J.D. Bullington
There's a job opening for a lobbyist (preferably high-powered) at one of NM's top business groups. After nine years of toiling for the Association of Commerce and Industry, J.D. Bullington is signing on with Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, a national law firm headquartered in Denver that has a presence in ABQ but aims to expand into Santa Fe public affairs. I chatted up Bullington over a cup of supercharged Starbucks during which he reflected on that controversy that broke out over his lobbying in the last session of the Legislature. "It was really miscommunication, nothing else," he explained of the incident which had some lawmakers wondering if J.D. was the one trying to call the shots, not them. But he has since patched things up with those offended and produced a letter from the committee chief of staff who originally dressed him down for interfering with committee business.

The Brownstein gig will be a bump up the food chain for the upbeat Bullington. The irony is that the GOP conservative will be working for a firm that was a huge backer of Dem John Kerry. I didn't ask J.D. if he would keep his R registration, but he did tell me he would keep his ABQ Tribune column on business. Brownstein lawyers have been the go-to guys for municipal bond biz in ABQ. Bullington says the "changing dynamic of the state" means there will be plenty of work for his new employer at the Roundhouse.

MY MEDIA ROOM

The big dogs of the national media have to eat and a lot of them are doing regular dining in our neck of the woods as Big Bill entertains them with notions of running for the White House. Los Angeles Times national reporter Mark Barabak checked in with us again recently saying he "loves the blog" and also loves following Big Bill. Sunday he hit with a major piece in the LA paper in which our Guv says he is not left or right on the political spectrum, but "forward." Read all about it.

Shea Andersen was the young and aggressive political reporter for he ABQ Tribune until he left for Idaho. But he learned about Big Bill while he was here and we also recently chatted with him about the Guv's prez ambitions. It was one of several conversations Shea quoted in a freelance article he penned for the national Web site Salon.com. A highlight of the article is how the Big Fella gave Shea the finger.

TV TALK

July is the least watched TV month with outdoor activities dominating, but that doesn't mean the ratings stop or that inquiring minds don't want to know. So here goes. The 10 p.m. news battle, the one that matters to La Politica, continues to be a three way dog fight. For July, it's KOB on top scoring a 7.3 rating. KOAT is out of third place for a change with a 6.5 and KRQE which in the past year vaulted to the #1 position comes in third with a 6.0. A rating point represents the percentage of all area households with TV's that are tuned in. Insiders caution that the May and November ratings are more representative of true news watching trends.

From the inside of the ABQ Journal word comes that there will be no new political reporter named to replace Andy Lenderman who recently left for the Santa Fe New Mexican, at least not until next year. There will be someone on the beat when election year 06' rolls around.

MEET THE FUTURE

As the debate rages over whether Rio Rancho will be a major city of the future, city fathers there harbor no confusion. Their slogan on the new city logo is "Meet the Future"." That rankles some ABQ urbanites who fear their viewpoints are being rejected by new New Mexicans and the marketplace. Having grown from 5,000 to nearly 70,000 in the last thirty years and with a new sports arena and downtown core on the drawing boards, plus hundreds of jobs sprouting up at big, new retail establishments, selling Rio Rancho short has been a loser. Is there any reason for that to change?

Thanks for tuning in. If you're new around here, welcome aboard. We welcome e-mail from the link provided above. See ya' tomorrow.

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