New Mexico update

[whometense]

I may be alone in my obsession, but I'm unwilling to forgive Bill Richardson for his failure to go ahead with the New Mexico recount in 2004.

Well, I just heard this story this morning on a repeat Thom Hartmann show from earlier this week.

http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/aprecount05-16-06.htm

Court Rules in Dispute Over 2004 Presidential Recount
By Barry Massey/
Associated Press
SANTA FE — New Mexico's highest court on Tuesday invalidated a 2005 law that allows the state canvassing board to require candidates to pay the estimated full cost of a recount upfront as a deposit.

The ruling came in a dispute over the razor-close 2004 presidential election in New Mexico.

The state Supreme Court's unanimous decision represented a victory for Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik, who had challenged the state's handling of their request for a recount in 2004.

However, the justices declined to order a recount of presidential ballots, saying a new vote tabulation wouldn't change the national outcome of the election because President Bush had enough electoral votes to win even if he hadn't carried New Mexico.

The 2004 presidential race in New Mexico was among the closest in the country. The Republican president won the general election with 49.8 percent of the vote — a 5,988-vote margin over Democratic Sen. John Kerry.

John Boyd, an Albuquerque lawyer for Cobb and Badnarik, described the court's ruling as a "clean sweep'' for the candidates...

...The candidates had submitted a deposit of $114,400 and argued that was the proper amount for a recount based on a formula in state election law. But the state canvassing board decided in mid-December 2004 that the Green and Libertarian presidential candidates could have a recount only if they paid a security deposit of $1.4 million, which was an estimate of the full cost of a statewide recount.
The board was made up of Gov. Bill Richardson, Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and then-Supreme Court Chief Justice Petra Maes. All of them are Democrats. Maes removed herself from the court case involving the board's recount decision.

The Legislature, in response to the election flap, changed the law to make clear that the canvassing board may require a deposit of either part or the full estimated cost of a recount.

In Tuesday's ruling, the court said the 2005 change in law was an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power because there were no standards to guide the board in deciding how large a deposit to require.

"The Legislature cannot give the state canvassing board unfettered discretion in determining which petitioners seeking a recount or recheck must pay for the full cost, and which must pay only a percentage of that cost,'' the court said in an opinion written by Justice Patricio Serna.

Two steps forward, one step back.

I still maintain that Richardson has a hell of a nerve to even consider running for president after the (complete lack of) support he offered Kerry in 2004.

[fedupinBushcountry]

1. I agree

I am another one who will not forgive him for that, and I know some people from New Mexico who will not either.

No recount because Bush won electoral votes Huh? Is that how they count every vote ? :argh:

[whometense]

2. It's great they won,

but I agree with you. If you have to wait a year and a half for vindication, and then there's still no real resolution, it's hard to feel real victorious.

I can't imagine - still - what was going on in the room where that board was meeting. WTF were those three "democrats" thinking? That if Kerry lost that would leave an opening for Richardson in 4 years?

[Blaukraut]

7. probably

Richardson had his own ambitions and agenda. Reminds me of something JK said to us in the pub about not being able to trust anybody because of ambitions and agendas. Rmember that?

[ProSense]

3. I agree!

The problem I have is that there was a long back and forth before access to the machines were denied. I know why Ken Blackwell denied access in OH. Access in NM may have advanced the discovery of the "fatal flaw" that was recently reported.

The whole thing stinks!

[ginnyinWI]

4. it's hard to trust him after something like this. n/t

[wisteria]

5. I agree, I have no respect for Richardson at all. I think he purposely

offered no assistance to Kerry because of his own ambitions. I would never vote for him for President and will always question the outcome of New Mexico's vote.

[whometense]

6. Greg Palast on Buzzflash

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/06/06/con06219.html

(Heads up! Catch Robert Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Greg Palast this Saturday on Air America's 'Ring of Fire' on the shoplifting of the last election … and the next one.)

<...>

Any guesses as to whom those African-Americans chose for president on those junked ballots? Check Ohio's racial demographics, do the numbers, and there it is: Kerry won Ohio. And that, too, is a fact. A fact that could not get reported in the USA.

But the shoplifting of those votes in Ohio was just the tip of the theft-berg. November 2, 2004 was a national ballot-box bonfire. In total, over three million votes (3,600,380 to be exact) were cast -- marked, punched, pulled -- YET NEVER COUNTED. I'm not talking about the Ukraine or Uganda. I'm talking about the United States of America "with liberty and justice for all."

Well, not "all." The nine-to-one Black-to-White ballot spoilage rate is a national statistic -- not just an Ohio trick. Last year, I flew to New Mexico to investigate the 33,981 cast but not counted ballots of that state in the 2004 race. George Bush "won" New Mexico by 5,988 votes. Or did he? I calculated that, of the all the ballots rejected and "spoiled," 89% were cast by voters of color. Who won New Mexico? Kerry won -- or he would have, if they had counted the ballots.

Bill Richardson, j'accuse.

[demdiva]

8. My poor sister was in Ohio for the last election

and now she's moving to New Mexico. Thanks for sharing...I'm going to send her this story!!!