Last week we gave you reaction to the special session, from four of our legislators. This week, we wanted to hear from two of our state’s top politicans: Governor Bill Richardson and Lt. Governor Diane Denish.  We thought it was especially interesting to hear from both, because Lt. Governor Denish is working hard to become the next governor, and in this state, at this time, that comes with several pitfalls. 

The Republican candidates are already working overtime to make voters believe that Lt. Governor Denish and Governor Bill Richardson are the same person.  So, we wanted to find out where the two differ on the budget cutting bill, if at all.  Turns out there were a few places, including whether or not tax hikes are truly “inevitable” in the January regular session.  Only time will tell which of them is right.

The day we interviewed Lt. Governor Denish, a report also came out on the website New Mexico Watchdog.  That report looked at unallocated federal dollars that the Governor gave to the Lt. Governor back in 2003 and 2004 to spend as she saw fit.  According to the Watchdog article part of that money was spent on things like a personal driver and for someone to work on the Lt. Governor’s christmas cards.  The Lt. Governor told us the majority of that money went to pay for part-time public relations help, among other things. Denish also said on the show that the report she used this federal money to buy christmas cards is “patently false”, which led to this entry on the NM Watchdog site:

I hear Diane Denish will say in an upcoming KNME-TV interview that it is a “patent” lie that she used federal stimulus funds to print and mail Christmas cards. We never reported that. We reported that federal stimulus funds were used to pay a contractor to work on the Christmas cards, a fact the Journal has confirmed in its own review of the invoices and time sheets. In addition, the Journal has learned that those Christmas cards on which the contractor was working while being paid out of federal stimulus dollars were for Denish’s political campaign committee.

There’s been plenty of great analysis of the New Mexico Watchdog report, as well as the financial records themselves, most notably in the Journal, New Mexico Independent, and the Santa Fe New Mexican. People will make up their minds on the truth, but one thing is certain: Denish’s opponents want to use the report to paint her as just another player in the state’s pay-to-play canvas (we should mention here, that Jim Scarantino is the person who wrote the article for the New Mexico Watchdog website.  Jim is part of our regular roundtable segment, which is an opinion-based platform for discussion on important issues of our day.  Jim was not part of this week’s taping, because he was in Deming giving a speech.  The Lt. Governor refers to Jim in our interview as a reporter who some times appears on our show.  We just want to make it clear that Jim’s capacity on New Mexico in Focus is not as a reporter, but as one of several people with different perspectives that we call on weekly to discuss and react to the big news stories of the week).

Bottom line is, it’s not often when we get to talk to Lt. Governor Denish, or Governor Richardson, and we are glad when we get the chance to have these types of conversations.  Especially when you consider the recent special session and the economic concerns heading into the regular session in January.  By the way, we didn’t have time in the show to air all of the interview with Lt. Governor Denish, but we did break out the Q&A portions that you missed in the show.  Here they are:

Information Technology Reform

Capital Reform Advisory Board

Inspection of Public Records Board

CDR Capaign Contributions

Economy as a Campaign Issue

Her personal agenda

Here’s another preview clip from our interview tonight with Governor Richardson.  He talks about how he made education his priority when he first came into office, and how he plans to keep it that way until he leaves.

To see the rest of Gene’s interview with the Governor, tune in Friday night at 7pm, or check back here on newmexicoinfocus.org.