Soon we will know the winner of the Florida Republican primary, and the winner in Florida will probably be the ultimate Republican nominee for president.  So it is time to start considering whom to have for vice president.  Florida Senator Marco Rubio is the man.  It’s not too soon!  Don’t take “no” for an answer!

During the time he has been a senator, Rubio has already accomplished a strong conservative voting record.  As a Tea Party activist, he has followed through with pledges to oppose all tax hikes and he voted in favor of the Ryan Budget to restrain entitlement spending.  He has called for repeal of Obamacare and abolition of capital gains and estate taxes, and he has also called for a flat-rate federal tax.

And take your pick on all other conservative issues, and Rubio is on board for all of them: national security, abortion, vouchers and charter schools, gun rights, streamlining regulatory burdens on businesses, and opening up drilling for oil here in the U.S.  There are more positions, but you get the point.  Rubio is a solid conservative who would be a great fit with any candidate at the top of the GOP ticket.

But it is not only his stands on the issues that call for a draft-Rubio movement for vice president.  It is Rubio’s full-throated defense of American conservative values and free-market capitalism that appeal to conservatives.  During the four debates he had in his 2010 race for Florida’s Senate seat, Rubio truly stood out.  He even spent some time criticizing the moderator, which was cool back in 2010 and is even cooler today.  Replaying highlights of Rubio’s Senate debates, as will inevitably happen during his campaign for vice president, will be an excellent national introduction for Rubio.

Forceful, unapologetic articulation is a new requirement for Republicans: it is not only a good track record or voting record, conservatives also demand the ability to forcefully articulate conservative principles.  Just ask Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Rubio would also be the first Hispanic candidate for high elective office.  Oh sure, we will be told, Hispanics don’t vote for ethnicity alone, but if the GOP could put a significant dent in the 67% to 31% advantage Hispanics gave Barack Obama over John McCain in 2008, the presidential race is almost over before it starts.

The only drawback Rubio might have is that he has served in the Senate for only two years before running.  But where have we heard that before?  Possibly a certain Democratic presidential candidate in 2008?

But unlike Barack Obama, who before his election to the U.S. Senate spent seven years in the Illinois State Senate setting a record for voting “present,” Marco Rubio spent nine years as a representative in the Florida House of Representatives and even served two years as Speaker of Florida’s House.

Rubio will also be an asset in recent political developments.  In many political issues, the credibility of the politician on a certain issue determines his ability to get something done.  For example, that was why Richard Nixon, the perennial cold warrior, was able to go to China.  It is also why Governor Mitt Romney, noted rich guy, will never get top marginal tax rates dropped and in fact he is not even proposing it.  In the case of Marco Rubio, his mere ethnicity gives him credibility on immigration matters, so whoever the president will be, Vice President Rubio will be able to lead the issue of securing the border against illegal immigration while instituting a functional, bipartisan guest worker program, major electoral issues this year.

Rubio can also provide needed cover on another issue: the recent pandering to “Space Coast” Floridians.  Who would have ever thought that in the current days of $15 trillion national debt, Republicans would be outdoing each other on space proposals?  I mean, really!  I guess when I called Newt Gingrich “the Apollo 13 candidate,” more references to space were probably a given, so it might be my fault.

But in this primary season the Republicans have courted every Floridian vote, including the Floridians in the so-called “Space Coast.”  Hence the recent Republican calls for more trips to space, including a permanent station on the Moon.  If this keeps up, Moon-shots for Floridians will be like ethanol subsidies for Iowans, an obligatory pander to Florida voters from each new crop of presidential candidates.  As a Floridian, Rubio can put a stop to it and call it the shameless pandering that it is.

Other names mentioned for vice president include Susana Martinez, governor or New Mexico, would be very good, especially on energy issues; and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who just won re-election by a landslide.  Jindal is also very good on energy issues and has recently been making a lot of news on school choice issues.  Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has also been mentioned, and he has a great fiscal track record.  The charismatically-challenged former presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has also been mentioned as a possible vice president.  In his recent candidacy Pawlenty showed that he stands for most of the issues Republicans favor.

Good people, but none of them is Marco Rubio.  So let’s draft Rubio for vice president and get this general election campaign started.

TOWANDA – While Bradford County has experienced extensive gas drilling for a few years, what will it be like after the drilling has gone on for decades?

The three Bradford County commissioners and other local officials had a chance to get a sense of what could happen when they traveled last week to participate in a two-day conference in Lea County, N.M.

Lea County’s economy had been based for decades on natural gas production, although in the last decade its economy has diversified to include other forms of energy, such as nuclear, solar, and wind, the Bradford County commissioners said.

The conference, which was titled “Shale Gas & Conventional Gas: From Pennsylvania to New Mexico,” discussed the issues surrounding the development of shale gas using Lea County, N.M., and Bradford County, Pa., as case studies, according to the Economic Development Corporation of Lea County, which co-sponsored the conference.

Lea County’s population is about the same size as Bradford County’s, but its economy is dependent solely on energy production, Bradford County Commissioner Daryl Miller said.

The Bradford County commissioners discussed the trip at the commissioners’ meeting on Thursday, and both commissioners Doug McLinko and Mark Smith said it was worthwhile to travel to New Mexico.

McLinko said the trip reinforced for him the belief that Bradford County needs to do more to be ready to take advantage of opportunities to bring long-term jobs to the county, such as the planned Moxie Energy gas-fired electric power plant in Asylum Township. The Moxie Energy plant will bring a significant number of long-term jobs to the county, he said.

“They (Lea County officials) are very aggressive with their (economic) development (efforts)” to keep and attract long-term jobs, he said, adding that Lea County needed to broaden the base of their economy so that they were not tied to the ups and downs of the natural gas industry.

Among the measures that Lea County has taken are to purchase and lease thousands of acres of land, and Lea County is bringing infrastructure to that land, such as municipal water and electrical service, in an effort to attract industry to locate on the property, McLinko said. By controlling those thousands of acres of land, Lea County can offer attractive terms to the businesses that consider moving there, said Bradford County Economic Development Manager Lauren Hotaling, who also attended the conference.

McLinko said he does not want Bradford County to buy or lease land to attract businesses. But he said that townships, boroughs, and private property owners in Bradford County need to take steps to make sure there is land available for businesses or industry to move to, and that that land is ready with the infrastructure they need, such as municipal water and sewer, as well as any zoning provisions.

“When you get an opportunity for development, you can’t lag behind, because we are in competition with other states,” he said.

However, Hotaling said one problem with attracting businesses and industry to Bradford County is that there is a limited area in the county that has the kind of infrastructure that many large businesses are looking for, such as municipal water and municipal sewer.

And in the locations where municipal water and sewer exists or will soon exist, such as Route 6 in Wysox Township, the land is expensive to buy, she said.

There is even a lack of natural gas distribution lines in Bradford County that could supply these large businesses, she said.

Just as is the case in Bradford County, hotels in Lea County are used by workers in the energy extraction industry, namely gas and oil drilling, Hotaling said.

But Lea County has secured a use for its hotels which will buffer them against the ups and downs in gas and oil drilling. Specifically, Lea County has become a training center for Homeland Security, she said. The training has resulted in the construction of three or four additional hotels in Lea County, she said.

Hotaling also said that New Mexico’s state budget is heavily dependant on revenue from the gas and oil industry.

The gas and oil industry provides over 26 percent of New Mexico’s state funds, she said.

New Mexico has a state severance tax on gas and oil, she said. New Mexico also gets a significant amount of revenue from lease bonuses and royalties on state-owned land, she said.

Among the local officials who traveled to the conference were state Rep. Tina Pickett, Progress Authority Executive Director Tony Ventello, and Mark Madden of Penn State Cooperative Extension.

Bradford County paid the airfare to the conference for the three Bradford County commissioners, according to Bradford County Fiscal Director Joan Sanderson.

The Progress Authority paid for lodging and meals for the three Bradford County commissioners while they were in New Mexico, Hotaling said.

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or email: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com.

SOCORRO, N.M. January 10, 2012 – As oil companies deploy hundreds of wells in northeast Pennsylvania to tap into the lucrative “shale gas” deposits, many are weighing the environmental impacts, the economic outlook and the regulatory climate related to the latest bonanza in domestic natural gas production.

Now, the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy – a research wing of New Mexico Tech – is taking the lead in framing the debate on these hot-button issues. The Center and the Economic Development Corporation of Lea County (N.M.) are hosting a conference on these controversial and lucrative shale gas deposits that dot North America.

“Shale Gas and Conventional Gas: From Pennsylvania to New Mexico” is a two-day conference that features experts from the industry, government, independent researchers and state officials from Pennsylvania and New Mexico. The event is Thursday and Friday, Jan. 12 and 13, at the Lea County Event Center in Hobbs, N.M. The Center for Energy Policy also is located in Hobbs.

The presence of large deposits of shale gas in the U.S. has led to the rise of debate about the environmental impact of production, with conflicting reports about the impact of production and use of shale gas.

Canada has taken the lead in production of shale gas, with production in Alberta proving to be lucrative. Shale gas production in the United States is expanding quickly in Pennsylvania, but has been met with resistance from environmentalists and regulatory agencies.

“Shale gas is a very important topic nationally and internationally as we tap into the shale gas resources, which will create vast amount of energy for the United States,” said Dr. Van Romero, Vice President of Research at New Mexico Tech. “This conference brings together experts to discuss the finer points of technological advancements, production and potential risks involved.”

Shale gas production has benefited from the advancement of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which has become a controversial method of extracting natural gas from shale formations.

The opening panel event will feature experts discussing both horizontal drilling and the process and consequences of fracking – which involves injecting water into shale formations to push oil toward production wells.

Conference organizer Dr. Daniel Fine – director of the N.M. Center for Energy Policy – said Pennsylvania is on the vanguard of the current bonanza in shale gas production.

“Technical innovations from 1992 to the present have allowed us to develop the capability of extracting gas from these hard rock formations,” Fine said. “Hydro-fracturing and horizontal drilling represent a whole new evolution.”

“Fracking is controversial and it’s important to have a good scientific basis to understand it,” Romero said. “The fear is that fracking will contaminate groundwater as we liberate natural gas from deep under the surface. We need to do a good job from a scientific and engineering basis as we proceed with development of these formations.”

Fine said that just 10 years ago federal experts predicted a natural gas shortage in the United States. Now, with new the new technology, the United States has such a glut in natural gas that prices have plummeted.

One of the largest deposits of shale gas – the Marcellus shale – rests under Pennsylvania. According to a National Geographic report, Marcellus shale holds between 50 trillion cubic feet (TCF) and 500 TCF of natural gas. At the low end, that represents twice the natural gas in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay. Given high estimates, the Marcellus reserves would be the second largest in the world. Other large deposits are known to exist in Illinois, Texas and Wyoming.

Bradford County in northeast Pennsylvania issued permits for more than 300 new wells in 2011 alone, Fine said. Several officials from Bradford County – and neighboring counties in Pennsylvania – will be speaking and attending the conference.

Fine said an ongoing and heated debate in Pennsylvania the state legislatures proposal to institute a severance tax on natural gas. A key point of the debate is how the state and the counties will share the revenue.

“Lea County (New Mexico) is a model on how to manage natural resources,” Fine said. “For three generations, Lea County has developed a model on how to manage natural gas and oil production and how to use the revenues for local economic development.”

The conference’s opening session features a panel discussion covering the basics of shale gas. Ron Broadhead, senior petroleum geologist at the Bureau and the state’s leading expert on oil-and-gas recovery, will lead the discussion. Broadhead and two industry leaders will explain the technologies needed to recover shale gas, prospects for recovery in the continental United States and potential strategies for production.

The Thursday afternoon session will focus on regulation and opposition to shale gas development. Fine and Dr. Van Romero, vice president of research at New Mexico Tech, will lead the panel, along with Alan Eichler of the Pennsylvania Environment Department and Jamie Bailey of the state of New Mexico.

Fine said the main debate over fracking relates to federal regulations. The sole federal statute that relates to the practice is the Safe Drinking Water Act of the 1970s. Most states have regulations specific to fracking, but the federal government has none.

The Friday morning session will delve deeper into the issues related to shale gas recovery. The panel will feature eight experts from Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Chesapeake Energy, a leading onshore developer of unconventional oil and natural gas plays.

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce will deliver the keynote speech at Thursday’s luncheon. Pearce will discuss the potential economic impact and job outlook for the natural gas industry if shale gas is fully developed. Fine said preliminary studies tout 1.9 million additional jobs in natural gas by 2025.

N.M. Lt. Gov. John Sanchez and Pennsylvania Rep. Tina Pickett will provide Friday’s keynote talks. They will discuss the economic impact that shale gas could have on their respective states.

The event is co-sponsored by New Mexico Tech and the Economic Development Council of Lea County, led by president and CEO Lisa Hardison.

– NMT –

By Thomas Guengerich/New Mexico Tech

http://www.nmt.edu/nmt-news/336-2011/4286-energy-conference-focuses-on-shale-gas-hot-button-issues

There’s an interesting scandal right now in New Mexico right now. You see, the New Mexico constitution tries to stop corruption, a real problem in the  state as the Economist recently noted, by requiring that state legislators cannot draw a salary from other sources during the legislative session. But Channel KRQE has reported that there is a set of legislators who do not abide by this constitutional requirement: teachers, and in particular teachers union members. One of the state legislators has come under particular scrutiny, Rep. Cheryl Williams Stapleton, a Democrat from Albuquerque:

The issue became salient after reports on KRQE-TV about APS paying House Majority Whip Sheryl Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, her salary while she was in Santa Fe on legislative business. According to a Journal analysis, she was paid more than $63,000 in salary during the past three years while she was away from her administrative job as coordinator of vocational education.

Stapleton’s paid leave was approved by supervisors even though it wasn’t allowed under district policy. That policy said all nonteachers who served in the Legislature should take unpaid leave while in Santa Fe.

So recently, in discussions with her fellow member of the state House’s education committee, Nora Espinoza (R), Whip Stapleton decided to share her perspective on attempts to resolve and understand this complicated legal and constitutional issue. You see, she said that Espinoza was “carrying the Mexican’s water on the fourth floor.” This was a reference to Governor Susanna Martinez, whose office is on the fourth floor of the Capital building.  So the Democratic Whip in the most Latino state in the country is referring to the first Latina Governor in the country as “the Mexican.” I wonder if the Democrats will try to hold her accountable for this kind of speech? Probably not. After all, Harry Reid said that doesn’t know how any Hispanic could be a Republican.

Now, cleaning up the state is something that the teachers unions have long been opposed to. They funded a nasty attack ad against Martinez that backfired when it turned out that Martinez had convicted the husband of the woman the teachers union put in the ad to attack Martinez:

But maybe they are just trying to stop the person trying to take away their gravy train?

There’s an interesting scandal right now in New Mexico right now. You see, the New Mexico constitution tries to stop corruption, a real problem in the  state as the Economist recently noted, by requiring that state legislators cannot draw a salary from other sources during the legislative session. But Channel KRQE has reported that there is a set of legislators who do not abide by this constitutional requirement: teachers, and in particular teachers union members. One of the state legislators has come under particular scrutiny, Rep. Cheryl Williams Stapleton, a Democrat from Albuquerque:

The issue became salient after reports on KRQE-TV about APS paying House Majority Whip Sheryl Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, her salary while she was in Santa Fe on legislative business. According to a Journal analysis, she was paid more than $63,000 in salary during the past three years while she was away from her administrative job as coordinator of vocational education.

Stapleton’s paid leave was approved by supervisors even though it wasn’t allowed under district policy. That policy said all nonteachers who served in the Legislature should take unpaid leave while in Santa Fe.

So recently, in discussions with her fellow member of the state House’s education committee, Nora Espinoza (R), Whip Stapleton decided to share her perspective on attempts to resolve and understand this complicated legal and constitutional issue. You see, she said that Espinoza was “carrying the Mexican’s water on the fourth floor.” This was a reference to Governor Susanna Martinez, whose office is on the fourth floor of the Capital building.  So the Democratic Whip in the most Latino state in the country is referring to the first Latina Governor in the country as “the Mexican.” I wonder if the Democrats will try to hold her accountable for this kind of speech? Probably not. After all, Harry Reid said that doesn’t know how any Hispanic could be a Republican.

Now, cleaning up the state is something that the teachers unions have long been opposed to. They funded a nasty attack ad against Martinez that backfired when it turned out that Martinez had convicted the husband of the woman the teachers union put in the ad to attack Martinez:

But maybe they are just trying to stop the person trying to take away their gravy train?

I have been keeping an eye on what is happening in seven Statehouses with GOP ladies as Governor or Lt Governor. So far I have not been disappointed. These lady Governors and Lt. Governors are stepping up and even in purple states like Florida and Iowa the people can recognize cream rising to the top no matter that there is an (R) after their name. I do not have much additional commentary to the news articles I link to in this diary. All I can hope for is more please.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin

OKLAHOMA CITY — Governor Mary Fallin announced that Oklahoma will file a lawsuit against the new healthcare law.

Instead of joining some two dozen states in their lawsuit, Oklahoma will sue on the grounds that the federal healthcare law violates the new constitutional amendment just approved by Oklahoma voters.

State Question 756 changed Oklahoma’s constitution to say Oklahomans can’t be required to participate in any healthcare system.

Fallin made the announcement on “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” on Fox News.

VAN SUSTEREN: You know, Oklahoma — I looked this up, too — has an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent, which is far below the national average of 9.6 — or 9.8 I guess is where we are. Why does Oklahoma — why do you — why do you have such a low unemployment rate?

FALLIN: Well, I think Oklahoma is definitely a conservative state, that we have made, I believe, just wiser policy decisions. We’ve got a great economy. We have a low cost of living. We have a low cost of housing. We have an abundance of natural resources. We have a great energy sector. Certainly, agriculture is very strong, strong in small businesses. And I think our legislature has done a very good job of working towards pro-business legislation.
And this is actually one of those, you know, pro-business type issues, holding down health care costs and allowing Oklahoma to be able to innovate and choose how we want to provide health care in our state, letting the free market system work. Oklahoma was on the cutting edge in developing a public-private partnership to help those who couldn’t afford to buy health insurance called Insure Oklahoma, in which the employee, the employer and a federal portion of the money matched together to provide low cost health insurance to those who don’t have good access to health care.
SO we’ve been doing things in our state to help lower health care costs, create better access to health care, and that’s what we want to continue to do. We want the federal government to get out of the way. You know, let the states work their own solution, propose new innovative ideas.

Read more:
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/transcript/oklahoma-join-039obamacare039-battle-its-own-lawsuit#ixzz1BgdbMKJU

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is facing her first big lawsuit after saying the state would try to keep unions out of the Boeing Inc. plant in North Charleston.
“We believe there’s no basis to this suit, and if the machinists are offended that the governor doesn’t think unions are a good thing in South Carolina, they’re just going to have to get used to it,” said Gov. Haley’s spokesman Rob Gregory.

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez

SANTA FE, N.M. – New Mexico’s newly elected Gov. Susana Martinez has come out swinging with a budget proposal that would cut spending and close the budget deficit without raising taxes or making cuts to classroom spending or health care for New Mexico’s most vulnerable.

Martinez also stated one of her first priorities is to revoke driver licenses issued to illegal aliens, pointing out since Arizona passed SB 1070, illegal aliens have been pouring in to New Mexico, which does not require proof of citizenship to obtain licenses.

Martinez, who also opposes amnesty, stated, “There has to be another way of dealing with the issue – we cannot just have a path to citizenship created when there are people in line already doing the proper things,” and said she is focused on removing provisions that allow illegal aliens to obtain driver licenses and revoking those already issued.

On Jan. 1, during her inaugural address, Martinez vowed to “shine a light into the dark corners of state government in order to regain the public trust and to ensure that public officials are putting the people’s business first.”

  Florida Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll

MIAMI – When newly elected Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll would give her first major address as Florida’s highest ranking black official in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. at the Church of the Incarnation in Liberty City, she was on very familiar territory.

So Jennifer Carroll was at home Sunday when she went to the church and was greeted by hundreds of people, including politicians, most of them Democrats, along with dignitaries and a who’s who among Miami’s black elite.

The notables in attendance included her husband’s uncle, Earl Jackson Carroll, who served as the first black Miami-Dade County commissioner from 1968-72. Earl’s son Steven, a Miami resident, was not surprised at the size of the gathering or that many people, including many Democrats, have embraced Jennifer Carroll, who formed half of Republican Rick Scott’s successful gubernatorial ticket.

“She is just the most compassionate, understanding, willing – a born humanitarian,” said Jean Carroll Morley, a retired educator school administrator. The world, she said, is now getting a glimpse of someone who has impressed the family from the beginning.

“She is quite the young lady to be proud of. She knew her priorities when I met her and she knew exactly how to go about attaining her goals and now God has blessed her to attain those goals. We’re just so proud of her success and look forward to her going even further,” Morley said.

Iowa Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds

DES MOINES, Iowa – Gov. Terry Branstad on Tuesday named Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds to oversee the closing of the Rebuild Iowa Office, an agency created in the wake of record flooding in 2008 that is scheduled to be shut down this summer.

Reynolds told the crowd at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines that “I stand here today as a proud but humble southern Iowa girl.”

She spoke about the importance of family values, education and the Branstad administration’s goal to help improve Iowa’s business environment.

Reynolds, 51, of Osceola, was a longtime Clarke County treasurer before being elected two years ago to the Iowa Senate. Branstad has said Reynolds’ knowledge of local government will help him in shaping policies to boost local economic development and better serve local governments.

“We can use technology to both reduce the size of government and deliver services to Iowans more efficiently,” Reynolds said in her speech. “We can work together – state and local, public and private – to transform the way we deliver services to Iowans.”

Ohio Lt. Governor Mary Taylor

In one of his first official acts after being sworn-in, Governor John Kasich appointed Lt. Governor Mary Taylor to be director of the Ohio Department of Insurance.

Immediately following the announcement, Kasich signed an Executive Order creating the Common Sense Initiative to lead a transformation of Ohio’s regulatory policies and named Taylor to lead the effort.

The complete text of the Executive Order can be found at: http://governor.ohio.gov/ExecutiveOrders.aspx

Taylor is the former Auditor of State where she served for four years as the state’s top fiscal watchdog guarding against fraudulent and wasteful spending of tax dollars.

The first Certified Public Accountant to serve as Auditor, Taylor modernized the office into a nationally-recognized, 21st-century public accounting firm and provided state and local government officials across Ohio with thousands of ideas and solutions to improve efficiency and cut costs by more than $140 million annually.

Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch

Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday released drafts of five bills meant to create jobs. The legislation won’t directly help contractors, but industry lobbyists said any pro-business legislation would be a productive first step.

Besides the announced bills, though, Walker promised regulatory reform — a key issue to construction companies and trade groups — also will be on the table soon. Construction groups want fewer licensing requirements and restrictions on the work they perform.

Walker insisted it would help employers trying to add jobs. “The more we can show them that things are going to be easier to do business in the state in the future,” he said, “the more I think they take that leap of faith and start putting people to work, even in the next few weeks.”

The special session should mark the beginning of a promising year for the industry, said John Mielke, vice president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin Inc. “What I’m anticipating might be a two-stage process,” Mielke said. “I think you’ll get the shell in the special session and the filling in the budget bill (later this year). That’s probably the way it has to be done.”

In the meantime, Mielke, like Boullion, said he’s looking forward to sharing ideas with the Walker administration about how to increase construction work. Mielke also said he thinks Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch will be heavily involved in such discussions.

“If I were reading the tea leaves – and that’s all I’m doing – I would expect Rebecca Kleefisch will want to play a role connected to the economy and job growth,” Mielke said. “That’s what she campaigned on, and I think there’s a lot of leeway in the lieutenant governor’s position to identify priorities.”

Cross-posted at The Minority Report