News

Impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney to prevent Wider War in the Middle East and Bring U.S. Forces Home from Iraq with Professor Francis Boyle
a radio show transcript

Gary King: "We Are All Constituents"
by Stephen Fox

The Hunting Fallacy
by Cyril Christo

Impeachment Limerick
Richard Arthure

What is a Culture of Peace?
by Louise Diamond

“Powerbrokers” (Legislative Leadership and Lobbyists) in Control of Conference Committee
by Stephen Fox

NM Senate Joint Memorial to Begin Process of Prohibiting Production of New Nuclear Weapons in New Mexico
by Leland Lehrman

Newly Elected Las Cruces Representative Jeff Steinborn Introduces Irrigation Fund Bill
by Stephen Fox

Native American Education Act Vital to New Senator Lynda Lovejoy
by Stephen Fox

Legislature is a “Brain Trust” to Accomplish All We Need in New Mexico
by Stephen Fox

Gary King: "We Are All Constituents"
by Stephen Fox, stephen@santafefineart.com

January 1, 2007 was one snowy day, and officials were being sworn in to office in the Capitol. No memorable speeches, really, until Gary King was sworn in as Attorney General. He thanked the many who were present, and the fact that they had had difficulties getting there through the bad weather; he then thanked very particularly one who wasn’t present, his grandmother, Molly King, for “teaching him the values of humility and honesty.” Dr. King then noted that on a snowy day like that many years earlier, his car had slid off an icy road on his way to the Legislature, and that he almost had died, and that he was even more particularly grateful to be there, alive, himself. His father, 3 time Governor Bruce King, handed him the Attorney General badge, affixing it to his suit coat pocket. This was a quiet, unassuming, and for me very moving thing to watch.

At this writing, Dr. King is traveling to Columbia University for a special course for Attorneys General. He intends to use his chemistry background particularly in Consumer and Environmental Protection to help improve New Mexicans’ lives, for example, to encourage the Feds to keep their promises to clean up toxic waste spills and areas at Los Alamos and Sandia Labs. Another example is New Mexico’s participation in a lawsuit against EPA to force better CO2 standards in all states, as well as joining with other states to ask the EPA to withdraw then improve some of their more arcane methods of tabulating mercury emission standards.

“The Attorney General’s goal is to apply the law fairly. The legislators arethe real policy makers.”

Will he be another firebranding Attorney General, like Eliot Spitzer, who Governor Richardson in 2005 described as the “future of the Democratic party?” Not Gary’s style; to him, the more exemplary Attorneys General Jeff Bingaman, whose professionalism and integrity raised the stature of the office, and Tom Udall, who took a strong interest in addressing Consumer and Environmental issues.

“Federal pre-emption is a fairly complex issue. Regarding Aspartame, if the state were to ban it outright, it would not be the FDA bringing suit against the state for doing so, but corporations and manufacturers,” King stated. King feels it necessary to do much more extensive research as to arguments as to whether the Federal government intends or ever intended to occupy the entire regulatory field in concerns of approving food additives. He feels certain that each state cannot make their own determinations, although there are jurisdictional exceptions which are noteworthy: New York City banning trans fats, and even New Mexico banning sulfites and sulfides by regulation not statute. This came to pass after physicians and health officials brought specific medical problems to the attention of regulatory bodies.

I then informed him that both of New Mexico’s regulatory bodies, the Environmental Improvement Board and the Board of Pharmacy had seriously and earnestly considered the question of banning aspartame from food and drugs, respectively, but had been essentially shut down for two reasons:1) loud corporate objections, clamors, and demands for New Mexico’s silence about their potential product liability due to the neurodegenerative harm done by their products, and 2) the almost total lack of response by his predecessor when asked repeatedly by these two boards for her official opinion on whether and how these Boards should proceed.

“I do believe the state has some authority within the food and pharmacy statutes; aspartame is an important issue, and we will look into it,” Dr. King stated.
King’s family (no relation to the King Ranch folks in Texas) came to New Mexico from both Arkansas and the San Angelo Texas area and by virtue of long hours, hard work, and some strategic land purchases during the Depression by his grandfather, Will King, began to amass the vast number of acres they now own. “My dad and my uncles milked cows daily, and drove trucks of it from Stanley to the railhead in Lamy in the morning before they went to high school to ship to Albuquerque, and then again after school,” he commented.

“I want to protect New Mexico families, particularly children, from violence, domestic violence, internet and sexual predators, and from scams. Much of this 2007 legislation is being carried by my cousin Rhonda King and Danice Picraux; and our drunk driver’s package is being carried by Ken Martinez, other related pieces by Senator Kent Cravens and the new Representative Moe Maestas. We have been working on this legislation since the election. We want to make sure that public officials are not mis-spending, and that there is government accountability for particularly officials and for judges.”

Like many scholars, King believes that the Legislature was not really designed to be totally efficient, that the theories of the Founders were to protect personal freedoms, to hold the fabric of the society together, and that such would not necessary result from Legislatures passing every bill that came before it. He conceded that this might be frustrating for citizens who bring forward their own legislation, but that “the voters in the long run are in charge. We are all constituents.”

King wants the AG’s contribution to bring forth the Opinions requested by Legislators and by state boards and agencies as thoroughly and as quickly as possible, for example, a routine analysis of whether a bill attempts some goal which is in fact federally pre-empted.

He stated that he would be happy during the interim to work with particularly the

Health Department to devise legislation to require labeling for additives like aspartame, a question he was still open on. When asked his views on comparing Big Tobacco suits to potential Big Aspartame suits, King clarified that state agencies in many states noted that they were paying for the health effects resulting from Tobacco’s damages, and that this was the fiscal basis for the Tobacco suits. On aspartame, “we are not far enough down that road.”

He thanked me for making him think more profoundly about the larger picture for his 4 year tenure as Attorney General of New Mexico, and said that he wanted to be open and responsive to people’s ideas, concerns, and problems, through his toll free numbers on the website, and through his television public service spots on many issues. He was pleased to note the recent hiring of Al Lama as his Deputy Attorney General. Lama was head of the Civil Division under Tom Udall.