TODAY'S TOP STORIES: More on the Steve Alford-Darren White saga
The Albuquerque Journal followed up on the Steve Alford saga after several political blog posts and radio reports earlier this week said Alford was supporting 1st congressional GOP candidate Darren White by appearing at a fundraiser on July 16. "I wouldn't know Darren White if he walked in front of me," University of New Mexico head basketball coach Steve Alford told Journal reporters Jeff Jones and Mark Smith. Alford also told the Journal "It (the appearance) got faslely advertised. I was just stopping by."
UNM Regent Jamie Koch said he plans to introduce a resolution at next month's regents meeting specifiying "that regents cannot organize political fundraisers headlined by a UNM employee."
The Santa Fe Reporter has a story about conservative political strategist Caroline George suing GOP candidate Dan East, who is seeking the 3rd Congressional House seat against Democrat Ben Ray Lujan and Independent Carol Miller. George is suing East, her former employer, for $25,000 she says he owes her. In her complaint, filed in the Second Judicial District Court, George alleges that although East paid her $18,000 for services and expenses during the first two months of his campaign, he stills owes her for more than 200 hours worth of work she says she conducted with an “open account” agreement or, in layman’s terms, a blank check based on good faith.
East’s campaign attorney, Shari Cordova, argues in East’s filed response that there was no such agreement and alleges that George took advantage of East because he was “new to the political arena and had no prior experience running a campaign.”
From southern New Mexico, the U.S. Census Bureau reports Silver City's population is down 1 percent from 2006 to 2007, to 9,977 residents, according to the Silver City Sun-News. Gloria Terrazas-Barnes, economic development director with the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments, said it seems like Silver City's population is changing more than anything.
"Families might have moved out, but we have a lot of retirees moving in," she said. "We just don't have a good handle on (how many) until they do the census again."
In 2006, Silver City's population was estimated by the census bureau at 9,992, down from 10,545 in 2000 and 10,683 in 1990.
Comments:
Posted 07/10/2008 20:35 with
They really should consider terminating the lobbyist for attempting to use his position for overtly partisan purposes. It is one thing to promote relations between the university and elected officials; it is something quite different to use your position to try to elect a partisan candidate. The Regents’ rules forbid this for employees. The lobbyist should be held to that standard whether an employee or contractor.