As the June 5 Democratic primary approaches, State Auditor Hector Balderas, who's running for US Senate against front-runner Martin Heinrich, is embracing his "underdog" role. Click here for the video.

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 Last week, SFR reported on New Mexico's update of its concealed-carry reciprocity with other states. While the Department of Public Safety says its recognition of 19 states hasn't changed throughout the process, a screenshot from its website in late April shows otherwise.

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 Military veteran AJ Kessel, who's running a long shot independent bid for US Senate, has collected about 2,000 signatures since he started gathering them in April. He has 16,000 to go by next month if he wants his name on the general election ballot.

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 Another year, another primary. On June 5, District 4 County Commissioner Kathy Holian will square up against Victor Baca in the Democratic primary to reclaim her seat.

Holian has been commissioner for three years; Baca, a retired state and county employee, is challenging her. See how both did in the SFR candidate pop quiz below.

The Questions

1. Why are you the best candidate for the position?

2. Roughly how many residents reside in Santa Fe County?

3.County commissioners recently voted 4-1 in favor of a resolution directs staff to create a cost-sharing agreement for the county's portion of building the Aamodt regional water system. At least how much will the county pay for the system, according to that resolution?

4. Santa Fe County’s renewable energy district allows property owners to obtain loans to install green energy in their homes. Up to how long are those loans good for?

5. How many high profile firings have happened at the county jail in the past three months? BONUS: Who were they?

6. The jail is the biggest expense in the county budget. What can be done to reduce its cost?

Kathy Holian, incumbent Santa Fe county commissioner, 59

1. I've been in office now for a little over three years. I'm good at bringing people together to solve problems and I have done a lot of public outreach on my own. I've organized and attended meetings with hundreds of constituents around the county. I also send newsletters to my constituents where I try to write detailed descriptions of the issues.

2. About 145,000.

3. That is not decided yet, the point of resolution to go out how many people would be on the system. We sort of roughly committed ourselves to $7 million to that. We don’t know what size the water treatment is going to be. It's the right step forward. We're doing a lot of community outreach.

4. It's not operational yet. Once this issue is resolved at the federal level we'll be ready to put our program in place. We've been looking to do something like 20-year loans.

5. Three. This wasn’t a firing per se, as all these people are at-will employees. Annabelle Romero, David Trujillo and Ted Pepperas. Their positions were head of corrections, warden and deputy warden.

6. Bringing in more prisoners from other jurisdictions. When you do they are paid for. We currently have 100-150 prisoners from other jurisdictions (and roughly 350 prisoners from our jurisdiction) in the adult detention facility. We’re now at 550 beds.

Victor Baca, former deputy county assessor, 68

1. I am the best candidate for the position because I have more governmental experience. I bring over 30 years of experience at the state and county level.

2. Last time I saw it it was at 157,000.

3. I'm (not) aware of recent resolution. I do know there’s been an estimated cost of $200 million total for the settlement.

4. According to the information I have they’ve been at various periods. They can go as long as 10 years, and some can go as long as 30 years.

5. The three that I know of are the director, the warden and the assistant warden. I think Annabelle (Romero) was doing a fairly good job. I think it was being run well until recently.

6. I don’t think cost can be reduced significantly without hurting staff. And there are medical costs the county has to take care of. The county has to take care of the people on drugs and liquor.

Key

2. 150,000.

3. $7.4 million. The entire lawsuit has been projected to cost $200 million.

4. 20 years.

5. Three: Corrections Director Annabelle Romero, warden David Trujillo and deputy warden Ted Pepperas.

Photo courtesy Kathy Holian.

 As the United States Marshal Service prepares for "Operation Cleanup," a door-knocking sweep to verify addresses of the roughly 3,000 registered sex offenders in New Mexico, opposition to the plan is heating up. 

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 Spring is here and another crowded Democratic primary for the Public Regulation Commission in District 3 is upon us. The highly-coveted $90,000-a-year position comes in a body more known for controversy than its purpose: regulating the state's utilities and telecom industry.

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 Shortly before City Council on Wednesday evening approved the purchase of 22,000 square feet of office space in the Railyard, the council decided not to move forward with an investigation involving longtime Councilor Patti Bushee.

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 The local developer whose comments led to an investigation involving City Councilor Patti Bushee finally made public comments on the situation this afternoon.

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 Longtime City Councilor Patti Bushee is under investigation for an alleged conflict of interest with a local developer. 

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A Washington DC-based ethics group listed two New Mexico US congressmen in a recent report bemoaning politicians for leveraging their power to support their families.

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