There I was with my big toe plopped in the turquoise tinted pool, a cold beverage of my choice securely in hand, one eye on some of our Big City's finest bikini clad beauties and the other peeled to a paperback penned by Sinatra's valet. (Frank liked the bacon soft, never crisp) How could anything interrupt this near summer perfection? Oh, I forgot. I blog about New Mexico politics, also known as the dream killer and nightmare maker. And so it went late Wednesday as my vacation mirage (was it real?) was burst with the nervy jingle of my new fangled cell phone.

First there was former CBS News correspondent and eternal political junkie Kurt Lohbeck telling me CNN was reporting a jab at Hillary Clinton by our own Big Bill. Others called with the news, but Lohbeck, who has given up any semblance of a normal life in favor of year-round, round-the-clock monitoring of four network news channels and 56 Internet sites, was the first to break the bitter news that I would be back blogging and not sunbathing. As they say in the Godfather: "It's the life we chose."

KEYSTONE COPS

Apparently the cops at ABQ International forgot how to make an arrest and the Bernalillo County District Attorney's office was no match for the defense attorneys for alleged pot smoking and glass pipe toting NM Public Regulation Commissioner E. Shirley Baca. Her misdemeanor charges stemming from her December airport pot bust were all dismissed. Were you shocked? How could you be after learning earlier that ABQ public school boss Michael Vigil would suffer no on-the-job consequences for his DWI, when the ABQ police department was reported suppressing witness reports of accidents involving cops and when the APD evidence room scandal ($200,000 missing) goes uninvestigated? In ABQ the slogan of late is: "Leave Law and Order on TV.

As for Shirley, she trotted out a grassy knoll theory saying someone planted the pot and pipe on her and she will "soon" reveal the evil conspirator. And O.J. Simpson will give you a million bucks if you can tell him who killed his wife!

Incredibly, a top GOP Alligator was unwilling to write off Dem Shirley's 2006 re-election chances. "I've heard a few R's mentioned, but not big ones," he reports. On top of that, it was Big Bill who had earlier called for Shirley to resign while top R's, maybe embarrassed about past support from other R's for legalizing drugs, were pointedly mum.

BILL AND HILL
You Know Who
Then there's the Hill and Bill show, courtesy of the aforementioned CNN. Did Big Bill slap the New York Senator and former First Lady around, or is this all good fun? We're talking about the joke he rattled off while politicking in Omaha, Nebraska over the weekend. He noted the name of various Dem prez possibles telling the audience what each would bring to the White House if elected. For example, Senator Biden would bring national security experience. When it came time to say what Hillary would bring, the Guv said she would "bring back the furniture" she took with her. It was a reference to the allegation that White House furniture was stolen in the Clinton's final days.

It's one of those jokes the Guv paid 12 grand for from a group of D.C. punsters. He used it at the annual Gridiron Dinner where just about everything goes, including jokes implying that your possible opponent is a criminal. But telling this knee slapper about a potential rival for the 08' Dem prez nod outside the Beltway raised the eyebrows. Will Hill take this bitter pill from Big Bill? Or will she give him a dose of her own medicine? Stay tuned.

A BOTTOM LINE

In our report on Las Cruces Dem Jeff Steinborn Wednesday we said that he had lost the Dem nomination for a state House seat in Dona Ana county. But Jeff correctly points out: "I did not lose the Dem nomination for State Legislature, rather I barely lost the race. I was recruited with two months to go, replacing our Dem. candidate. I narrowly lost by 344 votes out of 13,000 cast."

As for you and yours, you are now free to resume your lives free of La Politica, but not for too long. Get your tan lines taken care of and I'll see you back here next week.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2005
Not for reproduction without permission of the author