Episode 218: Election Smorgasbord!!!!

There's not much time left in this election, and that means we were left to cram a lot into this week's show, including our special tribute to beloved mystery writer, and New Mexico treasure Tony Hillerman.

Up first, though, our one-on-one interview with the democratic candidates for the 1st Congressional District, Martin Heinrich:



Three of our Citizen Journalists also got the chance to sit down with Heinrich to talk about his plans and stances on the issues. Here's that exchange:



We also tried to get an interview with Heinrich's republican opponent, Darren White. Unfortunately, we were told he was too busy. We'll keep trying, though, and if he makes time between now and next Tuesday, we'll post the interview here.

Now, to our tribute to Tony Hillerman, who dies last week of pulmonary failure. The Acclaimed author wrote more than 30 books, many of them focused right in and around the Land of Echantment. His influece on the written word is well established, but I think you will agree his full impact can only be felt in the words and reflections of his friends and colleagues:



KNME has been fortunate enough to work on two special documentaries about Tony Hillerman and his legacy. If you haven't had the chance to see Tony Hillerman's New Mexico, it's definitely worth the watch:



And, here's a link to The Art of Mystery:



As hard as we tried, we just couldn't fit everything in this week's show. But not to worry, we put our panelists On the Clock in an online only extra:



Remember to get out and vote, if you haven't already!

THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM

1st Congressional District Debate - Watch it Here!

In case you missed it, here is video of last week's 1st Congressional District Debate between Democrat Martin Heinrich and Republican Darren White. The video also includes our post-debate analysis with regulars from THE LINE.

Bernalillo CO. District Atty. & the 3rd Congressional District

This week we focused on a hotly contested race for the Bernalillo County District Attorney. Kari Brandenburg is the incumbent, and packs nearly eight years worth of experience in the post. But Lisa Torraco is a fiery career prosecutor armed with questions and criticisms of many of the decisions Brandenburg has made during her tenure. During the show you saw a portion of David's interview with the two candidates. Here's the full interview:



Also on our plate this week, the very interesting 3rd Congressional District debate. Interesting, because there is a viable 3rd party candidate in the race, Independent Carol Miller. Once again, we had to edit down our interviews with Miller and her opponents, Democrat Ben Ray Lujan and Republican Dan East. But, not to worry, here are the full versions:

Ben Ray Lujan



Carol Miller



Dan East



Last but not least this week, we promised you a little online extra segment of THE LINE. Here's the ever popular "On the Clock":



The Public Affairs Team

Who will join Jeff Bingaman in the U.S. Senate?

It will either be Republican Steve Pearce or Democrat Tom Udall that captures the seat in just a few weeks. Last week, we caught up with Representative Steve Pearce (you can see that interview here). And now, we get to hear the other side of the campaign. David Alire Garcia sat down with Democrat Tom Udall to get his thoughts on the race, and the important issues of the campaign.



And, our two of our Citizen Journalists also got the chance to fire off a few questions at Representative Udall, at a recent endorsement event. First up was Leah Valencia, followed by Kelly Byars.





Don't forget you can read more about our Citizen Journalists, their backgrounds, thoughts on the campaign, as well as their video reports, by heading to our "By the People, for the People" page.

The Bernalillo County District Attorney's Race

You may not have heard a lot about this race, with all the attention these days on the presidential campaigns, as well as all our congressional races. But this is a hotly contested race between an incumbent (Brandenburg) who has been in the District Attorney's seat now since 2001, and a take-no-prisoners challenger in Republican Lisa Torraco. it's a fascinating debate, because the two women seem to have drastically different philosophies about how a DA's office should be run. I don't know about you, but I have no idea how a DA's office should be run, so it makes it interesting for voters to decide which way to cast your ballot. We sat down on Sunday with both candidates to talk about the race. We hope the interview helps voters get a better feel for the race, and the candidates.




Another interesting part of this race is the obvious disdain and dislike these two women have for each other. If the interview itself doesn't give you a taste of that, just check out the brief exchange between the two women after we wrapped up the formal interview. For visual reference, Kari Brandenburg is seated to the right of David in this clip, and Lisa Torraco is off camera to the left. David asks the women about how they get their message out there in a year with so many other high profile races. Lisa claims Kari has the advantage because she is the incumbent, and Kari fires back with the fact that she works 15 hour days in her job, and therefore doesn't have any advantage in being able to get her message out to the public.



The Public Affairs Team

3rd Congressional District Debate

Just in case you missed the New Mexico Public Broadcasters and New Mexico First 3rd Congressional District debate, you can watch it right here. Republican Dan East, Democrat Ben Ray Lujan, and Independent Carol Miller address everything from health care, the economy and even renewable energy and our national labs.

Also included in the clip is New Mexico In Focus's live post-debate show, which includes analysis and insights from some of the shows regular contributors.

Power Struggles: The Desert Rock Power Plant

"Woman in Gas Mask" (courtesy: small axe organization)




The debate over the Desert Rock Power Plant may seem like a Four Corners fight, but it is really a lot bigger than that. The addition of a third power plant within a 30-mile radius may have economic impacts on our state for years to come. The argument for and against the plant are pretty simple. On the one hand, the project will create hundreds of jobs and bring millions of dollars in tax revenues to the Navajo Nation each year. But, opponents say it is the Navajo people themselves that might be left to pay hefty environmental and health issues created by the additional CO2, mercury and other emissions created by the plant. There's no easy solution, and I have a feeling it will be years before the whole issue gets resolved.

Up next in the fight is the BIA's final decision on an Environmental Impact Statement. In addition, there is the appeal of the EPA's air quality ruling to deal with. Needless to say, the battle is just beginning.

You can read much more about the plan, and especially the ongoing movement to squash the project on the desert rock blog or on the San Juan Alliance website. You can also read up on a study commissioned by opponents of the plant that looks at how renewable energy projects could be incorporated on tribal land, instead of continuing with the idea of a coal-fired plant.

We want to thank filmmaker Tony Estrada for all his hard work on the documentary that we aired to help explain the scope of the project a little better. Tony also had a lot of help on the project, as you can see below.

Segment Provided By
Independent Filmmaker Tony Estrada, Wild Horse Films

From footage from his Work-in-Progress Documentary
THE LAND WHERE EAGLES FLY

Director/Producer TONY ESTRADA, WILD HORSE FILMS

Camerawork Done By ANTONIO ACOSTA
DAVID CORTEZ
TONY ESTRADA
DAVID FLOETER
SOPHIE ROUSMANIERE

Editor PATRICK WILLINK

Graphics & Titles PATRICK WILLINK

Post Production Sound BRAD STODDARD
& Editing Magician

Additional Post DAVID CORTEZ
Production Services BRANDON JOHNSON
SOPHIE ROUSMANIERE

Poster Design BRANDON JOHNSON

Still Photographs By CHRIS CANDELARIO
DAILAN LONG
LISA MEERTS

Flute Music ADRIAN WALL


Special Thanks MARNI SAMUELS

We want to know what you think about the Desert Rock project. Either leave us a comment, or email the show at infocus@knme.org. We'll try to read a few of your comments in an upcoming show. On the topic of audience participation, don't forget to vote in this week's online poll, which looks at how confident you are in our state's election system.

And, don't forget to keep track of our citizen journalists. They are hard at work bringing their own opinions and perspectives on this historic election. Just click on the By the People, For the People channel to read their blog, and watch their videos!

The Public Affairs Team

Steve Pearce: One on One

We are doing our best to catch up with all our Congressional candidates between now and election day, and we will post our conversations right here once we have them. Right now it looks like the only question marks might be the 1st Congressional District, where as of right now neither Martin Heinrich or Darren White have set up a time to come in and talk with David Alire Garcia. We'll keep working them up until election day.

Right now, though, we want to share our conversation with Republic U.S. Senate hopeful Steve Pearce.



As part of our ongoing election coverage, we are also giving our Citizen Journalists a crack at the candidates. You can watch Leah, Darryl and Kelly interview Rep. Pearce, here.



Tomorrow, it's Tom Udall in the spotlight. Check back here for our interview with him, as well as our Citizen Journalist questions. Representative Udall will stop by the studio in the morning, and then in the afternoon, our Citizen Journalists will get to question him at a local endorsement rally.

The Public Affairs Team

The NewsHour in NM - Why Albuquerque?

As you already know by now, KNME is thrilled to play host to the NewsHour all this week. Albuquerque is only the second city that NewsHour has picked to spotlight over the last year or so (Pittsburgh being the other). You can see reports about and from New Mexico all this week on the NewsHour, which airs here on KNME from 5:30-6:30pm weeknights. We caught up with some high profile members of the NewsHour team to find out exactly why they decided to feature the Duke City, during this landmark election season.



One of the highlights of the NewsHour's coverage will be a taped segment with local reaction to Wednesday night's third and final presidential debate. You can see that segment Thursday night on the NewsHour. Also, be sure to check out the NewsHour's New Mexico page, which talks about the crews time here in the Land of Enchantment.

Election Town Hall with the NewsHour's Ray Suarez

Ray Suarez kicked off the NewsHour's week spotlighting our state this afternoon, by hosting a town hall focused on our role in the elections, as well as the media's coverage of the campaigns.

The town hall is edited into three parts, based on when our tapes ran out (approximately every 30 minutes). The event runs about 90 minutes in total.

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3

The PRC and a Congressional Debate

We've had a busy week here at KNME, and it's only going to get busier! Next week the NewsHour is in town, we have our third and final presidential debate, and we are also working on a special episode dealing with the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant up in the Four Corners. It would be the third coal-fired plant within a 40 mile radius, but the Navajo Nation says it will bring jobs and tax revenues to the reservation. More on that to come next week.

As for this week, we spent a lot of time talking about the Public Regulation Commission races, which have no shortage of drama. One thing I cam getting really tired of as a member of the media, is candidates that are determined not to go before the cameras and answer questions. We've been trying for well over two weeks now to interivew PRC candidate Jerome Block, Jr., but in the end his people just stopped returning our calls and emails. Very frustrating. But, Block is not alone. More and more candidates seem to think their best strategy is to stay in hiding. I guess the voters will ahve the ultimate say on whether or not it is a smart tactic.

Down from my soapbox! We did get to talk to two PRC candidates this week, Democrat Jason Marks, who is running in District 1, and Rick Lass, a Green Party Candidate running in District 3. In this week's show, we gave you a taste of those interviews. Click belore to watch the full conversations.

Jason Marks



Rick Lass



Also this week, we put the 2nd Congressional District race in the spotlight. Along with the other two PBS stations (KRWG in Los Cruces, and KENW in Portales) we simulcast a debate between Republican Ed Tinsley and Democrat Harry Teague. You can watch the debate, plus our analysis and opinons (recorded immediately after the debate) by clicking below.




Next Thursday, tune in right here live at 7pm for the 3rd Congressional District debate between Democrat Ben Ray Lujan, Jr., Republican Dan East, and Independent Carol Miller. We'll ahve live reaction and opinions again from 8-8:30pm. And on October 23rd it's the 1st Congressional District between Republican Darren White and Democrat Martin Heinrich.

And, don't forget to keep up with our citizen journalists! They are hard at work blogging their thoughts on the elections, and even filing some video reports, which you can see on their blog, which we are calling "By the People, for the People".

The Public Affairs Team

The NewsHour - Bigger Than Life!!

Maybe you've seen one of these billboards up around town, but if not, let me be the first to tell you, the NewsHour is coming to New Mexico next week! The show will be featuring our state and the Duke City in reports throughout the week. The coverage culminates with a special segment of "ordinary" New Mexicans reflecting on the 3rd and final presidential debate next Wednesday night.

We are only the second location to be picked as a spotlight by the NewsHour, so this is a very big deal for the entire Land of Enchantment. The correspondents from the NewsHour will also be reporting on the economy, health care as well as our role in the upcoming elections.

There is even an opportunity for you to get involved in the fun. This Sunday at 3pm at the UNM Department of Continuing Education, we are hosting a Town Hall with the NewsHour's Ray Suarez serving as the moderator. Topics will include what makes New Mexico a swing state, as well as reflections on the media coverage of these one of a kind elections. The Public is invited to attend, and doors open at 2:30pm. We are also taking questions. Just email your query to infocus@knme.org.

We are thrilled to be hosting the NewsHour all next week. If you see Ray Suarez, Judy Woodruff, or any of the rest of the gang, be sure to say Hi! And, don't miss all the great New Mexico coverage, every day next week at 5:30pm.

Kevin McDonald
Public Affairs Producer

McCain Rally - Watch it Here!!

Our camera was at UNM today for the John McCain "Straight Talk" rally in the SUB ballroom. The first clip is Senator Pete Domenici addressing the crowd about a half an hour before the official rally started. Domenici did not introduce Senator McCain. In fact, none of the dignitaries there got that honor today. Instead, a recorded voicetrack welcomed Senator McCain and his wife Cindy to the stage.



Now for the rally itself. Sorry that it cuts off abruptly at the end. I was trying to change out my tape, and of course that happened just as Senator McCain was wrapping up!

Episode 213 - San Juan River

Rollin' On The River



A beautiful day in late summer, and a trip down the San Juan with some passionate anglers - there are some perks to being co-host of New Mexico In Focus, as David Alire Garcia discovers.



In addition to talking with representatives of several state and national agencies, including the Game & Fish and the Bureau of Reclamation, about how to go forward on preserving the river's
renowned trout fishery, David went rollin' on the river to get a first-hand look at what makes it special to so many people.


On To Other News...


Of course, the election is never far from our minds, and The Line panelists focus on what our viewers say is the top issue facing the candidates: the economy.






Citizen Journalists

Also this week, New Mexico in Focus unveils an exciting new election project, called By the People, For the People. What we are doing is bringing six Citizen Journalists onboard over the next six weeks. They're profiled, in a shortened segment, in this week's episode. But if you want to watch the longer version and meet Rebecca, Gil, and Leah, and meet Darryl, Kelly, and David in depth, go to their Citizen Journalist blog.

3rd Congressional Seat Developments

New Mexico's Third Congressional District race is unique this year, in what is one of the state's most unique election years in history. It is the only race to feature a prominent 3rd party candidate in Independent Carol Miller. Carol has thus far been shut out of many debates and candidate forums, even though she has a history of impacting elections as a green party candidate. Miller will participate in a joint forum that we are airing along with the other two PBS stations on October 16th at 7pm. But, even that came together last minute, which means that Miller's name was not included in our Ventana viewer guide, that is sent out to our members all across the state. We have to send those guides to the printers pretty early, but it is unfortunate that her name is not there so that people know that her voice will be heard in at least one debate this year. We also want to make sure that people know we plan to interview Miller for New Mexico in Focus sometime in the coming days and weeks. Details are still being worked out.

But the strangeness that is CD3 does not end there. There is also a write-in candidate vying for this seat. Dave Starr claims he has done everything required to get on the ballot, and yet his name is not on the Secretary of State's website yet. Starr's camp just sent out this press release to us today explaining his take on things.

PRESS RELEASE

October 1, 2008

Is Starr still in the race?

Dave Starr, write-in candidate for the District 3 Congressional seat, is not sure.

By the deadline in early September, Starr filed the appropriate paperwork to be a write-in candidate. On September 19 Starr was contacted by the League of Women Voters and asked if he was still a candidate. He responded “Yes”. The League representative said Starr was not listed on the Secretary of State’s web page and that the League could not reach anybody in the Secretary’s office by phone to confirm. And without confirmation the League could not put Starr’s name on their literature, which was to go out soon. It was suggested that Starr contact the Secretary of State’s office and ask.

On September 25 Starr hand carried a letter to the Secretary of States office, asking pointed questions, including whether he was still a candidate. To this date, he has not received any notice to the contrary. Nor has he received any confirmation.

On September 30 Starr went to the Secretary of State’s office asking for a response to his letter. He was told by a staff member that his letter had been sent to the State Attorney General’s office. Starr then asked why his name was not on the Secretary of State’s web page and if he was still a candidate. The answer was that they could not say but that there should be a decision by the Attorney General’s office by Friday (October 3).

Starr, who has negative feelings about politics in New Mexico, has been campaigning for the last five months. He says politics in the state are politics by the elite, not the majority. He also says he believes the last 3 to 4 critical weeks have been a setback for him, because news sources and those sponsoring debates did not know he was a candidate, since he was not on the Secretary of State’s web page.

Starr says he has no idea what is to come but he believes his fight is a fight for “Government of the people, for the people, and by the people.

We will follow up with the Secretary of State's office to see what develops here. In the meantime be sure to mark your calendar for our CD3 Debate with Carol Miller, Dan East and Ben Ray Lujan Jr. It will take place on THursday, October 16th from 7-8pm, and will be followed by live analysis and opinions frorm our regular LINE panelists.

The Public Affairs Team