 |
|  |
|
| 
|  |
|
Wednesday, July 07, 2010Kenny Martinez Does Not Appear To Be Gearing Up To Again Challenge Speaker Lujan, Plus: Hate Email & The Newspaper Alligators clicking their iced-tea glasses this Fourth of July week continue to game the outlook for NM House Speaker Ben Lujan who had a near death political experience June 1 when he won his Dem primary by just 85 votes, a wee margin indeed for such a powerhouse. But the wall-leaners at the Roundhouse are now saying that State Rep. Ken Martinez who initiated an unsuccessful palace coup against Lujan in 2006 will not take on the venerable speaker when the House Dem caucus convenes at the end of the year following the November election.Lujan became Speaker in 2001. The 2011 60 day legislative session would mark his eleventh year, long by historical standards. And while the bench to replace him is seen as light, few believe that 2011 won't begin Lujan's final two years in the second most powerful position in the New Mexican government. The deniers in chief at the capitol are still trying to wish away the near fatal wound to Lujan, even as the fresh blood still stains the hallways. There is a lot at stake for the speakers allies---in politics and business. They don't want any change. (Lujan is unopposed for re-election in November.) But with the speaker's son, Congressman Ben Ray Lujan, hoping to establish himself with a first term re-election and a new Governor coming in who will not be as friendly with him as Big Bill, the thinking is that Ben may finally try to pave the way for a successor. Many point to Martinez as that successor, but he was wounded by his failed challenge to Lujan and some of his colleagues question whether he has the fire in the belly for the demanding position. What Kenny has going for him is the presumed desire of the speaker to keep the leadership job in the hands of a Hispanic northern Democrat and no other obvious choices. Republicans are watching with interest form the sidelines. What if they could pick up five or so House seats? An unlikely prospect, but nevertheless worth some conjecture as the Gators loll in the summer heat. That would give the House a decidedly more conservative tilt and even prompt speculation of a coalition with conservative Dems banding together with the R's. It all makes for fascinating poolside banter as New Mexico politics transitions to new faces and new more frugal times. THE BIG HOLE The money hole keeps getting deeper for New Mexico. A new state projection says that we are in line to be another $80 million short for the budget year that started July 1. That's after the Legislature plugged hundreds of millions in the budget hole earlier this year. Meantime, GOP Guv nominee Susana Martinez is still talking up tax cuts. Well, the good news for her is that the Democrats are so afraid of the "T word" in any form that her questionable platform in these deficit-ridden times may go unquestioned. NOT WHAT THEY WANTED  Denish Democrats wondered aloud if the editorial pages of the ABQ Journal would be as punishing toward Susana Martinez and that hate email forwarded around by a member of her DA's staff as they were when a pro-labor email was passed around using state computers. Well, they got their answer the other day when the Journal took up the subject. But the Dems did not get the condemnation of the GOP Guv hopeful they were looking for. Rather than take on the content of the email--a joke in which an illegal Mexican immigrant is murdered at a bar--the newspaper's opinion writers wondered whether asking that the assistant district attorney in Martinez's office who forwarded the email deserved to be fired. The paper did not seem to think so.Denish and the D's got the point--the Journal editorial pages are and will remain Martinez country. NEW PRC COMMISSIONER Let's hope she does better than the last one. This is the home of New Mexico politics. Email your news and comments. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009 Not for reproduction without permission of the author Tuesday, July 06, 2010Readers Blog On Guv Race And More, Plus: King Vs. Chandler For AG A reader writes with another way of looking at the money race between Susana Martinez and Diane Denish. Martinez lags, with only $300,000 in the bank compared to Denish's $2.2 million, but: Denish has raised over $5.5 million since she announced for governor, yet she has only $2.2 million in the bank as of the July 1 report and she is still behind in the polls... Good points, and we might add that Susana will not have to match Di dollar for dollar, just get within range. But it's how you finish that counts. Martinez still has some catching up to do in the Campaign '10 money race. A reader of a Democratic bent writes: Whenever I talk with people about the potential bad consequences of negative campaigning, I get blank stares and statements of belief that negative always works. They don't seem to be able to go to the next step which is "works for whom?" I think Diane (Denish) will win the governor's race because of Susana's inexperience and mistakes but Diane's campaigning is going to leave a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. I wish that Diane would run on a platform of what it takes to be governor and focus on her experience versus Susanna's. She should also campaign against Sarah Palin and Texas money coming into the Martinez campaign. But Diane does love to beat up on her opponents... We think you will see more of a mix of positive and negative from both candidates in the months ahead--at lest we hope so. FROM UNM University of New Mexico School of Law, Professor Jim Ellis writes: I very much appreciate it when you note prominent individuals who have had major influence with the legislature and the administration, chronicling the history of New Mexico politics. But there is also another group of people, generally unknown, and mostly working without compensation, who have a major impact on some of our most important government policies. Polly Arango was such a person.
For decades, Polly worked tirelessly on behalf of children with severe disabilities and their families, and the impact of her work will be felt for years. People like Polly are influential, in large part, because legislators and others know that they are speaking on behalf of others who cannot speak for themselves. Thanks for your excellent blog. THE AG'S RACE  The campaign of Republican Matt Chandler, the challenger to Dem Attorney General Gary King is doing some chest-pounding over the latest campaign finance reports: According to July 1 reports Chandler received donations from nearly twice as many contributors as King. Chandler had 65 contributors compared to King's 34 during the past thirty-day reporting period. This reporting period brings Chandler's total donors to 383, a staggering 31.5% more than King's 291 donors. During the reporting period from 5/25/10 to 6/25/10, Chandler raised $21,760, which was $700 more than King's contributions for that period. As of June 25, Chandler's cash on hand was a little more than $125,000, while King's cash on hand was $145,370, including King's personal loan to his campaign of $60,000. Not bad for Matt, but if need be Gary has shown a willingness to tap into his personal fortune. King remains favored for re-election, but there was a Republican elected attorney general in '86 and insider R's like the profile of Chandler, the district attorney for the Clovis area on the state's east side. THE BOTTOM LINES Now that we are in the thick of the Guv's race, we've posted permanent links to the campaign sites of Diane Denish and Susana Martinez. They are in the links section on the right hand side of the blog. That way you can access them at anytime. Of course, only one of the candidates will actually have a permanent link--meaning beyond November 2. That's the one who wins. Email your news and comments. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2010 Not for reproduction without permission of the author Friday, July 02, 2010She'll Be Calling For Cash; Susana Needs To Close Money Gap With Di, Plus: It Keeps Getting Worse For Teague, And: Happy Fourth of July! The early polling has Susana Martinez holding her own and then some in her race for Guv with Diane Denish, but she continues to lose badly when it comes to the important money race. That could mean the GOP Guv contender spends as much time on the phone in July as she does on the campaign trail. It could also provide an opening for Denish to dominate the summer TV scene.The latest money reports filed with the state reveal that Martinez has only $300,000 in cash on hand compared to Di's $2.2 million. That's a nearly 7 to one advantage that the R's can't let stand. Di helped deplete Martinez's already meager bank account by immediately launching a negative ad campaign two days after the June 1 primary. The ads may not have done much for Di's polling, but they did a good job keeping Martinez's checkbook in check. In June, Susana spent $453,000 and Di $657,000. In addition, Di had no primary challenge and Susana had an expensive battle. Martinez has been doing national conservative talk radio shows to raise cash. Denish has been running for Guv for years and can keep a leisurely fund-raising pace. Susana may have to stay further to the right on the ideological spectrum than she may like in order to appeal to flush conservative R's around the country who she will need to fill her campaign coffers. The local economy can't raise the $2 million she needs. And the oil and gas industry can only do so much. She did pick up that $450,000 contribution in late May from Texas developer Rob Perry, the largest in state history. Will she tap him again to close the money gap? In June, the Republican Governors Association came with $250,000 for Martinez. That's a start, but she will need more. She will get more as long as she stays competitive. But the risk she now faces is a dip in the polling. If Denish comes on, donors could cool on Susana just when she needs their money the most. Di has to be thinking about staying on TV heavy in July and forcing Martinez to either spend to keep up or cede the field while she saves money to compete in the critical fall months. Denish could use a clear field. Those negative ads she is running against Martinez also hurt her--by driving up negative feelings about the Dem nominee. If she could go positive with little or no competition for a month, it would be that much easier to regain goodwill with voters. It's that kind of flexibility that is a major advantage to Denish in the money race in these early weeks. That's why you might hear more of Susana on the telephone than see of her on the campaign trail. A MEXICAN AND AN ARAB  The good news for GOP Guv candidate Susana Martinez is that the blow up over a forwarded email out of her DA's office celebrating the killing of a Mexican illegal immigrant and an Arab comes amid the slowest news cycle of the year. The bad news is that the story stayed alive another day Thursday. From the AP:The Administrative Office of the District Attorneys is disciplining an employee who forwarded an e-mail that joked about killing Mexicans and Arabs. Agency Director Kelly Kuenstler said Thursday the employee, Brandy Toward, was reprimanded. She declined to provide more specifics because it was a personnel matter. Toward forwarded the e-mail to several people, including a prosecutor in the district attorney's office of Susana Martinez, the Republican gubernatorial nominee. The prosecutor then forwarded the e-mail to others and has been reprimanded for doing that. Democrats have called for the prosecutor to be fired. The League of Latin American Citizens said Thursday the e-mailed joke "only exacerbates racial tensions" that exist because of the immigration issue. Martinez's initial reaction to the email was that it was "unacceptable," but that was termed a tepid response by the campaign pros. Susana came with something a bit harder and the first words not uttered through a spokesperson, calling it "deeply offensive:" I immediately reprimanded a member of my staff upon viewing the deeply offensive email she forwarded. Her actions were inappropriate and in violation of my office’s policy, and I take this matter very seriously. Unfortunately, some have seen fit to play politics with this deeply unfortunate incident and my opponent, who was noticeably silent when hundreds of state employees in a department within her cabinet engaged in inappropriate and disturbing behavior on state computers such as accessing pornography. These individuals not only weren’t admonished, in many cases, they were never reprimanded. And that will probably put a lid on the email madness--at least for now. We'd score the week for Denish, but it was nowhere near a home run. It was more like a solid double because Martinez did not come out with a stronger initial condemnation of the joke. What will be next in Campaign 2010. You can hope that it is more substantive stuff, just don't bet your Moriarty ranch on it, okay? OVER THE TOP Meanwhile, some Dems are getting carried away with themselves. That means you ABQ Dem State Rep. Eleanor Chavez. She came not with a criticism of Martinez, but a diatribe: Chavez did not criticize Kuykendall (the assistant DA who forwarded the offending email) in a statement she sent out, but called Martinez "hate's best messenger and her employees are merely following her example." "We don't need her or her hate filled rhetoric and immigrant bashing!" Chavez said. "Where should she go? How's hell for starters." Alright, someone grab the bottle of chill pills. Eleanor is definitely in need. Martinez did not write the email and she did not forward it, both criteria for accusing her of being a hate messenger. And Martinez, while tough on immigration, has not used hate speech to back up her position.
And up until now the Dems were doing so well restraining themselves. But some D's are borderline desperate, seeing that Denish is locked in a dead heat or even trailing the Dona Ana DA. Where should they go? Well, not to hell, but maybe to the gym to work out their anxiety. KEEPS GETTING WORSE  It just keeps getting worse for southern Dem Congressman Harry Teague. Perhaps the biggest news from a Politico report is that Teague's oil-based fortune has plunged in value from an estimated $40 million to$5 million. That may not be a paltry sum, but Teague wrote himself checks for $1.7 million to get elected in '08. Would he be able or willing to do the same this cycle in which he faces a very difficult opponent in former GOP Congressman Steve Pearce? And then there is the $2.7 million lawsuit leveled against four companies Teague owns. The suits are over outstanding loans. The companies are now being run by Teague's son and daughter in law and the congressman says they are working to settle the loan issue. But events may be spinning out of control for Teague and his tenuous hold on the most conservative of the state's three congressional districts. The Politico reported in May how Teague's companies canceled health insurance for their 250 employees, even as Teague was taking a $2.7 million profit out of the company and even after his 2008 campaign bragged on how well he treated his workers. Paying for the employee health insurance might get Teague back some political capital, but with the worth of his companies plunging, that's no longer easily done. Teague has always walked a tightrope in the district that had not elected a Democrat in nearly 30 years until he won in the '08 Obama landslide Now it looks as though Harry is tottering. VOX POPULI A reader writes: Joe, you'd be surprised how many jokes and other humor go on daily in state government. Many are racist oriented or make fun of ethnic groups and others like "rednecks," "beaners," "ragheads," "blondes," "lowriders," etc. In the past, I've overheard some highly placed politicos tell jokes with bigoted overtones. The point is, while it should be dealt with, most of it is ignored or simply accepted as the norm.... This is the home of New Mexico politics. Happy Fourth of July! Email your news and comments. c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2010 Not for reproduction without permission of the author Thursday, July 01, 2010Thicket Of Racial Politics Snags Susana; Dems Pounce; State GOP Missteps With Ill-Timed Release; Whose Ready For Prime Time Here? GOP Guv candidate and Dona Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez was snagged in the thicket of racial politics this week, raising the question of whether her campaign is ready for general election prime time. She and her consultants ran an excellent primary campaign, but they have to make the turn and start appealing to the broader electorate. This email incident reveals that they may not be quite ready. She needs to stop thinking like a DA and start thinking like a governor," analyzed one of our Alligators monitoring the action... The email he spoke of is the now infamous hate joke that was forwarded around by an assistant district attorney in Martinez's office. It ended with a Mexican and Arab being shot in a bar in the name of immigration control. Not exactly what you would call a rib-tickler, and raising questions on how Martinez would handle the incident with her staff. After she left initial reaction chores to her DA's office which said the attorney forwarding the email would be reprimanded, the Dems on Wednesday forced the Martinez camp to go further. They trotted out prominent Hispanic politicos like ABQ Dem State Rep. Moe Maestas and ABQ City Council President Ken Sanchez to condemn the email action and asking that Martinez fire the employee in question. Dem Guv nominee Diane Denish, getting her first real break in the free media since the June 1 primary, also threw some kerosene on the fire and said she would have immediately fired the employee with their finger on the forward button. There is absolutely nothing funny about the email that was circulated by Susana Martinez’s staff. It is offensive, inexcusable and runs against the fabric of what we stand for as New Mexicans. As far as I’m concerned, there should be zero tolerance for racism and Susana Martinez’s silence on the matter has been disappointing. Needless to say, if this happened in my office, the employees responsible would no longer have their jobs. That sounds like something Susana should have said as she works to round up the all-important Hispanic vote that is thought to be more in play this cycle because of Martinez's status as the first Hispanic female Guv contender, but her camp came with what was termed a tepid response by campaign pros we spoke with. Her statement: Susana Martinez found the forwarded email ‘joke’ to be unacceptable, and immediately addressed the issue when it was brought to her attention by reprimanding the individual and issuing a statement from her official office to make clear that the email forwarded by one employee did not represent her views, nor the views of the office... Only "unacceptable?" How about outrageous, or reprehensible? Well, that's the turn to the general election our Gator was talking about. Martinez left a lot on the table with that come back. The state GOP tried to go offensive on Di with this: If only the Democrat Party and Diane Denish had expressed this same sense of outrage when it was determined in 2006 that 150 state employees in the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) had been abusing state email accounts and accessing pornographic internet sites. Duly noted, but it was Susana's take on that hate joke that the people in the bleachers really wanted to hear and they didn't hear much. STRANGER THAN FICTION  And then there was the unintended joke from the state GOP. As the Martinez camp battled back over the forwarded email which described shooting a Mexican illegal and Arab with a .45, the state party--on the very same day--forwarded a news report to newsrooms that boasted of how Martinez provides her own personal protection, by--get this--carrying a .45. To the videotape:Martinez provides her own personal protection in the form of a .45 semi-automatic handgun. It is with her at all times. She is not a large person. Indeed, she is diminutive. It’s hard to discern where she has concealed this potent weapon. Maybe it’s in her purse, maybe not. You simply can’t tell when you are in her presence. Well, that's interesting, but we don't know how reassuring it is to the Mexicans and Arabs still freaked out by their fictional brethren being gunned down in a bar with a .45 just like the one Susana favors. Memo to GOP Chairman Harvey Yates: there's this thing called the news cycle, Harvey, and you're part of it. These events--the forwarded sensational email and the ill-timed forwarded news story were events out of the hands of Susana. But being a good Governor is knowing how to clean up after the elephant just did an impolite body function in your Fourth Floor office. Never mind that you never invited the damn beast into the place. This is a close race for governor, one that could be decided in the end by reactions to breaking news such as the forwarded hate email. In their first foray into this foreign world Martinez and her team may have gotten stuck in a "us vs. them" paradigm and wanted to cede no ground to Denish. But in doing so they lost a chance to turn the joke into a leadership opportunity and establish her street cred with Hispanics who admire her from a distance but are uncertain whether they should. BYRD AND BILL  Alligators with long memories are recalling this week how Senator Robert Byrd, who passed this week memorably chastised our own Big Bill at a Senate hearing back in 2000. Commenting on Richardson's performance as Secretary of Energy in the Clinton administration and the case of some lost computer disks at Los Alamos Labs, Byrd lambasted Bill:You would never again receive the support of the Senate of the United States for any office to which you might be appointed. It's gone. You've squandered your treasure. In 2002, Byrd downplayed the statement when the R's tried to use it to their advantage when Big Bill was running for Governor. Richardson never did appear before the Senate for confirmation. His appointment as Obama's commerce secretary was pulled early because of pay-to-pay scandals in New Mexico. You can see the short clip of Byrd taking on Bill here. THE GREAT RECESSION From all corners of the state comes news of the life-changing Great Recession. For example, in little Aztec, in the Four Corners, the government now goes to a four day week. And there's now an air of melancholy surrounding ABQ as the unceasing downturn keeps thousands on the jobless lines. A job fair at the state fairgrounds attracts thousands, but there are no jobs for them. Unemployment in the city is at historic levels, just below 9 percent. Those who speculate that the unemployed collecting benefits have no incentive to look for work need only look at that turnout for that job fair. THE BOTTOM LINES Insiders say the new communications director for Susana Martinez camp will be Raj Shaw. He's relocating here from Connecticut...Matt Kennicott from the state House GOP Caucus will take a leave of absence to be the director of operations for Susana Martinez's Guv campaign...Christina P. Argyres was appointed as the newest Metropolitan Court Judge By Gov. Richardson. She replaces Judge Anna Martinez who retires at the end of June. This is the home of New Mexico politics. Email your news and comments. Interested in advertising here? Drop us a line. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009 Not for reproduction without permission of the author |
Links |
