ban to appear on the ballot in the first place. He said the ban is expensive and said the council got legal advice stating it would be unenforceable.

Both sides say they hope to focus on better ways to use limited funding, on emptying prisons and shifting some of the emphasis from drug crimes to violent crimes.

“These ideas have been percolating in the Legislature since I got there, but sometimes they have broken down along party lines,” Maestas said. ” This time, though, we want to go big, and we want to be all-inclusive. We want to bring everybody to the table – the cops, the DAs, criminal defense attorneys, civil rights attorneys, victim advocates, local jail folks, Department of Corrections, bondsmen, all aspects of the criminal justice system.”

But there also have been bruising legislative fights in which, Democrats say, Martinez has shown little if any willingness to compromise. And the harsh attack ads and mailers Martinez ran against some Democrats during the 2012 election still are fresh on the minds of lawmakers.

The “works-well-with-Democrats” theme is a talking point that Martinez herself has cultivated. With voters around the country getting increasingly fed up with partisan gridlock in Congress, the image of a comprising pragmatist is an appealing one for a politician to try to project.

The research laboratories have made commercializing the technology they’re working on a priority, but to limited success, compared to other research facilities.

“There are obstacles,” Udall said. “One is, other areas don’t have national security labs. The central mission of Los Alamos and Sandia is national security. But, if that’s our central mission, you’re worried about security. That’s why we’re doing technology transfer.”

"My boss told me 'you're hired,'" he said. "Then he said 'Now start looking for a place.'" Thurston, like so many out-of-state residents, quickly found out just what his supervisor meant. For a month, Thurston spent all his time trying to find somewhere to call home here in the city. And for that month, he called the Stagecoach Motel home, a place that didn't feature many home-like qualities.

Mohr, who had been the director of advertising for MTD Media in Ruidoso from June 2011 to June of this year, started at her new job Monday.

According to a press release the city issued Friday evening, the New Mexico Department of Public Safety cited the city twice for noise violations.

The city has also been cited for the resident agent -- the person responsible for administering the city's liquor license -- for being served while intoxicated, as well as the servers manager being drunk on the job.

Options recommended to the commission last week included imposing a new sales tax, cutting yearly spending on non-county programs, bumping up right-of-way fees charged to El Paso Electric Co. and increasing costs to some employees for health plans.

The commission also discussed cutting spending on capital projects, imposing a county hiring freeze or eliminating positions.

Guadalupe County Emergency Management is now assessing water line breaks being blamed for the outage.

"There were leaks on the lines but we didn't have a backup reservoir also because there was a problem with the valve of the tank. But I believe the tank problem has been fixed," said Daniel Burguete, the county’s emergency management coordinator.

The commission approved a resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of about $4.8 million in general obligation bonds at Thursday night’s meeting.

Rob Burpo of First American Financial Advisors said the interest rate went from around 4.57 percent to 2.65 percent and, by selling the bonds, the county’s total savings will work out to more than $500,000.

Park officials said they determined that the expense of keeping the park open on Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day wasn’t justified by the relatively low number of visitors it receives on those days.

Family members wanted nothing to do with him. Nursing homes would not take him. He was not sick enough to take up a hospital bed.

Rather than being dropped on a street and left to fend for himself, the man signed a waiver so he could remain an inmate, said Alex Tomlin, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.