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3 ELECTIONS 2014 Secretary of state race
TV Book is inside today
Candidates spar over voter ID and fraud
Find your local TV listing and details on the premiere of the new show Constantine. Also included are games and celebrity news.
Groups claim county’s moratorium unjustified
Fed Reserve leader warns of income gap
By Daniel J. Chacón The New Mexican
Janet Yellen says U.S. identity at risk over wealth gap. PAGE A-4
Pojoaque Pueblo gaming bid with feds axed
Dianna Duran Republican secretary of state
Maggie Toulouse Oliver Democratic challenger
Voter fraud exists. I have seen it, “ I have investigated it, and I have turned
What we do know [is that] when we [require identification to vote], anywhere between 10 and 12 percent of the population will be disenfranchised.”
over cases of voter fraud to a district attorney.”
“
Judge rules U.S. officials lack standing to decide
Democrats trying to win back office they have long occupied
By Patrick Malone
The New Mexican
openly criticized Herrera’s performance. Dianna Duran, then a Republican state senator from Tularosa, took advantage of the chaos and did what no other Republican had done since before the New Deal. She won election as secretary of state, defeating the incumbent Herrera. In fact, Duran was the GOP’s top vote-getter in 2010, coming away with more votes than Susana Martinez, who was elected governor
By Steve Terrell
The New Mexican
F
our years ago, a string of controversies engulfed the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office. Secretary of State Mary Herrera was the target of allegations of cronyism and political work being done in her office. Top staffers were fired after talking to reporters. A few former employees tried to spur an FBI investigation. Some county clerks
A judge ruled Friday that the federal government does not have legal standing to intervene in a dispute between the Pueblo of Pojoaque and Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration over the pueblo’s desire for a new casino gambling compact. The pueblo issued a statement calling U.S. District Judge James Parker’s ruling “a temporary setback” and said it’s mulling an appeal. In a 29-page ruling sprinkled with gambling lingo — the state having a “seat at the poker table”; a presumed “good faith ante”; and the prospect of “the Secretary of Interior to call the State’s bluff” — Parker found that a tribe cannot invoke U.S. Interior Department rules to seek a compact from the federal agency if the tribe has failed to negotiate a compact with the state. Because New Mexico maintains sovereign immunity against being sued and won’t waive it, the court cannot make a ruling that the state isn’t negotiating in good faith, and, therefore, the tribe cannot turn to the Interior Department to authorize the terms it wants. Martinez’s Deputy Chief of Staff Jessica Hernandez told The Associated Press on Friday that the Governor’s Office was “pleased that the federal court agreed that the compact negotiations should be between the state and the tribes and not dictated by the federal government.” Pojoaque sought federal authorization of a new compact with allowances for its casinos north of Santa Fe that go beyond current compacts
INSIDE u See arguments for and against the amendments and bond issues that are on the ballot. PAGE A-6
that year. Duran prevailed with the support of six Democratic county clerks, including then Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza, who is now a member of the state Public Regulation Commission.
Please see RACE, Page A-4
ELECTION AD WATCH
Duran blasted over voter fraud case Soros-funded PAC running television spot By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
The New Mexico secretary of state’s race took a nasty turn late this week with a new ad from an out-of-state “independent expenditure” group called SOS for Democracy. The 30-second ad attacks Republican incumbent Dianna Duran mostly for what a female narrator calls “a wild goose chase” that “wrongly accused 64,000 New Mexicans of voter fraud.” The ad concludes by calling Duran “reckless” and “incompetent.” A spokesman for Duran’s opponent, Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver, said SOS for Democracy is not connected with her campaign.
Please see PUEBLO, Page A-6
By Amy Taxin The Associated Press
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Immigration officials say local authorities across the U.S. released thousands of immigrants from jails this year
Index
Calendar A-2
despite efforts to take them into federal custody, including more than 3,000 with previous felony charges or convictions. The numbers are the first time federal immigration authorities have publicly detailed how many times local agencies have refused to comply with their requests. They highlight the friction between the federal government and police and sheriff’s departments, some of which say holding immigrants beyond their
Classifieds B-6
Comics B-12
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 986-3035
Crosswords B-7, B-11
An Albuquerque landowner and an aggregate company seeking to mine basalt on La Bajada mesa are suing Santa Fe County for imposing a 12-month moratorium on such developments. Attorneys for Buena Vista Estates Inc. and Rockology Limited LLC filed the appeal Thursday seeking to overturn the county’s action, which came after a large number of area residents voiced myriad concerns about the proposed gravel mine, including pollution, noise and what they described as the destruction of the mesa’s scenic beauty. “There’s a complete lack of justification for the moratorium other than for the sole purpose to avoid deciding the mining permit, and that’s not an appropriate use of a moratorium,” attorney Pete Domenici Jr. said Friday. His law firm is asking the state District Court to grant the application to operate a 50-acre basalt mine near Waldo Canyon Road south of Santa Fe if county commissioners continue to “refuse to take final action” on their proposal, court documents state. “The Moratorium and the facts and circumstances do not show a genuine need to preserve the status quo in order to curtail sudden surges in applications and rezoning requests,” documents state. “The facts and circumstances show that the County is not facing a crisis or emergency situation and that the Moratorium is specifically targeted at the Plaintiffs and their pending Application.” A county spokeswoman declined to comment. Last month, county commissioners adopted a moratorium that stops the county from accepting new applications or processing existing applications for “developments of countywide impact,” including landfills, junkyards and sand and gravel operations that require blasting. During a public hearing before the vote, commissioners made a point of not referring to the proposed La Bajada mine, but Buena Vista and Rockology say the action was directed at their project. “Upon information and belief, the
Please see SUIT, Page A-6 The 30-second ad attacks Republican incumbent Dianna Duran mostly for what a female narrator calls ‘a wild goose chase’ that ‘wrongly accused 64,000 New Mexicans of voter fraud.’ CAMPAIGN AD
The group behind the ad has not been active in New Mexico before and, at least as of Friday, had not filed any expense report with the state. But because it’s a national PAC, it has to file campaign finance
reports with the Federal Election Commission. The PAC’s largest contributor was billionaire George Soros, an investor and large contributor to Democratic candidates
Please see AD, Page A-4
Thousands freed after immigration holds denied People released by local agencies include 3,000 facing felony charges
La Bajada mining backers file suit
release dates harms community policing efforts. Immigration officials say the denials pose a public safety threat as immigrants who previously would have been placed in federal custody once they were eligible to leave jail are being released into communities where they could commit new crimes. In the first eight months of this year, immigration agents filed roughly 105,000 requests for local
Lotteries A-2
Opinion A-10
Sports B-1
agencies to hold immigrants for up to 48 hours after they were eligible for release on the allegations for which they initially were arrested, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agents wanted the immigrants held so they could take them into federal custody and start deportation proceedings. Local law enforcement agencies
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Oktoberfiesta Live music, yodeling competition, and sausageeating contest, noon to 7 p.m., Santa Fe Brewing Co., 35 Fire Place, 424-3333, no charge.
Obituary Dorcas Brown Titcomb, 76, Aug. 29 PAGE A-10
Today Partly sunny. High 68, low 46. PAGE A-12
Please see FREED, Page A-4
Time Out B-11
Stocks B-5
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