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Tuesday, January 30, 2007

tell me why i don't like tuesdays

KBAC was playing Boomtown Rats, tell me why I don't like mondays this morning and it confused the heck out of me (making me think it was monday, not tuesday). I really don't think that song should be played on anyday but Monday.
Tuesdays are my hell day and always have been. Even pre-weekly schedule, when I was in school, I always had heavy classloads on Tuesdays. This particular Tuesday is so far OK. The school board endorsements are at least written, although, frankly, they are not all that well-written, in my self-deprecating opinion.
I will admit that my first thought when I read about the booze ban on US Airways was to check and see if that was the airline I'm flying to DC. I don't know why; I rarely drink on planes. I think I may have had a drink when I flew to Vancouver, something totally silly like a Bloody Mary. Usually I just drink water and read. Because I am an exciting and fascinating woman.
My main goal today is to finish the bloody contest entries for the AAN contest. Entering contests, though sometimes rewarding, is a big pain because it always requires lots of random copying and attaching forms here and there and it can actually get sort of expensive. But the show must go on!
A week from today is SFR reporter Dan Frosch's last day at the paper. He is going to go work for The New York Times, so I have mixed feelings of pride and sorrow, although I'm also hopeful he will be back in one way or another. Dan is a great reporter and my good buddy, which means I should probably stop writing in my blog and work on the invites to his going away bash.
I thought the sheriff's thoughts on Dendahl's departure, and his own reflections about his past were very interesting. I didn't know that about Grady's picture never staying up.

Monday, January 29, 2007

I was just checking up on my friend heather, who I was supposed to see over the holidays, but didn't (because of the stupid snow) and followed her link to this crazy site and ended up making a quick translation of my blog as such. I think the Internet is officially a waste of time.
But kinda funny.

grogorama

I had a very strange weekend. Friday night I went out as planned, had a nice time, came home, went to bed at a decent hour, having had one glass of wine. Woke up Saturday feeling massively groggy and out of it. Worked out for an hour and a half and drove home from the gym in a total fog. The kind of fog where all of a sudden you realize you are in the turning lane for Sam's Club for no reason. Went home and passed out for the better part of the day. Woke up, could still barely focus. Cancelled plans. The boy got us take-out. He, about 20 minutes after we ate, was struck with food poisoning and was sick all night. Woke up Sunday, could barely move, stayed in or near bed until 2 pm (for the record, this is very odd behavior for me. I'm usually up and at 'em at about 6). Finally, took a shower, came down to work and, suddenly, at around 4, the fog lifted and I felt perfectly normal again. Just in time to have dinner, go back to bed and get up for work. It was just really strange. And not exactly ideal, since I spent a large bulk of the weekend unconscious.
Right now I should be writing our school board endorsements, but we haven't quite reached a conclusion in one of the races. To be honest, I'm a tiny bit sick of writing endorsements. I think anyone who wants to be on any local board should just be allowed to be on it. Enough with elections. Especially with the schools, the more the merrier I say.
I came to work to find numerous angry letters over my interview with the rooster last week. Angry letters, I should say, all with the same header, giving the sense of a unified letter campaign. They were almost all unsigned. I wrote back a few to get names and find out if they were for publication. Only one person wrote back so we'll publish that one. Fun times! The letters are pretty angry, although my interview was supposed to be more funny than anything. You know, like this is funny. hahahaha!
Meanwhile, on the Richardson beat, I was surprised to read that John Dendhal is leaving NM. Dendahl has been a part of the political landscape for a long time. Now, I can see that if your main thing is to criticize Bill Richardson you might feel a little Cheese Stands Alone these days here. I wonder what the real story is. And, I wonder what ever happened with the Quail Run condo elections Dendahl also was running in. Meanwhile, Richardson was on the road in Nevada, garnering some good press. I always forget he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times. I wonder if there's anyway to find out who nominated him.
I had trouble understanding this article about Richardson being a big spender. I think maybe they cut a sentence somewhere at the top that said something like Richardson may pretend to not be a big spender, because the subhed "don't let him fool ya" doesn't make any sense otherwise because the article never shows how he's trying to claim he's not a big spender. Unless I didn't read it carefully, which is entirely possible.
OK, big pile of things on my desk to read. These I better try to read carefully. Adios amigos.

Friday, January 26, 2007

p.s.

If you missed me on The Line last week, I think you can still catch it online here, but probably just for a few more hours.

the weekend beckons

From babbler to mute, that's me. It's been a busy few days, though what it's been busy with I could not quite say. Well, first, school board elections. We're endorsing in the upcoming edition, so we've had the candidates in this week for interviews.
Second, I'm pretty disappointed that Richardson didn't come right out against the confederate flag and I disagree with anyone who characterizes the issue as complicated. While it's true that some have tried to say the flag doesn't symbolize, to them, slavery and racism, it kind of does to most people. Did Richardson have to do a poll first before he figured out where he stood on racism? Give me a break!
Anyway, tonight I'm going to go check out Team Gina at Backroad Pizza, one of my favorite spots in this little city of ours. Tomorrow I'm slated for D Numbers at College of Santa Fe. And Sunday I have a friend's birthday party and dinner with the X, so it's looking like a slampacked weekend, which is probably good as I am temporarily out of yarn.
Oh, also booked my tix to DC, after much anguished searching for either: a direct flight, a short flight, an aisle seat. I got none of the above. A longass one-stop trip in the middle seat. Fun! I guess I can watch Veronica Mars on my video ipod the whole time. Hopefully I'll actually be prepared for the conference by then. Cuz, um, as of right now, not so much.
OK, I'm off to the bookstore and then hitting the road home. Have a great weekend and I'll check ya later.

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Thursday, January 25, 2007

overheard in my office

Copyeditor: the plural of dominatrix is actually dominatrices.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

overheard in my boyfriend's car

Last night, on the way home from a drink at The Blue Corn, I mentioned to the boy that I was having lunch today with a movie producer who was a producer on a movie he likes (I know, he's a major horror film geek) and we began discussing which famous people we'd be excited to meet (me: David Bowie; him: no one). Then he said:

"I was excited when I met Bill Richardson" (the guv was at our Best of Santa Fe party last year (he won 2nd for best politician; he won first in 2005).

Me:
"Really? Did you hear he's running for president?" (I know it seems impossible to imagine someone in NM yesterday who didn't know that information but if there were to be such a person it could easily be the boy who somehow manages to live, blissfully news-free quite often)
Boy: "Yes. I'm going to register to vote so I can vote for him." (Yes. I am dating someone who isn't registered to vote. I know.)
Me: "Really?"
Boy: "I think he'd make a good president. He seems down to earth. A little sleezy and for the people."
Me: "Did you just say 'a little sleezy and for the people?'
Boy: "Yes. And he seems like he's done a pretty good job as governor. I feel like I support most of the things he's for. Except maybe the ban on cockfighting."
Me: YOU DON'T SUPPORT THE BAN ON COCKFIGHTING? (I think in every relationship there is a moment where you wonder if you have accidentally been dating a crazy person)
Boy: "I just don't have an opinion on it because I don't know anything about it (ME: as if knowing about an issue was a prerequisite for having an opinion?)
Me: "Well then you'll have to read my interview in tomorrow's paper."
Boy: "Oh, who's it with?"
Me: A rooster.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

more bill searching on the Internet

Hey, I'm waiting on pages to sign off on. Might as well google around.
The comments on this carpetbagger article were interesting to me. The intimations of sexual indiscretion, which has been raised in a question in one place, seems to be everywhere already! Kind of amazing. People also bringing up the Wen Ho Lee stuff. Some more interesting comments here and by interesting I mean mean. In both spots, people seem unthrilled by Richardson's appearances (Despite the improvements from days of yore). But overall, I think he's getting good press nationally, particularly for his resume. It should be interesting... although possibly not interesting enough for 15 more months.

newspaper presents


This is one of my colleague's daughters, who is on my office floor right now making "newspaper presents." Newspaper presents are pieces of cut up newspapers, folded and taped and stapled together to look like they are giftwrapped presents. Of course, there is nothing inside of them, but I don't think the idea behind "newspaper presents" is to disappoint the recipients. There is something very Zen about "newspaper presents." They are like the ultimate "it's the thought that counts" gift. This same little girl came in yesterday, gave me a hug and then whispered in my ear: "I just threw up."

sombrero?

I can't quite believe that the New York Post's headline about Richardson said he was throwing his sombrero into the ring. Pretty sure I've never seen the gov in a sombrero. Also, I mean I'm not a particularly PC person, but that's just about as racist as the Journal using gumba in a headline (and, perhaps, the exact East Coast equivalent? The '08 equivalent of blue state/red state? East Coast/West Coast?) Oh, and speaking of racist. Very nice. Very nice indeed.
Anyway, this guy thinks Richardson could be the most "dangerous" candidate in '08 because he's the one who could have dirt on Hillary (because Richardson worked for Bill Clinton and, ostensibly, knows stuff from the inner circle). I've never known/seen Richardson to do the dirty laundry thing, but then again he's never run for national office before. And, presumably, if he's got dirty on Hillary then she's got dirty on him too. Hey, does Hillary's name really have two lls in it? Why yes, yes it does. OK, just checking.
Bak to Obama, this piece by Dante Chinni looks at the current fascination with Obama and the inevitable decline (Chianni works at the Project for Excellence in Journalism; I participated in a journalism roundtable with PEJ, which you can read here.)
It's true that Obama is a bit of an unknown right now compared with the others running. We all know Hillary, got to know Edwards in '04 and, (at least in New Mexico), anyone who doesn't know about Richardson is in a coma. But I gotta say, Obama's powers of speech (powers of speech? sort of like powers of writing, which I am not of the having right this sec) are proving to be profound. Even his brief announcement was kind of mesmerizing, and blew Hillary and Bill's away (IMO). Well, it will be interesting, n'est pas?
The widely read and discussed Clemons article about the governor and his potential women problems (I'm pretty sure I linked to this first here in NM. How come no one ever gives me credit for anything? Except Avelino, that is ) is now the top of the google news searches for Richardson. Which I'm sure he loves. The comments are quite remarkable. I'm guessing the gov's folks are praying that "Governor Groper" does not catch on. I really have zero idea whether there's validity to any of the gov/women stuff. I've been around Richardson plenty since I was, um, 20ish and I will admit I've gotten several pats on the head and things of that ilk, but I've never seen or experienced anything other than the kind of stuff Diane Denish has mentioned (bet she's regretting that). Clearly she wasn't talking about sexual harassment. Here's the thing, if there are incidents, sex incidents, in Richardson's past, I'm guessing they've been neutralized in some way (ahem) or he probably wouldn't be in this race, because post Lewinsky it's hard to be in public life and keep these things to yourself. But I've never heard of anything specific about Richardson on this front. Non-specific rumors, innuendos, sure, but you'd think someone, somewhere, would have a real name to attach to this innuendo at this point. I wonder how it will all shake down. Clearly the local press isn't going to want to get scooped on a story like that by the national press. On the other hand, are local journalists really going to start running around looking for illicit lovers of the governor? (I'm not. Of course, if such people do exist, are reading this and would like to call me, that's a totally different story).
Honestly, I know it's always politicians who want to keep things "about the issues" and not about their sex lives (blech), but I gotta say they have a point. A homophobic lawmaker who's having illicit homosexual affairs is one thing. A grown person doing grown person activities, not quite as important to me as, say, the war in Iraq.
On another, slightly related topic. what is up with these anti-Bill Richardson shirts. I am consistently (constantly? No, just consistently) amazed by the immediate commerce of modern life. One second Richardson announces he's running for president and immediately there are things like this. . The Obama ones are even worse.

Monday, January 22, 2007

could rc gorman hurt richardson?

is the question posed by this podcast.

blog roundup on Richardson

I can't even begin to fathom the Journal's five part series on Richardson. I mean, on the one hand, that's ambitious journalism. But on the other hand, that's just too much information. At least for me. Joe brought up some interesting points about the Journal's series, you can find it toward the bottom of his post, under "hometowning it" or something like that.
Right now, Hillary is #1 in the technorati searches and Richardson isn't even in the top 10, but a search of blogs about him did reveal a this amusing post.

underdog




Did anyone else think of the cartoon underdog when Bill Richardson announced he was the underdog in the race? It's kind of interesting to hear him say that, given that in state he's always the big cheese. It's smart, in a way, as some voters (ahem) tend to like an underdog, like someone who says, "hey, I don't have the money these other folks have." Plus, everyone loves a cartoon. Now, if he had declared himself "The Cartman in this race" he'd have locked up the youth vote in a second.
But, seriously, after ragging on the governor's speechmaking, I will say that Richardson's announcement speech is one of the better things I've heard him do. He's clearly been getting coached on the speaking thing, although here and there you can hear the unnatural cadence of someone who's been coached on how to deliver a speech. But I thought overall it was delivered well, his smiling looked relatively natural and he made some good points. I think if he can continue to further elaborate on his experiences in the middle east, with some detail, that will help him.
However, I'm pretty sure his line at the end, "these serious times demand serious people" was directly lifted from Michael Douglas' speech at the end of The American President.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

and so it begins

Lots of news on Richardson's announcement and critical comments that could foreshadow what's to come.

Friday, January 19, 2007

brrr

Have just walked back to the office from lunch at Tia Sophia's. Am: full, cold and the phone is ringing.
OK, the phone is now not ringing. Why? Because I answered it. I alternate between answering the phone everytime it rings and not answering it all. The best calls are from people I know or don't know wanting to tell me about things we will look into. These calls are few and far between. The other calls are the ones in which the caller is disappointed. Today, for example:

* Therapist who is having trouble getting the word out about her practice. Wants an article (Editor: We don't really write those kinds of articles.
* Woman worried Bush is going to declare war in Iran, wants us to write/do something (Editor: I wish I could do something about that)
* Business owner wanting to fax something to our business editor for our business section (Editor: We don't have any of those things. Well, we have a fax machine, although if it were up to me we wouldn't).

On the bright side, no one has yelled at me today. It is, however, only 12:45.
Tonight I'm going to go see The English Beat, unless the weather really worsens and I end up homebound again. I stocked up on yarn the other day and got a good start last night with the Knittas, my little knitting group, who do not even know that is their name. We drank wine at St. Francis in between stitches and storytelling. It was lovely. Driving back from ABQ, on the other hand, was not. I am a very bad driver, nervous, squinty, either speeding or driving very slowly at any given moment. I also have terrible night vision and hate switching lanes. So merging into five lanes of rush-hour I-25 traffic was a little traumatic. There was one point, though, where I realized that turning down the deafening rap music might make the entire scene a little less adrenalized. That's why I love Santa Fe. Because I may be a bad driver, but there is always someone worse.

as I was saying

My entire Friday morning post was lost when Firefox crashed. Why is technology trying to kill me?
Tonight, if you're snowed in, ill or very very bored, you can catch me on The Line at 7 pm on KNME. We talked about the Gov's state of the state speech, which, as my readers know, I thought was boring. I had fun being on the line; I'd been wanting to meet Whitney Cheshire for a while, since we've interviewed her several times, and because I think she's kind of exciting with her opinions.
Speaking of exciting, are the editors of the Albuquerque Journal on crack? Note, if you will, that the electronic version of the story about the guv being mistaken for someone on the Sopranos is headlined "Governor Pegged as 'Made Man'". That's a very stupid/bad headline, but not as racist/stupid as the one in the print version: Gumba or Gov? It's Hard to Tell
I really really really can not believe they printed that. I just really don't think that's right... wonder if they've gotten any reaction.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

living justice free

I have been excused from jury duty! Dude! That is one big relief. I will admit it would be interesting to serve on a jury, but I just can't see that happening. And week to week, the thought of rearranging my schedule, editing the paper at night etc., was not positive.
Now, I am going to Alb. this afternoon to appear (well, tape) an edition of the Line on KNME. So I need to get ready for that, and then run home and change shoes because the heel on my Pliners broke off first thing this morning (after I took it to a shoe repair place to get it fixed, something I'd never done before, suspecting it was a waste of time. Which, apparently, it was).
So adieu until manana. Stay warm!

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

the state of things

Watching the guv's speech on the Internet was exhausting. Stupid streaming video. I thought his presentation was better than last year; he looks better and his cadence has improved. But the speeches themselves are so godawful. Boring, boring, boring. I don't really understand it, either, because the governor really can be kind of funny. Who writes these freaking speeches? Have they ever read a good speech like this one? Or this one. Or, better yet, watched one?.
The difference, I think, is between telling people a story, making them care, versus just telling them stuff. Well, maybe my expectations are too high. Cause that never happens.

hey ladies

hail the chief

Today is the opening day of The Legislature. Dan and Nate are going over to the Roundhouse shortly (after they get their last story in to me) and I will be watching Big Bill's speech on the Internet. Well, I will allegedly be watching it on the Internet. The link isn't up yet on the guv's web site and the entire state's web site was all kabluey the last time I looked at it. Ah, technology. Gotta love it.
No matter how Big Bill does today, he's apparently quite popular in Panama (the item's at the bottom).
Meanwhile, in ice-related news, the handicapped dog ramp I have at my house so Kita can get down into the yard, is covered in ice. Kita, though very aged and ill, is not stupid and is refusing to go anywhere near the ramp, having already experienced sliding down it and, worse, trying to get back up it with me trying to provide support (in fact, we've both fallen off the ramp several times). So last night I spent the better part of an hour pouring boiling water on the ice trying to melt it, while trying to force the younger dog down the ramp as my "test dog," to see where it's still icy (he sort of thought this was a fun game once or twice, but grew weary of it). Under normal circumstances I would just wait for the ice to melt (known as the City of Santa Fe approach to ice), but I can't very well not have a way for Kita to go outside into the yard, particularly given that this creates some limited options for her bathroom time (I take her out on a walk in the morning, but not at night when it's super cold, dark and scary on my street). There is an outdoor porch where, under normal circumstances, I would not want her to do her business, but in these extreme icy conditions I could live with it. Unfortunately, it's difficult to communicate all these variables to a dog, so I persist in trying to deice the ramp. The boy has ice-melting salt, but I'm afraid the dogs would try to eat it (one dog, in particular, has been known to eat spare change), so that's out.
One letter writer in the Sunday New Mex accused those of us complaining about icy conditions of being whiners. To that writer I say: "And?"
I have a few other thoughts from the weekend papers, but I'm going to now switch over and make sure I'm ready to hear the guv's speech. I really hope it's better than last year.

Friday, January 12, 2007

200 angry whatevers

First, let us dispense with the daily kvetch:

SICKNESS:
My face is so chafed and worn from sneezing and nose blowing that it currently resembles a foot more than a face. Very painful. Am not sleeping, and now seem to be "almost sneezing" every five minutes (you know, where you almost sneeze, but then don't). Am so bored by it all.

BLOGGER 2
Not impressed. Also, does not work at all on sidekick 2 (yet one more reason to buy an iphone, because clearly ineed an iphone. Anyway, stupid blogger 2 on the sidekick just kicks me to google, asks me to log in and then when I do it acts like I haven't and kicks me back to google again. am so bored by it all.

JURY DUTY
Close to 200 people (maybe 150, couldn't do journalistic head counting thing because I was too busy violently sneezing, which had the slight benefit of making people not want to sit near me). The person in charge of the juries, Jamie Bolling, proceeded, for close to two hours, to tell us what we need to know about serving on the jury for the First Judicial District. Here's my brief summary:

1. don't be late
2. don't not show up
3. don't ask to be excused, you won't be

Afterwards, the audience, I mean jury people, asked questions for about half an hour. Those were mostly the same questions over and over again:

1. what if I have a vacation scheduled?
2. what if I get sick
3. what if I have a nervous bladder

(And, for the record, I would hate to have a nervous bladder, but I really hope that if I do, someday, I don't announce it to the world).

After the intro I gave Bolling my letter from my boss to give to Judge Vigil requesting that I be excused. Since, apparently, no one is excused, I don't know what will happen. Except if feels very conflicty to have me on a jury or hanging around. We shall see.
Meanwhile, I'm just happy it's almost the weekend. I am going all gangbusta on the Emergen-C and waiting to feel better.
I'll be interested to see if how a statewide smoking ban fares in this states. Personally, the idea of smoking right this second isn't very appealing since I can't breathe, but the smoking ban has clearly been bad for the bars and I'd say it's been bad for the clubs but there aren't any clubs left. I also question whether there will ever be another club here, given the draconian attitude r.e. drinking and smoking. Santa Fe has gone through other club droughts (post club west, post club luna, post club chez what, post jacks, post drama club) but something always happened. will anything happen now?
And should I go get my antibiotic prescription filled? I kind of think this is just a bad cold. Why do they always give you antibiotics for everything?
Should I take them? Should I wait?
I don't want to contribute to evolutionary decline Like, I mean, that would totally suck.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

I listened! To myself!

Just before Jonanna Widner left SFR and Santa Fe, she handed me an envelope containing, ostensibly, a letter. I grabbed at it eagerly. It is one of my many strange traits that I seem to be in a constant state of suspended animation when it comes to the mail. I am always waiting for something exciting to come in the mail. Our previous receptionist used to laugh at me because every day I would go through the mail with great anticipation, only to slink away disappointed.
"Are you waiting for something?" she asked the first few times. After that she realized there wasn't anything in particular I was waiting for... I just can't help believe that something is going to arrive. I'm pretty sure this is some sort of weird and rare mental illness because, ya know, I get about a million pieces of mail a day and have for the last decade so, seriously, if it hasn't arrived yet it probably ain't coming.
But I digress (can one digress from something that has no point?).
Where was I?
Oh yes, Jonanna's letter.
Jonanna's letter, it turned out, was not from Jonanna. It was a letter I had written TO MYSELF, put in an envelope and handed to Jonanna to give back to me at the right moment (and let's just be clear, now and for all times, I am very weird sometimes).
I pasted the letter, IN ITS ENVELOPE, to the wall and hoped I would remember to read it at the right time as there is no one here, now that Jonanna is gone, who could be trusted for this task.
Here's the letter:

Dear Julia,

Go to the fucking doctor.

Love,

Julia

What it lacks in civility it makes up for in directness, n'est pas?
So, readers, I listened to myself, hoofed it over to ulti-med (ok, yes, I drove and I know it's only two blocks away. Does it look like global warming is in effect around here this week?). They gave me antibiotics and a prescription decongestant so that tomorrow, when I am stuck at jury orientation, at least my head won't explode all over the courtroom (although conceivably that might get me excused. Maybe.)
I have now been sick three times this year and this year is only TEN DAYS OLD. Here are my new year's resolutions (is there anything as lovely as a nonsequiteur? I think not? Is there any possibility that's actually how one spells nonsequiteur?)

Anyway, since I forgot to post my new year's resolutions before, here they are:

new year's resolutions

1. stop being sick
2. stop complaining about being sick
3. become fabulously independently wealthy
4. negotiate peace in sudan

And believe me, I am really tweaked that Bill Richardson beat me to #4. Ladies: Why do men always steal our thunder?

What is in these decongestants anyway?

Monday, January 08, 2007

using a car as a weapon?

This just in from the state police regarding the shooting of the Santa Fe police officer:

Investigation continues in Santa Fe PD Shooting

(Santa Fe, NM) – New Mexico State Police recovered nineteen spent shell casings at the scene of the Santa Fe PD shooting Wednesday night. The shell casings have been submitted for forensic analysis to the DPS crime lab.
At this point in the investigation there is no indication that the suspect, Ivan Atencio, was armed with a firearm or ever fired a weapon at the Santa Fe Police Officers. However, there is information to believe that he did in fact assault the Police Officers and several citizens with the stolen vehicle which he used as a weapon.
Sergeant Kyle Zuments who received a gunshot to his protective vest was most likely shot as a result of friendly fire, either by a ricochet or by a cross fire situation. The exact circumstances and cause of this portion of the incident are still under investigation. We expect to know more once the forensic examination is completed.
Suspect Ivan Atencio is still facing multiple felony charges as a result of his actions and is currently incarcerated at the Santa Fe County Detention Center.


Nineteen shots! Also: What does it mean he assaulted people with the stolen vehicle "which he used as a weapon"? Ran people over? Hit them with the door? And, one more time: Nineteen shots! Sounds like it's a good thing only one person got hit with friendly fire.

Labels:

now there's a job I'd want

If the state does create an ethics commission that can fine and censure public officials, I'd pretty much like to be in charge of it.

one more

OK, Sisneros just called me back AGAIN and, at the risk of sounding assured, I will say I feel slightly assured that, perhaps, with a new AG our complaint that was filed SIX MONTHS AGO may now be addressed. I will say Gary King has been AG for a week and I've gotten more response on this issue than I had in the last six months of Madrid's tenure.

I sit corrected

Phil Sisneros, the new communications director for the AG's Office (he was the head of Gary King's campaign) did just return my call and said he would look into things. So, we'll see.
Well, hell, I've talked about this complaint enough, might as well let you all read it. Can you believe we filed a complaint six months ago and nothing at all seems to have happened? Kind of makes it easy to see how things like the Robert Vigil brouhaha occur.
So, here's the letter:


Aug. 30, 2006

Office of New Mexico
Attorney General
Civil Division

To whom it may concern,

Please consider this letter a formal complaint against The Department of Corrections for what we believe to be violations of The Inspection of Public Records Act.
On July 12, 2006, Dan Frosch, a reporter with The Santa Fe Reporter, filed a public records request with Tia Bland, the public information officer for the DOC. Among the documents requested, SFR sought to review records of off-site medical referrals by Wexford Health Sources, which currently holds the contract for medical care in New Mexico prisons, and its predecessor, Addus. Additionally, SFR sought a list of all Wexford employees in NM. [see attachment A, #8, 9, 12]]
This state is required to know this information in order to monitor its contract with Wexford. However, on July 27, a response to our request from Bland denied several items, including #8, 9 and 12, on the basis that such information does not exist. [attachment B]
In a subsequent conversation with Bland, reporter Frosch inquired how such information could not exist when the state is required to know such information. He relays that he was told by Bland she would continue to attempt to supply this information. Frosch confirmed this conversation in an e-mail to Bland on July 27, reiterating that SFR still considered the information to be part of our
original request. Bland responded that she would try to have the information available “no later than next Thursday,” which would have been Aug. 3. [Attachment C, #1 (Frosch’s email) #2 (Bland’s response]
On Aug. 7, as SFR prepared to go to press with a cover story on Wexford [Attachment of story, “Hard Cell”], Bland, following a telephone conversation with Frosch, emailed the number of off-site referrals for Wexford [attachment D].
Clearly, the records SFR was initially denied, on the basis of them not existing, do exist, as the information was partially supplied by Bland when she was pressed repeatedly to do so. However, SFR has still not received the entirety of the information requested, and we wish to view the original records relating to off-site medical visits, so that we are able to assess them, as allowed under the law. We still have no way to verify the numbers supplied via email by Bland, nor do they represent the entirety of the information requested.
SFR refilled its request, in part, with the DOC on Aug. 24 [Attachment E] and received, on Aug. 28 (F), a response that implied the documents would be made available in 15 days. Although 15 days is allowable, we question it given that the records were originally requested more than a month ago. Further, we request the AG investigate the DOC’s original denial, as we believe it have been in violation of the law.

I am happy to answer any further questions on this complaint as needed.

Sincerely,
Julia Goldberg
Editor



Enc: July 12 request from Dan Frosch (A); DOC response (B); Frosch/Bland email (C); Bland email, Aug. 7 (D); Frosch records request Aug. 24 (E); Bland response, Aug. 28 (F)

Cc: Bob Johnson, Foundation for Open Government; Tia Bland, Public Information Officer, Department of Corrections

duty calls

I keep forgetting to mention (or am forgetting that I have mentioned) that I've been called for jury duty starting Thursday. I mailed in a request for excusal or postponement but was denied. I find it very unlikely anyone would want me on a jury given that I know all the judges, many of the lawyers, could end up on a case one of my reporters was covering etc. etc. So I'll go Thursday to orientation and try to make my case, but I have no idea what will happen. Theoretically, I think it would be interesting to serve on jury duty, I've never done it, but logistically speaking it will be a real nightmare given that there's no real backup plan for me not being here (hence the lack of vacations and working every weekend thing). Ho hum.
Meanwhile, put in a call to the new AG's office to talk to them about our pending complaint (hello: six months?), but no one has called me back yet. So responsive!

open records

It's great new AG Gray King is emphasizing open government to public officials. Maybe he can also look into his own office's lack of interest in this law, since we are STILL WAITING on them to respond to our allegation that the Corrections Department violated the Public Records Act.

Friday, January 05, 2007

my god winter's a bore

I have neither overheard nor participated in a conversation about anything besides the weather and the havoc it's wreaked in many, many days. It is funny to remember that just a few weeks ago I was longing for a cold, wintry day so that I could stay in my house, watching movies and puttering around with lots of yarn, because I have some sort of weird internal thing where I can only stay inside and be lazy if it's cold and/or dark outside. Well, wish granted, except that I am now officially sick of being inside with yarn and my ass actually hurts from sitting on my couch. Even the dogs, the only creatures in this world who never get sick of me look, if not sick, slightly bored by me. And I don't blame them, not one whit. I did force myself to the gym last night, despite pounding headache and overwhelming existential fatigue. I listened to Janis Joplin on my dying ipod while riding the stationary bike and thumbing through a left-behind copy of Shape magazine (I have a love of reading stupid magazines while on the stationary bike, they are just so chock full of endless advice: eat this, walk there, stretch like this, visit this place, try communicating in this way; it's sort of fantastic). I went home after and was pretty much ready to throw in the towel at 8:30, crawl into bed with my big thick tome and try not to pass out with the book on top of me. But then the phone rang and I ended up on the receiving end of a friend's monologue, which was sort of better than reading as I could rest my eyes and just occasionally murmur so as to make it clear I was listening.
Apparently the next storm will be mild, although I no longer believe anything the weather forecasters say. After all, if we end up getting another two feet, they'll just explain what happened (a cold air system moved in and became literally fixed over Agua Fria). One thing that's clear is that three or four days of bad weather combined with just a little bad luck (downed power lines, a bad accident, something) and Santa Fe could easily be undone and for good. This past week has revealed just how poorly prepared our infrastructure is, and this isn't to cast stones. Infrastructure is kind of a long-term investment and clearly the city has been struggling to respond now in the way that it should have responded immediately had it been prepared to respond immediately, which it wasn't. The comments on the new mex's story about potholes are hilarious; trust Santa Fe readers to hone in on the fact that the person featured in the story was driving a Mercedes!

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Thursday, January 04, 2007

nusbaum street!

After many days and many complaints about the state of the roads, the city is finally doing something, although too little too late. And what is up with Nusbaum? When I called this morning (for the record, I have never called the city to complain about anything), I talked to someone who wasn't sure which street Nusbaum is. Um, the one with your library on it? It's terrifying!
Speaking of terrifying, last night's shoot out is pretty scary, particularly given how confusingly it's been conveyed. When I read this morning's story, I wasn't convinced that I had a very good explanation for why cops were firing repeated shots when there tons of people around, and that business with the father and his daughter crouching on the floorboards? Now it looks like several police have been put on leave. Also, if he has an extensive criminal history, why isn't it in the story? Maybe they are waiting for tomorrow's print edition?
Well, I'm just happy I could log in today. I tried numerous times with Safari but blogger was bugging out, so I switched to firefox and it seems to be working. Word! New Year, must have new blogs. Preferably about something besides the weather, yes?
On the bright side, my friends are throwing a New Year's party this weekend because the general consensus has been that new year's kind of sucked this year for most people (I spent much of mine stuck in the snow in the boy's car, which definitely sucked).
OK, my head hurts and I have to work on my December budget... (work, not personal, I wish I had a personal budget). That will likely make my head hurt worse.

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Tuesday, January 02, 2007

the iceman cometh

The most serious problem with blogger 2 is that I can't seem to use it from my Sidekick, which was the only means I had of communicating for the last... um, several million hours. Being snowbound, quite literally, gave me lots of time to think. Thinking, it turns out, is not really my strong suit. And being a shut-in, though novel on day one, became rather gruesome by day, um, 7? Prompting this interchange between the boy and myself.

ME: Why do I feel so gross?
Boy: Because you've been wearing the same sweatshirt for three days?

Other thoughts:

1. Not having Internet at home because you have it at work and how much Internet does one person need anyway is a reasonable position during normal times. During a blizzard it becomes the stupidest idea in the world and results in trying to read the local papers on a telephone, which results in a blinding headache.

2. Reading the local papers (on the phone or not) during a blizzard is a waste of time because they have no information of any use in them anyway.

3. Watching the local news is of no help whatsoever because apparently Santa Fe doesn't have any news since there was no information about anything in Santa Fe for the last five days.

4. People who drive SUVs without any care about the environment are smarter than the rest of us.

5. People, like myself, who drive sports cars are idiots and deserve to be trapped in their houses (save a rescue visit from Samia yesterday who took me to a restaurant, thus prompting me with a reason to take a shower).

6. People who are trapped at home for days on end and manage to do nothing besides read and knit are, clearly, very very lazy.

7. The city and county have done such a poor job clearing the streets it's unfathomable.

8. For all the talk about emergency preparedness, we are clearly not prepared for a snowstorm, let alone a terrorist attack. In fact, terrorists could attack us with snow and we'd be pretty much screwed.

9. Holiday vacation seems to have stressed me out more than normal coming to work.

10. Miss summer.

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