My thanks to Don Wilhelm and Jack Brindle.
Yep, it turned out to be a short that was pulling J1-2 to ground.
I had a couple of .01 caps and so cut them loose ( C3 & C6 ) . But still
shorted. New Max1406 coming from Elecraft. After removing the IC the
negative voltage on pin 8 was then a healthy -12v.
Thanks again for steering me toward the problem....
Gil K8EAG