Friday, April 03, 2009Clippings From My Newsroom Floor: Val: No Longer "Hot"? And: Bill Imitator Sanz Shrinks, Plus: Denzel Dazzles Roswell
Kilmer
 It doesn't get worse than this for Hollywood actor and possible 2010 Dem NM Guv nominee-. The gossip columns say he is no longer "hot" and are even running a series of photos---like the one posted here--to make their point. Says the X17 site: "Val Kilmer used to be hot...these days...not so much. Looks like it will have to be the health spa first and the campaign trail second for Val. SHRINKING HORATIO  No one knows better the struggle to shed pounds in preparation for the bright lights of La Politica than Big Bill. His sometimes ample waistline even inspired Horatio Sanz, one of America's top comedic actors, to have some fun at the Guv's expense on Saturday Night Live. But Horatio may have bitten off more than he can chew, or maybe these days he's not biting off enough. Sanz has shrunk several belt sizes and star watchers wonder if his penchant for imitating Bill has gone with his girth. Will Sanz ever be able to imitate Richardson again?DENZEL DAZZLES ROSWELL  And yet more movie star stuff. Here's a cool pic from the Roswell Daily Record showing actor Denzel Washington handing out $50,000 to keep the Roswell Boys and Girls Club up and running in the SE NM city. The club was running out of funding.See, Val. You don't have to be Governor to help out the state. You can just get that healthy checkbook out. But if you insist on running, how about Denzel as Lt. Governor? That guy's got style... UNM BEAT Here's one you are going to want to check out if you've been following the turmoil at the University of New Mexico. "Inside Higher Ed" goes long and deep. One of the money quotes from UNM President Schmidly: I’m not going anywhere. The faculty vote [of no confidence} is the faculty vote. I acknowledge it. I pledge to work hard to improve. I’ve been a president or a CEO of higher education institutions since 1992 and so I’m experienced enough to know these kinds of things happen. But I moved to New Mexico for a reason. I was recruited here for a reason and it was to provide stability of leadership and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” This is the first article we've seen that puts in one place most of the gripes and possible solutions to what ails the state's largest university, including the troubled math and chemistry departments and the top heavy administrative structure. They don't, however, get into the politics and policies much of the UNM Board of Regents. There's plenty of material there for another in-depth piece. NEW SPINNER Whitney Potter  One of ABQ US Rep. Martin Heinrich's top aides will get some relief. Lawyer John Blair has been wearing two hats as Heinrich's legislative and communications director. He will keep both titles, but the office has added a press secretary. Whitney Potter comes aboard from the American Civil Liberties Union of NM and will be based in ABQ while Blair remains in D.C.We wondered how long it would be before Heinrich brought a press aide aboard. We thought former Senator Domenici sent out a a lot of news releases, but the new members of our congressional delegation seem to hit with them every hour. There's a lot of freshman energy there, and that can't hurt. Potter is a UNM grad. She also attended the elite Blair Academy--not run by John Blair. ALIBI ACCOLADES Thanks to readers of the Alibi for naming us to their list of favorite blogs. We are in good company with Duke City Fix. JOURNAL DEPARTURES More departures from the ABQ Journal as the state's largest newspaper wrestles with a rapidly changing economic and media environment. Politics reporter Jeff Jones is leaving the paper to become a cop. ABQ Journal "Newseeker" editor Bruce Daniels is retiring as is longtime editorial page editor Steve Mills and editorial page writer Tom Harmon, another longtime Journal fixture. The changes come after seven Journal newsroom employees were let go in early January. No word on who will replace the veterans who are retiring. If there are replacements it would seem they would come aboard at much lower salaries than these longtime scribes. We didn't see reporter and blog needler Leslie Linthicum's name on the departure list. That's good. We'd hate to lose our new-found sparring partner. We'll miss Bruce who cheerily dubbed us "genetically conspiratorial," a tag we couldn't argue with. He is prolific, a personable writer and a gentleman. Enjoy the show from the sidelines, Bruce.
WHO'S WHO? Newcomers and old timers will both enjoy perusing the latest list of members of the NM Democratic Party State Central Committee from Bernalillo County. Many of the names bring back memories of past political battles. Former ABQ area State Rep. Delano Garcia is still playing the game? How about that... E-mail your news and comments. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009 Not for reproduction without permission of the author |
  
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