Moreover, the letter affirms the illegality of a medicinal marijuana smoker purchasing weapons. Already, those who seek to purchase firearms or ammunition must fill out ATF Form 4473. Question 11.e. specifically asks: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?” Answering ‘yes’ legally bars the individual from purchasing guns or ammunition.

The ATF letter several times referred to marijuana as an addictive drug. According to a summary of the book The Science of Marijuana (2008) in Psychology Today, a person’s risk of developing an addiction to marijuana is roughly 9 percent, compared to 33 percent for tobacco users and 15 percent for alcohol users.

Former Gov. Bill Richardson signed Senate Bill 523, known as the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, into law in September of 2007.

At the time of the passage, Richardson said: “I’m proud to sign legislation that makes patient care an important priority in this state…It is time for Congress and the federal government to follow our lead and help those forced to endure painful, chronic diseases.”

The New Mexico Independent called ATF for clarification on penalties associated with offering misleading information while purchasing a firearm; a response from the bureau is pending. In May, The American Independent wrote on the intense politicking that went into federal officials scrubbing information on the medical benefits of marijuana from a National Institutes of Health database.

For more information about the state’s medical marijuana program, visit the New Mexico Infectious Disease Bureau.

“My hope is that from this success in the foreign policy arena two days ago, that he will be emboldened to take once again to the Congress legislation — not just to increase a renewable energy standard — but climate change legislation that this country and the world need,” Richardson said.

The foreign policy success that Richardson referred to was the death of Osama bin Laden, who was killed by United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday.

Before being elected New Mexico’s governor in 2002, Richardson served in Congress, as the Secretary of Energy and as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

Any climate legislation would face an uphill battle in the current Congress. Republicans control the House of Representatives, and the Senate was unable to reach 60 votes on climate legislation in the last Congress, which had a much higher percentage of Democrats.

The former Richardson staffers include Dave Contarino, Amanda Cooper, and Jim Noel.

New Mexico, like most other states, uses the winner-take-all system to determine who gets our five electoral votes. So, if a candidate wins the state by one vote — or, say, by 366 votes, which was Al Gore’s margin over George W. Bush in 2000 — he or she gets all five electoral votes.

During the past state legislative session, the New Mexico House passed a memorial asking the secretary of state and the attorney general to “study and compare the current electoral college system and the national popular vote system” and to report their findings to the Legislative Council by November.

But, as Barry Massey of The Associated Press pointed out in a story published Wednesday, the proposal to join a compact with other states won’t get much traction with the current administration in Santa Fe.

Any such change to the election of presidents wouldn’t go into effect until states representing a majority if the votes in the electoral college, or 270, signed on to the legislation. Currently, each state receives an electoral vote for each representative to Congress and each senator — so each state has three electoral votes. The District of Columbia also receives three electoral votes because of the 23rd Amendment.

According to the opinion from King’s office, Richardson’s public records should be subject to requests from the Inspection of Public Records Act. Private records, however, would remain sealed.

Richardson gave his records to the State Archives and had the records, including e-mails, sealed for eight years. Local media outlets had requests to inspect the records denied because of a 1967 law. According to the office of the Attorney General, that record does not pertain to “public” records but only to “personal” materials donated to the State Archives.

“The restrictions, moratoriums and limitations permitted under Section 14-4-11 apply only to ‘personal’ files, records and documents,” Chief Deputy Attorney General Albert J. Lama wrote in the opinion. “By limiting the statutory provision’s coverage to ‘personal’ materials, we believe the legislature intended to distinguish them from ‘public’ records that are already required to be retained and preserved under the Public Records Act.”

Later in the opinion, Lama wrote, “While permitting an elected or former elected state official to restrict access to his or her personal, private records makes sense, nothing in Section 14-2-11 suggests that the legislature intended it to restrict the public’s access to public records.”

The letter was sent to State Records Director Sandra Jaramillo, lawyer Justin Miller and Director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government Sarah Welch.

The full letter is available here.

The Examiner.com report, which cited “numerous sources,” came from Dr. Michael Williams, an Albuquerque pastor on Christmas Eve. Williams also posted the report on his personal website.

The governor’s spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia told Steve Terrell at the Santa Fe New Mexican, “The Governor has no plans to leave New Mexico. He is looking forward to becoming a private citizen.”

The unsourced reports went mostly unnoticed throughout the weekend. Only a Christmas Day article on Korea Times mentioned the report. The only sourcing on this post was from Examiner.com.

The story became more widespread after Fox News mentioned it Monday. Fox News incorrectly sourced the story to Washington Examiner. As of this writing, Washington Examiner has not mentioned any story about Bill Richardson replacing Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

The Washington Examiner reported Saturday that outgoing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson could succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Citing “numerous sources” saying Richardson may replace Clinton and wants a job in the Obama administration and Clinton may be interested in taking a break, the paper noted Richardson’s recent “unofficial” trip to Pyongyang to try to ease tensions between the North and South Korea.

While both The Washington Examiner and Examiner.com are owned by Philip Anschutz, they are editorially separate.

Locally, KOAT reported on the rumors, saying the “rumors cropped up on Korean media outlets, the Washington Examiner and Fox News.” KOAT included a denial from “Richardson’s staff.”

Mediaite noted that the Washington, D.C., Fox affiliate also reported on “several reports” of Richardson potentially replacing Clinton.

CNN’s Ed Henry reported Monday that there is “nothing to it.” And that “a senior administration official” said that it was “essentially being laughed off by the administration.”

It is another example of how unsourced reports can quickly go from the least reputable of sources to discussion on cable news and on the internet.

During Richardson’s Dec. 16-20 trip, South Korea participated in live-fire drills that prompted a threat of retaliation by North Korea. Cooler heads prevailed, and North Korea did not respond.

“I am very encouraged by the news that North Korea will not react militarily to South Korea’s drills,” Richardson said. “During my meetings in Pyongyang, I repeatedly pressed North Korea not to retaliate. The result is that South Korea was able to flex its muscles, and North Korea reacted in a statesmanlike manner. I hope this will signal a new chapter and a round of dialogue to lessen tension on the Korean peninsula.”

Richardson gained some concessions from the North Koreans, including allowing nuclear inspectors to return to the country. He also negotiated a deal where North Korea agreed to sell buy fresh fuel rods from nuclear power plants to a third party.

South Korea said it was too early to tell if the offer from North Korea was genuine or not.

“We need to assess overall the scope of inspection and the motivation behind North Korea agreeing to let IAEA inspectors back in,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun told reporters Monday.

Richardson also discussed a military commission that would involve representatives from North Korea, South Korea and the United States to monitor and prevent conflicts in the disputed areas of the West Sea.

Richardson was not in North Korea on an official State Department trip. Richardson has traveled to the secretive country before and received diplomats in New Mexico from the country.

The Washington Post reported “there’s talk that outgoing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson may be off to North Korea next week for a private chat with top officials at the invitation of key people in the nuclear crowd over there.”

Earlier this year, Richardson “lobbied fiercely” to go to North Korea. Former presient Jimmy Carter ended up going instead and secured the release of an American prisoner.

Last year, North Korean diplomats met with Richardson in Santa Fe.

All six Mexican governors, plus several governors-elect, are in attendance, The New York Times reported. The reason for the spat? Brewer’s SB 1070 immigration law, which prompted a boycott of the year’s original border governors conference, to be hosted by Brewer. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson stepped up in July to host the conference instead.

These conferences have been going on for years — this is the 28th, in fact — and have accomplished some real results, including agreements to share intelligence on trafficking and lobby federal governments for better border crossing infrastructure.

This year, though, the Arizona immigration law has caused some tension, the New York Times reported today:

Ms. Brewer’s name did not come up directly in the opening remarks, but Gov. Humberto Moreira Valdés of Mexico’s Coahuila State left no doubt about who he was speaking about when he praised Mr. Richardson and Mr. Maldonado for their friendship with Mexico and noted that not every border leader thought the same way. [...]

Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said the border governors typically dealt with nuts and bolts issues that cross national boundaries, like improving the border economy and helping adjacent states with firefighting. At last year’s session in Monterrey, Mexico, Mr. Richardson was also the only American governor present after others dropped out at the last minute because of scheduling concerns.

“The ongoing collaboration among the 10 border states is important,” said Mr. Selee, one of the experts who was to address the elected officials. “The meeting itself rises and falls in prominence.”

The conference is also considered good for relations with Mexico, which are important as the countries work together on drug trafficking problems. U.S.-Mexico relations recently went through a slightly tense patch when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton compared the situation with drug cartels there to an insurgency, much to the chagrin of Mexican politicians.

- Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration law had its first day in court Thursday, when a judge heard a challenge of the law from a Phoenix police officer but issued no ruling. District Court Judge Susan Bolton will hear the case brought by the Justice Department against SB 1070 next week. Arizona will have support in the form of “friend-of-the-court” briefs from nine state attorney generals — three of whom are Republicans running for governor — and a group of House Republicans.

- Immigration enforcement is at a new high, with 4,145 cases referred to federal prosecutors in March and April, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. That was the largest number of referrals for any two-month period since the creation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

- Arizona’s immigration law convinced some migrant workers from Mexico to stay home, prompting observers to question whether unemployed Americans will take on the tough harvest jobs. (It’s what Stephen Colbert wants Americans to do.)

- A list of 1,300 accused illegal immigrants living in Utah and their private information was circulated early this week to government agencies and media. Utah launched an investigation into the source of the information and announced today that at least two state employees appear to be behind the list. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the state does not plan to prosecute people on the list, but will move forward on possible privacy law violations by the list’s creators.

- Rep. Xavier Becerra, (D-Calif.), the vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Tuesday the Dems could still tackle immigration reform this year. If they do, Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Mike Honda (D-Calif.) want to include provisions for gay rights.

- The Mexico-U.S. border governors conference is back on after Arizona’s Jan Brewer pulled out of hosting last month. Arizona was set to host the 28th annual conference, but Brewer canceled after Mexican politicians threatened to boycott. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Thursday that he will host the conference instead, but it still won’t be complete: Brewer and Rick Perry of Texas said they won’t attend.

- Haitians living illegally in the U.S. when a hurricane hit six months ago will be given additional time to apply to stay and work in the country legally.

- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered a deployment Friday of California National Guard troops to the border. The order will support Obama’s proposal to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the border, with 224 stationed in California. Schwarzenegger’s order said the troops deployed will not be used in a direct law enforcement role.

Gary Johnson (left) is introduced by Nick Gillespie on Tuesday night. (Photo by David Weigel)

The Tuesday night meet-and-greet with former Gov. Gary Johnson (R-N.M.) was supposed to draw a bigger crowd. More than 10 people who’d RSVP’d for the event at Reason magazine’s Washington, D.C. offices had begged off, on account of the fresh snow that had started to build on the drifts piled high for nearly a week. That gave the few dozen attendees time to shake off the snow and sample the Whole Foods catering and open bar as they chatted with the affable Johnson. It also gave Nick Gillespie, the editor of Reason.com, an opening for a joke.

“Just so you know, Gary is already having an effect,” said Gillespie, bringing a microphone to members of the crowd who were asking questions. “The federal government has announced it’s closing tomorrow. So if you stay here all week, we might balance the budget.”

[GOP1]Johnson, dressed in a blue business suit and standing behind a logo-less podium, chuckled at the gallows humor. The crowd of libertarian activists and a few journalists laughed along. Johnson’s fans included staffers at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the libertarian think tank that’s planning lawsuits against NASA over global warming science, and the Marijuana Policy Project, whose 15th anniversary gala Johnson had spoken at last month. His short presentation and Q&A, a variation of a presentation he’s giving all over the country, rolled out the new three-point economic plan of his Our America organization: deep spending cuts (including cuts to entitlement programs), a flat tax, and less federal regulation of business and immigration.

But what could Johnson do that Tea Party groups and D.C. conservatives weren’t doing already?

“Obviously, he’s going to run for president in a couple years,” said Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard economics professor who’s helping out Our America and who came to D.C. to participate in the Q&A. “So that’s one thing that differentiates this from some of the groups that are just putting out statements.”

Since launching Our America late last year, Johnson has been admirably blunt about his intentions. He won’t announce anything yet, but he’s seen what it takes to mount a libertarian-leaning Republican presidential bid, and he’s laying the groundwork to do so. He’s “showing up to speak to whoever asks me,” he says, which means he’s spending much of the most snowy week in 111 years of Washington, D.C.’s history doing media interviews and talking to libertarian groups. In two weeks, he’ll be back to speak at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. And on paper, Johnson is a more spotlight-ready libertarian hero than Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), famous more for his personal lobbying for marijuana legalization (it’s one of Our America’s agenda items) than for a return to the gold standard.

“Right now, we’re where we’d thought I’d be a year from now,” said Johnson in the Q&A. “On the one hand, that’s bad, because it tells you what a state this country is in. Things are worse than we’d thought they’d be. But you’ve also got an energy out there and a desire for something new.”

The effect of the sped-up schedule was on display Tuesday night. Johnson knocked some questions out of the park, arguing that he’d helped change the way voters in New Mexico thought about marijuana after he controversially came out for legalizing and taxing the drug. “When I announced that, my approval rating fell from 58 percent to 28 percent,” he said. “I went all over the state explaining my position. When I left office, my approval rating was 58 percent.” But he responded more generally to other questions, letting Miron flesh out some of his answers. When Reason senior editor Katherine Mangu-Ward asked what Johnson thought of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wisc.) alternative budget, a flashpoint for debate among D.C.’s liberals and conservatives, the governor threw up his hands.

“Actually,” said Johnson. “I’m not familiar with it at all.”

“Do you think that it’ll pass, then?” joked Gillespie.

In other answers, Johnson revealed economic policy stances in line with the most conservative elements of the Republican Party, but social stances more popular with the left. He told reporters that he supported the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and supported “gay unions,” but not gay marriage. He’s pro-choice “up to the point of viability.” On a day that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and other conservatives joked that the heavy snow was disproving global warming, Johnson only cricitized environmentalists for being heavy-handed.

“For argument’s sake,” said Johnson, “global warming is happening, it’s man-caused. That given, I think the effects of it are grossly exaggerated and I think the amount of money we’re looking to spend on it is grossly, grossly misguided.”

Our America is a 501(c)3 non-profit group, not a PAC like the ones chaired by Mitt Romney or Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.), and not a 527 like Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions, even though it shares office space with Johnson’s political strategist’s firm. So far, it’s a vehicle for Johnson to tour the country and put his ideas in one place, rather than a way to build his national standing by giving money to Republican candidates. That didn’t prevent him from taking a swipe at the people he might debate if he entered the 2012 race.

“Without exception,” Johnson told TWI, “the current presidential candidates — if you took the 10 or so likely candidates — if you put a piece of cardboard up over their likenesses, if you disguised their voices, you wouldn’t know which is which.”

He poured some cold water on the idea that the GOP had proven itself ready to run the country again, knocking the party for opposing Medicare cuts as a tactic in the debate over health care reform. “It would be a mistake to take Scott Brown’s election for a mandate for Republicans,” he told TWI. “I think people are so angry at everyone in office that they’re willing to vote anyone out.” And he criticized Republicans for supporting the continued wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (“I don’t think any of them could explain why we’re there”) and not coming out against torture.

Nonetheless, he ruled out a third-party bid. “I’m a Republican and I’m going to stay a Republican,” he told TWI.

Johnson also criticized Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), his successor back home, on the grounds that he’d added more than 4500 jobs to the state payroll after Johnson cut 1000.

“I’d argue that there’s no area of government that’s improved because of these 4500 stones he threw into the machine,” said Johnson. “And that’s just the ‘E.’ I can go A to Z if you. He bought himself a jet — that’s the ‘J.’ He bought himself a train from Albuquerque to Santa Fe — that’s the ‘T.’”

That sort of political point-scoring was a factor missing from Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential bid, a long-shot effort that most libertarians supported — many with reservations — despite being frustrated by the candidate’s lack of commitment to a grueling campaign schedule. Paul had blanched at skipping work in Congress, leading him to schedule fewer campaign events. That’s a problem that the independently wealthy Johnson — he sold his construction company 11 years ago — doesn’t have. His job, he explained, is “getting out there.”

“I talked to the staff of Ron Paul’s New Hampshire operation,” said Ronald Nielson, the president and CEO of NSON Opinion Research, who worked on Johnson’s 1994 bid for governor and has returned to help him work on Our America. “He didn’t really go there. You know, he’d go once in a while, but it wasn’t a really organized effort. They told me that they’d organize events, and he’d cancel. They’d organize trips, and he’d cancel. They’d organize four events and he’d show up for one of them. I don’t know what that was about, but that’s not what we’re doing.”

As the Reason event wound down, Johnson’s listeners moved closer to the open bar and assessed his performance. He needed some polish on economic issues. He needed to transfer the passion he had on ending the war on drugs to other topics. How, they wondered, would he compete with other Republicans? Talking with TWI, Johnson suggested that he was on his way.

“The support that I’ve found surprising is sitting down with what would be described as right-wing Christian Republicans and finding support,” said Johnson. “That’s been a surprise.”