Nikolewski: Personal insults OK, criticism isn't

Look at that: Rob Nikolewski approves personal insults against people, in this case Secretary of Corrections Joe R. Williams and Governor Bill Richardson, but not anything that I write. Note, there is no profanity and no insults in my comment.

It makes me wonder what other comments he does not allow for no other reason than disagreeing with his obvious bias.

Maybe he learned this from being a sports reporter, his only previous stated experience before being hired by the Rio Grande Foundation.

Gessing lies about bike path

Should it be a surprise that Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing uses dishonest methods to prove a political point? No.

He does so again in a blog post called "Bike Path to Wal-Mart" (link). In the post, Gessing falsely tries to assert that there are no other bike paths from the area around the Wal Mart on the Westside of Albuquerque.

Gessing could have easily checked on the bike path map (link) from the city of Albuquerque's Web site to see that bike and multi-use paths go in all four directions from the area that he asserts is the end of the line.

Interestingly enough, though, Gessing seems to call for corporations to pay for things such as this bike path.

"Considering that those two establishments (Wal Mart and Chili's) are the most likely to gain from the trail, I wonder if they put up any money? I doubt it," the President of the Rio Grande Foundation wrote. This seems at odds with his previous positions on impact fees (link).

But staying consistent is just another victim of Gessing making a political point. I wonder how the Rio Grande Foundation's corporate founders feel about Gessing's new stance.

Florida-style accountability?

Paul Gessing for some reason loves Florida's education system even though the results are decidedly mediocre. Gessing laughably calls for Florida-style accountability (link) even though Florida has been fudging the numbers for years (link).

If you look at Florida when compared to the rest of the states when using actual numbers instead of their rigged numbers, the state is near the middle for graduation rates, right around New Mexico.

In other words, Gessing wants New Mexico to be more mediocre. Good plan, there, Paul.

Gessing swings and misses on state aid bill

In order to back his extremist take on a state aid bill that is widely popular among the public (link) because it would help keep teachers employed, Gessing ignored the truth about the economic impact of the bill (link).

Gessing has been pushing a flawed conservative talking point that federal government employees make twice as much as their private counterparts (link). Is this because he would prefer government employees join the unemployment lines populated by victims of the Bush economic policies?

Gessing also uses the Republican frame of calling the state aid bill, which will help keep state governments from cutting services and laying off schoolteachers, a "bailout". Like other far-right commentators, anything Gessing doesn't like he calls a bailout.

But he also does not know, or knows and chooses to say incorrectly, about the economic impact of the bill. Gessing says the bill, "...Among the beneficiaries of this new federal debt will be mostly government workers and the such..."

The bill actually CUTS the deficit. The not-for-profit Open Congress says (link):

The bill is fully offset — meaning that it will not add to the deficit — by cutting $11.9 billion to food stamps (bringing the program back to pre-Recovery Act levels), closing a tax loophole that U.S. companies use to operate tax-free in other countries, and $6.7 billion in recessions from Recovery Act programs, the Defense budget, and other areas. In total, the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the bill found that it would save the federal government $1.37 billion over the next ten years.

Gessing should correct these mistakes to prove that he is more interested in the facts than making partisan points. I am not very hopeful that Gessing will do so, but it would be the right hting to do.

RGF's sports reporter is on top of it

Rob Nikolewski loves him some Gary Johnson. He thinks that Gary Johnson is the best politician ever.

Of course, he can't quite stay on top of things. Nikolewski wrote, "Now, Salon.com, one of the favorite sites of the left-leaning commentariat, has written a positive article about Johnson called “The Most Interesting Republican You’ve Never Heard Of.” Here’s the story."

If you go to the link as he says, then you find out that the story is three months old. But "That Gary Johnson steamroller keeps movin’ on" according to Nikolewski.

My guess is that he's too busy just reprinting lists (link) and passing them off as news stories to actually read some real journalism.

In case you didn't get the sports reporter reference, Nikolewski's background isn't typical for someone to lead your "Santa Fe Bureau."

Rob Nikolewski worked as a sports anchor for seven different television stations across the country from 1983 until last year, according to his profile on LinkedIn.com. In 2008, he received a Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University, where his profile says he focused on economics, management, leadership and quantitative analysis.

(link)

NM Watchdog lets GOP candidates write their blog for them posts

If you are a Republican, you have to love New Mexico Watchdog. Not only does "editor" Jim Scarantino only right right-wing talking points -- sometimes he lets Republican candidates write their blog directly.

In one of the latest "blog posts" from Scarantino's site, he just reprinted a press release from Republican congressional candidate Steve Pearce (link). No other reporting, no other context. Unless you count, "This just in from the Pearce for Congress Campaign" as context.

And remember, New Mexico Watchdog is run by the Rio Grande Foundation -- a nonprofit that must be nonpartisan. I'm not sure, but just reprinting a partisan press release and saying it is a "blog post" with no other context doesn't just blur the line between reporting and partisan campaigning -- it erases it.

Scarantino promotes group that says Obama is a "covert hypnotist," and denies HIV-AIDS link

The problem with believing that everything that says "tea party" on it is a good thing is that there are a lot of nutjobs out there with ties to the tea party. Whether it is the racist Mark Williams (link) or life-destroyer and serial liar Andrew Breitbart, the crazy isn't far from the top.

But "investigative reporter" Jim Scarantino found some people crazier. The tea party mouthpiece stenographer highlighted a group called the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (link). AAPS. Sounds like a legitimate organization.

But a little bit of digging finds that this group holds some unorthodox views. Reporter Jon Ralston highlighted the craziness because tea party favorite Sharron Angle was linked to the group with an appearance at the very same Doctor's Tea Party that Scarantino highlighted (link).

The group has a piece arguing Barack Obama may have used "covert hypnosis" to sway crowds and below that is a link to a Q and A with a prominent birther: POTUSthehypnotist

And its journal once argued "there are real grounds for positively denying that HIV causes AIDS." That piece is here: GODdidit

Here's the AAPS ad for the event -- Angle is headliner

Here's the group's website, which includes a tab for a how-to guide for members to opt out of Medicare --AAPS

Here's the group's principles in which it describes Medicare as "evil" and "immoral" when it was passed:Medicare

No group is too crazy for the Rio Grande Foundation as long as they call themselves part of the tea party.