NCAA Tournament: Kentucky ends Wichita State’s perfect run Sports, B-1
Locally owned and independent
Monday, March 24, 2014
www.santafenewmexican.com 75¢
18 missing in Washington mudslide
Scientists learn the human nose really knows a lot
Looking for signs of life in the quicksand-like mud below, searchers in helicopters scanned a huge debris field Sunday trying to find 18 people still unaccounted for following a landslide that killed at least three people and destroyed a rural riverside neighborhood in Washington. PAge A-3
Although our universe of aromas seems infinite, new research shows how many odors our noses can actually detect: at least 1 trillion. LIfe & ScIence, A-9
New rules for watchdog panels raise some hackles Lawmakers say directive from governor could hinder transparency
Virtual reality no longer limited by technology The question is how game designers, artists and filmmakers should use it. Tech, A-8
CITY ELECTION
Feeding frenzy
Candidates spent over $12,450 in public funds on food during campaigns $1,081 was spent by Bill Dimas at
By Milan Simonich
Real Burger for election day lunch.
The New Mexican
“We just have to assume that what they put on the expense report is correct,” she said. City Councilor Peter Ives, who is working on legislation to close gaps in the public campaign finance code, said he would consider proposing a provision requiring candidates to turn in receipts. Under the existing law, only the city’s Ethics and Campaign Review Board can request receipts. “I hate burdening the clerk’s office because I know they have lots of things they’re doing, but I think it would be easy to do,” Ives said.
The tangled and endlessly debated case of a policeman who was charged almost four years ago with aggravated drunken driving will be heard this week by New Mexico’s highest court. Defendant Abraham Baca was a state police officer when he was arrested while off duty in May 2010 by a Rio Arriba County sheriff’s sergeant. Now, Baca himself is a Rio Arriba sheriff’s sergeant, a command officer trying to fend off the drunken-driving case against him. Both his lawyer and the American Civil Liberties Union hope to convince the New Mexico Supreme Court that Baca should not have to stand trial on the longstanding DWI charge. Baca, 37, contends that he already has been tried once and was acquitted. His legal team says another trial would subject him to double jeopardy. Prosecutors from the state Attorney General’s Office counter that a valid trial never occurred in Baca’s case. They say he has escaped trial and punishment because of two incorrect lower court rulings. “Double jeopardy is not to be used as a sword to deprive the state of a full and fair opportunity to convict a guilty defendant,” the prosecutors wrote in a brief to the New Mexico Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in Baca’s case. It will be the fourth court in four years to decide whether the state bungled its prosecution of Baca. Baca first was scheduled to stand trial in August 2010 in Española. Magistrate Judge Alex Naranjo dismissed the case when a prosecutor failed to attend a court conference. The state quickly refiled the aggravated drunken-driving charge against Baca, and a non-jury trial began in October 2010. The first state witness, Rio Arriba sheriff’s Sgt. Martin Trujillo, was testifying when Baca’s lawyer stood and said all the evidence he offered should be excluded. Baca’s lawyer argued that prosecutors did not comply with the technical requirements of state law when they refiled the drunken-driving charge. Magistrate Naranjo agreed and said he was dismissing the case against Baca, this time for good. Prosecutors appealed Naranjo’s ruling to state District Court and won
Please see fOOD, Page A-4
Please see DWI, Page A-4
By Barry Massey
The Associated Press
Gov. Susana Martinez has clamped down on the Legislature’s watchdog committees in what some lawmakers consider an attempt to limit their oversight of the Republican governor’s agencies. At the direction of the governor, administration agencies are telling the Legislative Finance Committee and the Legislative Education Study Committee that their requests for information must be sent first to the governor’s chief of staff, Keith Gardner, for his approval before the agency will respond. The committees and their staff typically are in direct contact with agencies to seek data and documents. “She’s drawing the battle lines, I guess,” said Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, chairman of the finance committee that oversees budget issues and regularly asks agencies about their spending. Martinez personally called the committee’s staff director, David Abbey, earlier this month to tell him of the new policy. Varela said the governor’s directive to agencies is an unprecedented move to control the flow of information that the LFC is entitled to under state law. “To me it was somewhat of a surprise to have a governor call the LFC and say, ‘No more unless I approve it,’ ” Varela said. State law says government agencies shall furnish the LFC with “such documents, materials or information as may be requested by the member of the committee or its director or staff which are not made confidential by law.” The governor’s office won’t say whether a specific request from a committee or some other dispute with the Legislature prompted Martinez to implement the policy. Lawmakers, particularly Democrats, have been sharply critical of the administration’s
Please see PAneLS, Page A-4
Today Partly sunny. High 63, low 30. PAge A-12
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Nearly $1,000 was spent by Marie Campos to reward volunteers with “eat-and-run” meals.
By Daniel J. Chacón
S
anta Fe’s March 4 municipal election turned out to be a high-calorie affair. According to campaign finance reports, candidates who ran publicly funded campaigns gobbled up nearly $12,500 in taxpayer money on food and beverages, ranging from hot munchables grabbed from McDonald’s and Taco Bell to meals at the Pink Adobe and the Steaksmith at El Gancho. Exactly what the candidates ordered on the public’s tab or how
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds B-6
Of the 37 entries for food and drinks on Michael Segura’s campaign reports, there were five at Burger King, four each at Wendy’s and Blake’s Lotaburger, and three each at Sonic and Dunkin’ Donuts. He went to McDonald’s twice and Taco Bell once.
much they tipped isn’t listed in public records. The city’s relatively new public financing system doesn’t require candidates to turn in receipts, which some say points to yet another flaw in the system, the latest in a series of issues that emerged during the recent campaign season. “You don’t know if they took their campaign team for tacos, or did they take friends out for cocktails?” said Viki Harrison, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, a watchdog group that helped write Santa Fe’s public campaign finance code.
When states chase companies, it can cost taxpayers
A
‘game of Thrones’ costume party Final night of screenings of the HBO series’ third season, 7 p.m., Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave., jeancocteaucinema.com. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
$3,500 was used for catering from Jambo Café for a Joe Arellano campaign event in February.
The New Mexican
N.M. high court to hear cop’s DWI case
Milan Simonich
Ringside Seat
Comics B-12
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 983-3035
t least once every generation, a company turns politicians into giddy, star-struck suitors. They are willing to grovel, offer enormous concessions at taxpayer expense and run the risk of being jilted publicly, all on the chance of landing what they hope will be thousands of jobs. These days, Tesla Motors is the company that Southwestern
Crosswords B-7, B-11
Life & Science A-9
states covet. Tesla projects it will create 6,500 jobs at a factory to manufacture batteries for its electric cars. The company lists New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas as finalists for the plant. On a smaller scale, Tesla stirs memories of politicians’ bizarre courtship of Saturn, which also was supposed to be a new breed of automaker. Thirty-eight states, including New Mexico,
El Nuevo A-7
Opinions A-11
Sports B-1
fought over Saturn. General Motors billed Saturn as the car of America’s future, a reliable, affordable alternative to hulking gas guzzlers. GM made governors salivate with its promise to build a $3.5 billion Saturn factory somewhere in America. Like Tesla, Saturn was to employ 6,500 workers, but spinoff and ancillary businesses were to add another 20,000 jobs
Tech A-8
Time Out B-11
BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM
to the lucky state that prevailed. That’s not how it worked out. The mad chase for Saturn changed the way states pursued large corporations. A strange mixture of desperation, speculation and exhilaration made Saturn irresistible to politicians, who were all too eager to risk public money on a private company.
Please see RIngSIDe, Page A-4
Two sections, 24 pages 165th year, No. 83 Publication No. 596-440