Alan Weh
Republicans deep on the inside tell "NM Politics With Joe Monahan" that retired marine colonel and businessman Alan Weh only wants to serve as GOP chair through the November election, opening up the possibility of more internal party strife over who will lead the party for the long haul.

Weh became the consensus candidate among the state's congressional delegation after embattled GOP Chair Ramsay Gorham resigned the post, and after a year long fight with the forces of former state chair John Dendahl. But Weh, according to the insiders, let it be known this week he has no plans to hang around and heal the rift. There is talk that Weh may be challenged for the chairmanship this weekend, but any other candidacy that does emerge will likely fizzle as the GOP is exhausted by the infighting.

Meanwhile, some Dems are already sniping at Weh as he prepares to be voted in as party chair at a special meeting this Saturday in ABQ. One of them points to Weh's "business dealings" in Iraq and wonders if he is just "another of the President's fat cat contributors who is being rewarded with contracts." Weh is a retired marine colonel and head of CSI Aviation in ABQ. Contracts, those handed out by Chair Dendahl and those not handed out by Chair Gorham, were at the center of the recent party warfare.

Things will become more clear for the GOP when several intraparty wars are settled at the June 1 primary and shortly after when Republican National Committeeman and chief Dendahlite Mickey Barnett squares off against ex-State Rep. George Buffett for the committeeman's spot at a state convention. They are already firing at each other and I will have that story for you soon.

BLACK DAY FOR THE GREENS

A court ruling Wednesday upholding the Secretary of State's disqualification of two Green congressional candidates has the small party reeling and wondering what's next, if anything. The Green's held a pre-primary convention and designated two candidates for the Heather Wilson seat, Abe Gutman and Jeremy Brown, but party officials failed to file certification papers with the Secretary of State and, as a result, she ruled they could not be on the ballot. Judge Theresa Baca agreed, and in another blow to the party's hopefuls, said they could not gather petition signatures to get on the ballot as is customary when candidates fail to make the ballot at a pre-primary. The question of whether Gutman and Brown can run as write-in candidates in the November election is unclear. The Green's could appeal Baca's ruling but as things stand, Richard Romero, the likely Democratic nominee against Wilson, won't have to worry about the Green's drawing liberal Dem votes away from him.

Earlier, Green legislative candidate Trey Smith was thrown off the ballot in his bid to challenge ABQ Dem State Rep. Gail Beam.
Brown was not properly registered as a Green, the court ruled. All this has Green Co-Chair Carol Miller under fire and giving rise to speculation that she will be challenged for the chairmanship next year.

JEFF'S JUGGLE

Some follow-up on my earlier report (see March 29) on speculation about the re-elect plans of Dem U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman in 06.' "He won't be rushed" into announcing early, a Jeff insider told me, which did little to stop the guessing game. Until he gives a definitive answer the wondering will continue. One observer tells me it's possible that Bingaman wants to see if the Dems take back the senate majority this November before deciding whether to seek re-election. "He may not want to serve in the minority for six years. If the Democrats get it back, he gets back his Energy Committee chairmanship."

That's probably as close as we're going to get to the senator's thinking at this point. I would only add that in looking at his campaign finance statements I see that he has only $250,000 in cash on hand. That is considerably less than several other senators who are also up for election in 06'.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2004
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