Political roundup

Days until the primary election: 104

From one governor to another: Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, has joined a last-minute push to stop the execution of a convicted murderer in Alabama.

In an open letter to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, Richardson wrote that signing legislation in 2009 to abolish capital punishment in New Mexico was the most difficult decision of his life. Richardson wrote to Ivey with fellow members of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty.

He and the other commissioners urged Ivey to let the condemned inmate, Doyle Hamm, spend the rest of his life in prison instead of being executed Thursday.

Co-signed by Judge Navi Pillay, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Ruth Dreifuss, former president of Switzerland, the letter reflected how Richardson has gone from reluctant convert to the cause of abolishing the death penalty to an advocate.

The Birmingham News reports reports that Hamm, 61, was convicted of murdering a motel clerk in 1987.

Hamm has been on death row for decades and now has lymphatic cancer.

Citing his health concerns, a federal judge stayed his execution. An appeals court vacated that stay, however, leaving open the possibility that Hamm will be executed this week.

In the letter Richardson had co-signed, the organization said it would be unconscionable to execute Hamm given his medical condition, as lethal injection could leave him paralyzed to consciously suffocate.

Tax time: Democrats have argued that President Donald Trump’s tax bill is a giveaway to the rich. But Republicans are not running from a chance to talk about lowering taxes.

Republican Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce held a news conference earlier this week with the CEO of Haciendas at Grace Village, an assisted living and memory care company in Las Cruces, which he says is increasing salaries for staff and launching a $3 million expansion that will create about 20 new full-time jobs.

Gary Coppedge, head of the company, said he had been planning to expand anyway. But he argued the tax reform has buoyed confidence in the business climate.

Asked about the state’s tax policies, Pearce pointed to red tape, not necessarily tax rates.

“I don’t see that we need to lower tax rates here,” he said. “The most effective thing we could do is take away the hostility of our government towards business.”

The visit is just the latest effort to promote a bill that was opposed by the rest of New Mexico’s congressional delegation — all Democrats — on the grounds that it eventually would mean higher taxes for individuals and force cuts to programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

But expect to hear a lot more about the tax bill in the coming months. On Monday, for example, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich’s Republican opponent, Mick Rich, launched radio ads noting the Democratic senator voted against the measure.

Grade A: On Tuesday, The New Mexican reported that a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, Jeff Carr, had blasted the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico for declining to endorse him — even though the organization had not yet publicly announced its picks.

On Tuesday, the teachers union publicly backed U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham for governor and state Sen. Howie Morales for lieutenant governor.

With thousands of members, the union is one of the most active in New Mexico politics, and its nod can help in a Democratic Party primary.

But as Carr pointed out, the endorsements are not necessarily bellwethers. The union also backed Morales when he ran for governor in 2014, and he placed fourth in the Democratic primary that year.

Schooled: Two regents of New Mexico State University are defending their vote to end the hiring and firing powers of outgoing Chancellor Garrey Carruthers.

Democratic state Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen last week wrote a letter calling on all five NMSU regents to resign because of their treatment of Carruthers. Forty-three legislators signed it.

Regent Chairwoman Debra Hicks and Vice Chairwoman Kari Mitchell responded this week with their own letter, saying the resolution in question directs Carruthers to make only interim appointments after consulting with Hicks.

Papen said Hicks “will function as the presumptive chancellor, a position to which the chair was not appointed and for which the chair’s qualifications have not been vetted.”

The regents argue their change is best practice for universities going through a leadership transition, and that it is critical for the new chancellor to be able to select as many members of his or her team as possible.