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Secretary of State Dianna Duran

2015 Recap: A lot of Duran, APS scandal fallout in September

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August ended with a bang (see the recap if you haven’t already) with the resignation of Albuquerque Public Schools superintendent Luis Valentino and criminal charges filed against Dianna Duran. The start of September was all about the fallout from those two major stories—mostly the Duran story. Duran legal troubles

NM Political Report looked at how a Secretary of State vacancy could come about and what that would mean. One of those was impeachment and removal from office; the Speaker of the House formed a committee to begin the impeachment process with Zach Cook, R-Ruidoso, and Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, as co-chairs; the committee held one meeting and hired an attorney to aid in the investigation but that was it and the committee never held a second meeting. Duran, for her part, was nowhere to be seen even two weeks after the charges were filed (she showed up to work for the first time more than three weeks after the charges were filed).

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2015 Recap: August saw APS scandal, charges against Duran

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August saw the Albuquerque Public Schools scandal and crisis go from nothing to a resignation and saw Secretary of State Dianna Duran be charged with more than 60-counts by the Attorney General. In other words, it was a more-than busy month (incidentally, it was also the top traffic month of the year for NM Political Report). Duran’s legal troubles began after Attorney General Hector Balderas filed 64 charges against her related to the spending of campaign cash. Democrats vowed to impeach Duran if she did not resign (she would not resign until October). But it was the APS scandal that dominated news for the month.

Quick Reads

2015 Recap: TRD scandals get worse, more questions in shooting

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July was the first month that stories about problems in the Taxation and Revenue Department began to come to light. The month also saw movement on the Jaquise Lewis case—prompted by NM Political Report stories—and a number of laws going into effect. State Auditor Tim Keller said that the TRD tried to “obstruct” an investigation. The allegations against TRD would continue for months and the Attorney General is looking into the allegations from Keller’s office. The Tax and Rev Department also botched a redaction of a taxpayer’s name when trying to discredit the investigation by the Auditor’s Office.

2015 Recap

2015 Recap: Special session, plus problems with teacher evaluations

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After months of bickering and finger-pointing, the Legislature convened for a quick special session where the legislators passed capital outlay legislation and a tax package before going home quickly. Earlier, we were told that the deadline had passed, so we looked at why it was still possible even after that deadline. We took a quick look at the top-dollar capital outlay projects that were included. Still, Martinez made some vetoes (mostly from Democrats). We investigated some problems with the state’s evaluation program, including the story of a reading teacher received low evaluation scores—based on students she didn’t even teach in subjects she didn’t teach.

2015 Recap

2015 Recap: May sees medical marijuana news, Lyft leaves the state

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NM Political Report looked at the evolution of the state medical marijuana program and how some were positioning themselves to cash in. A judge ruled that the state cannot force people who qualify for medical marijuana to try other “standard” treatments before they use prescribed marijuana. Note: Each weekday from here through December 22, we will be looking back at the top stories from each month here at NM Political Report. These could be the most-read stories, some interesting stories that didn’t get much attention or just plain important stories. Previous recaps: January.

2015 Recap

2015 Recap: April sees attention on Santolina, final pieces of session

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The legislative session ended, and NM Political Report was able to do more feature reporting, such as a look at the Santolina development on Albuquerque’s Westside (complete with a post of photos and a video discussing the controversial development). Later in the month, we looked at a bypass that was another piece in the Santolina puzzle while others looked at how tax money would go towards the development. Note: Each weekday from here through December 22, we will be looking back at the top stories from each month here at NM Political Report. These could be the most-read stories, some interesting stories that didn’t get much attention or just plain important stories. Previous recaps: January.

2015 Recap

2015 Recap: March sees Griego resign, session end

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The Legislative session largely ended in shambles, with no capital outlay and a tax package pushed by Gov. Susana Martinez fell prey to a short filibuster. Note: Each weekday from here through December 22, we will be looking back at the top stories from each month here at NM Political Report. These could be the most-read stories, some interesting stories that didn’t get much attention or just plain important stories. Previous recaps: January. February.

2015 Recap

2015 Recap: Legislative session kicked into high gear in February

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The Legislative session really kicked into gear in February of this year, with the House pushing out a large amount of Gov. Susana Martinez’ priorities. There still was time for a few non-breaking news features, however. Note: Each weekday from here through December 22, we will be looking back at the top stories from each month here at NM Political Report. These could be the most-read stories, some interesting stories that didn’t get much attention or just plain important stories. Previous recap: January.

2015 Recap

2015 Recap: January marked new day for NM House

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January 2015 was the first month of NM Political Report and our site launched on January 7 with three writers: Margaret Wright as senior reporter, Andy Lyman as a reporter and myself as editor. The month was jam-packed. Note: Each weekday from here through December 22, we will be looking back at the top stories from each month here at NM Political Report. These could be the most-read stories, some interesting stories that didn’t get much attention or just plain important stories. Wright had a two-part series on an oft-ignored part of the state despite its economic importance: the oil patch in southeastern New Mexico, the first major stories in the site’s history.