Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 2

gy employees accused of involvement in the time sheet issue. Richard Cripps, chairman of the Biology Department, referred questions to College of Arts and Sciences Dean Brenda Claiborne. Claiborne said Friday that she could not comment on possible disciplinary action, other than to say the matter is under discussion. have no reason to believe this is widespread (in the College of Arts and Claiborne said of the problems listed in the audit. really appears to be an isolated incident.

We will continue with our training and improve our training and be sure it happen The unauthorized bonus plan for administrative employees cost UNM about $20,000 over the past five years. It was apparently a longstanding practice, dating to at least 2002 and possibly to 1985. Fourteen staff members were given unauthorized paid leave for birthdays and for the last hours of the work day before certain holidays and semester breaks, equaling about 17 hours a year for each employee given the perk, the audit said. Notice of the bonuses was posted on the office bulletin board and distributed to new employees at orientation. In another instance, a biology employee is suspected of falsifying the time sheets of a temporary employee so the worker could receive paid annual, sick and bereavement leave and holiday pay when the employee eligible for it.

Only regular full-time or part-time staff who work 20 hours a week or more are eligible for the paid leave and holiday pay. The temporary employee was improperly paid $2,550. But the improper payroll handling always benefit employees. Investigators found the department paid at least two employees straight time for hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week. Failure to pay time and a half is a violation of the US-UNM Labor Agreement, Human Resources concluded.

Regent Carolyn Abeita, a member of the audit committee, said the findings concern her. need to operate within the confines of labor Abeita said. She said she wants to make sure the university taking advantage of its employees and that employees taking advantage of the university. The audit report also notes violations of UNM purchase card policies. The Biology Department used PCards, which are similar to credit cards, to pay for cell phones, gift cards and meals.

The department also issued a PCard to a temporary employee and to a student employee, which allowed. Biology is one of largest academic departments, with about 44 faculty members, 89 staff members and 1,300 undergraduate students. The department, in a 2006 audit, was cited for payroll deficiencies, prompting auditors in the current report to state that there appears to be a problem. The most recent audit was launched after the Payroll Department detected potential payroll violations last spring. Mexico or across the country.

But consider this: Voters largely vote their pocketbooks in 1994. Crime was the big issue back then. Today, we have double-digit unemployment, bank bailouts and a soaring federal budget deficit. In New Mexico, Democrats will face some additional hurdles come November. Freshman U.S.

House members are generally considered more vulnerable at election time than veteran House members, and all three of New congressmen are freshman Democrats. (Neither of the senators is up for re-election.) Before the Democratic tsunami in the 2008 general election that swept the freshmen into office, two of the House seats had been held by Republicans one for 40 years, the other for 18. As for the state House elections, incumbent Democrats will have to defend any tax increases enacted to deal with the budget deficit. But the big race in New Mexico this year is for governor. So far, the only announced candidate for the Democratic nomination is Lt.

Gov. Diane Denish, and she has her challenges. Denish must establish her own identity while sharing credit for the successes of Richardson and distancing herself from his failures. She is also a government insider swimming against what may become a tide of voter distaste for government. Another problem for Denish: Richardson and the Legislature are considering tax increases to deal with the state budget crunch, and any increases are going to be salt in the wound of voters disenchanted with government.

Five Republicans are seeking their nomination for governor, and some conservatives have expressed concerns about the size of the field and the potential for infighting that could lead to defeat in November. How soon they forget. Johnson defeated three other Republicans in winning the GOP nomination in 1994. A self-made man from the construction business, he was the only primary election candidate who worked in government. Outside the Capitol on Tuesday, as the Legislature began its 30-day session, Johnson and Doug Turner, one of the Republican gubernatorial candidates this year, teamed to protest against tax increases as a solution to the budget troubles.

You help notice that Turner in 2010 looks a lot like Johnson in 1994. Turner built his own business, a communications firm, and has never held elective office. His competition in the primary election also looks a lot like what Johnson faced. The other GOP gubernatorial candidates are a member of the state House, a state district attorney, a former chairman of the Republican Party and the son of a famous politician. Turner worked as campaign manager on his successful re-election race in 1998, but the former governor has stopped short just barely of endorsing Turner.

think do a great job as says a quote from Johnson on campaign Web site. a very good people person, sharp and he communicates well. got all the Turner also happens to be 41, the same age of Johnson when he was elected in 1994. UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Thom Cole can be reached in Santa Fe at 505-992-6280 or at A2 Albuquerque Journal Saturday, January 23, 2010 God bless America, and everybody? Vancouver was reported to be set to host the Winter Olympics games next month in British Columbia.

The athletes are training hard. Last week, President Obama just set a world record in the Downhill and that was in the Washington Post poll. New Kennedy Airport completely shut down when an unscreened male passenger slipped past security. His lawyer says he went through the wrong door. This is the second breach of Kennedy security in one week if you count the Senate seat.

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin declared that chickens from the U.S. contain too much chlorine and are unsafe to eat. nothing we can do about this. The free-range chickens in California have access to 6 million swimming pools. The French government blamed the United States for the delay in relief supplies arriving in Haiti.

a former French colony like Beirut, Vietnam and Angola. France is such an irresponsible mother, she is known around the U.N. as OctoMom. Argus Hamilton is host comedian at The Comedy Store in Hollywood. He can be reached for speaking engagements by e-mail at NEW MEXICO Friday numbers Roadrunner Cash 8-9-10-22-25 Pick 3 1-6-4 Thursday numbers Roadrunner Cash 7-10-22-29-32 Pick 3 1-2-7 Wednesday numbers Powerball 15-32-43-44-46 Powerball: 19 Power Play: 4 Lottery numbers TODAY IN HISTORY THE LIGHTER SIDE TODAY IS SATURDAY, JAN.

23, the 23rd day of 2010. There are 342 days left in the year. On this date in 1960, the Swiss-Italian-made bathyscaphe Trieste, owned and operated by the U.S. Navy, carried two men to the deepest known point in the Pacific Ocean, reaching a depth of more than 35,000 feet inside the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. In 1789, Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington, D.C.

In 1845, Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. In 1849, English-born Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree, from the Medical Institution of Geneva, N.Y. In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 1943, critic Alexander Woollcott suffered a fatal heart attack during a live broadcast of the CBS radio program In 1950, the Israeli Knesset approved a resolution affirming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In 1964, the 24th amendment to the Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified. In 1968, North Korea seized the Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo, charging its crew with being on a spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later. In 1973, President Richard M.

Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War. In 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted in Karachi, Pakistan, by a group demanding the return of prisoners from the Afghan campaign; he was later killed. BIRTHDAYS: Actress Jeanne Moreau is 82. Actress Chita Rivera is 77. Actor Gil Gerard is 67.

Actor Rutger Hauer is 66. Singer Anita Pointer is 62. Actor Richard Dean Anderson is 60. Princess Caroline of Monaco is 53. Singer Anita Baker is 52.

Actress Gail is 47. Actress Mariska Hargitay is 46. Rhythm-and-blues singer Marc Nelson is 39. Actress Tiffani Thiessen is 36. Rock musician Nick Harmer (Death Cab for Cutie) is 35.

Christian rock musician Nick DePar tee (Kutless) is 25. The Associated Press ARGUS HAMILTON Numbers supplied by The Associated Press and lottery Web sites CORRECTIONS POLICY The policy is to correct errors of fact in a timely manner. If you wish to notify us of an error, you can contact us through one of the numbers in the staff box on this page or call and leave a message at 823-3949. Or, you can e-mail us at FOR THE RECORD A story on the band A Hawk and a Hacksaw in Venue contained various errors. The Albuquerque-based duo, Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost, are not married and did not meet in Europe.

Both Albuquerque natives, they met here in 2005, four years after the band started. The pair play music of the Balkans. HOW TO REACH US ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL P.O. Drawer Albuquerque, NM 87103 7777 Jefferson NE 87109 (505) 823-4400 www.ABQjournal.com ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL (USPS is published daily, except Sunday, by the Journal Publishing 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109-4343. The Sunday Journal is published weekly.

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Gary Johnson, left, and Doug Turner, a Republican candidate for governor, picket against tax increases outside the state Capitol in Santa Fe on Tuesday, the first day of the 2010 legislative session. 2010: A Case of Political Vu? from PAGE A1 State Destroys Santa Fe Studios Project E-Mails from PAGE A1 the request, citing the policy of destroying them after 90 days. She also said this was the first e-mail inspection request the department had received. is our first brush with she said. important documents, contracts, MOUs (memorandums of understanding) and information gathered about the company, She said that as for other e-mails, followed our policy, which is three But, she said, look at getting to a more comprehensive policy.

Right now in accordance with the policy that Jaramillo, who heads the State Records Center and Archives, said Friday she would draft a letter to Economic Development Department Secretary Fred Mondrgon seeking to clarify the law for his department. Her office, she said, consults and helps departments set up adequate records-management programs. The Santa Fe Studios project has been in the public eye since 2008. The Economic Development Department is a key player in financing the project via a $3.5 million Local Economic Development Act grant. Jaramillo said state records, including electronic ones, are to be kept at least one year, before they are transferred to her office.

can tell you that been transferred Jaramillo said. Calls to the office of Attor ney General Gary King were not returned Friday. Sarah Welsh, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, said e-mails are records to be kept according to their content, such as official business. Those that talk about doughnuts in the break room can be deleted, but those dealing with substantive matters cannot. The documents provided to the Journal on Thursday were benign, with department heads and others from the New Mexico Film Office talking about setting up meetings or reminding people about meetings.

For example, Lisa Strout, the director of the film office and Jason Hool, president of Santa Fe Studios talked about a lunch meeting. The absence of other correspondence makes it impossible to know more about discussions. unfortunate because, and the difficulty, lots of questions about how business is said Rep. Dennis Kintigh, a Roswell Republican, who has questioned the film subsidy program. The Santa Fe Studios project has come under fire because it is receiving almost $19 million in public loans and grants, to help with construction and a land purchase.

That relationship, Kintigh said, begs certain questions. way we deal with that is transparency and Kintigh said. have to absolutely walk the line. They have to be more careful. In this environment, we need to be more UNM Audit Finds Biology Department Falsified Time Sheets from PAGE A1 lll.