Among the familiar political names selected to be a New Mexico delegate to the GOP national convention in Minnesota September 1 is Paige McKenzie. She made headlines in a dramatic and unfortunate way when she was severely beaten with a tire iron October 4, 2006 by a still unknown attacker. At the time McKenzie was the spokeswoman for John Dendahl's GOP governor campaign. McKenzie had been driving home when her tire went flat. She pulled over to look at it, and drove into a bank parking lot in Bernalillo. Her attacker saw her pull over to look at the tire.

State GOP spokesman and acting executive director Scott Darnell says, "Paige still faces some challenges with regard to her health, but is doing much better. She’s not working on any campaigns..." He adds that McKenzie is doing private PR work.

FOLEY ON THE MOVE?

The Alligators have been besides themselves, insisting that ousted Roswell State Rep. Dan Foley is about to leave Roswell and relocate to Rio Rancho. They were so insistent that we called Foley. He told us there was no impending move planned by his family, but "something could come up." But he insisted that for now he is staying put. But the Gators are not pacified. They persist in saying the move is in the making and even that Foley will try to engineer a political comeback when he pulls up Roswell roots. They are even speculating on what office he might seek.

Foley was truly one of the most controversial state representatives in state history. Even now that he is on his way out, his statements are the subject of intense scrutiny. As far as a political comeback, after that mug shot of Foley that was on statewide TV during the primary, any comeback will be, to say the least, challenging. Just for kicks, I need to look into what happens if a state rep moves out of his district and into another in the state. Does he have to resign his seat which means there would be an appointment? If you know the answer, e-mail it in.

AT THE GOP
Chairman Weh
State GOP Chair Allen Weh says there will be no permanent GOP executive director named until after the November election. We recently broke the story of Adam Feldman's departure from the job. Weh says Feldman is doing field work for the party, but is not saying why Feldman is out. Scott Darnell, 23, the communications director, is now acting ED, but he leaves for Harvard in a month. Weh will then have to name another ED to serve through the november election.

Speculators wonder if the emergence of former ED Marta Kramer as John McCain's NM campaign coordinator has anything to do with the ouster of Feldman and whether one of her allies will be placed in the ED slot once Darnell leaves. We're wondering, too.

Kramer was targeted by foes of Weh who ran a candidate against him last year for state chairman, but Weh prevailed. However, before the election, Kramer, to the delight of Weh's opposition, was gone from GOP headquarters. Weh indicated to me at the time that he had given Kramer the push, without explicitly stating that was the case. Kramer denied she was fired and was livid at the report here. Kramer's departure before the chair vote was seen as strengthening Weh's re-election hand.

WORKING THE FOURTH

The Fourth may be a holiday but some politicos will still be working. The Obama NM campaign is setting up shop at various Fourth of July celebrations as they continue to register new voters. The campaign says it will have reps at public celebrations in ABQ, Las Cruces and Farmington.

PHOTO OP

We haven't seen much of NM first lady Barbara Richardson since Big Bill ended his prez campaign earlier this year. But here she is back on the trail discussing domestic violence with Barack Obama during his June ABQ visit. By the way, the AP style book says the term "first lady" is not a "formal title" and therefore, it is not to be capitalized. The book is silent on the title, "Mrs. Big Bill." We think that is capitalized.

E-mail it in--the news, comments and political gossip. And Happy Fourth of July.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2008
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