Eric Griego
Eric Griego has set himself up as the undisputed front-runner for the Democratic nomination for the ABQ congressional seat and Hector Balderas appears to have enough gas in the tank to continue his uphill challenge to US Rep. Martin Heinrich for the Dem nod for the open US Senate seat. Those are the chief conclusions from a long and drawn out day at the Democratic Party preprimary convention in downtown ABQ Saturday.

Voting results from the nearly 1700 delegates were not released until early Saturday evening but when they were, it was the Griego triumph over former ABQ Mayor Marty Chavez and Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham that drew the most attention. State Senator Griego took it by eight points, garnering 41% of the delegate support in the 1st congressional district which is mainly Bernalillo Count to a disappointing 33 percent for Chavez. Lujan Grisham's late-starting bid received 26%, matching expectations, but still leaving her far behind freshly minted front-runner Griego.

Griego called it an organizational triumph and it was hard to argue with him. Republican analyst Bruce Donisthorpe said the results show the nominating wing of the Dem Party is clearly behind the liberal Griego and he is now the clear favorite to win the June primary.

"We said he could have a break away day and he did. It is his to lose now," analyzed Donisthorpe a 30 year veteran of state politics.

One of our Alligators offered a stop Griego strategy, saying if Chavez got out of the race and tossed his support to Lujan Grisham it could alter the character of the contest. 

As for the Senate race, our Thursday blog reported expectations that if Heinrich could somehow come up with 60 percent of the vote against State Auditor Balderas he might force him from the fray. But it was not to be. Martin scored 55% to 45% for Hector and the campaign goes on. Still, Heinrich retains superiority and remains the likely winner unless Hector can improve his fund-raising. What Dems have to worry about now is a a negative campaign erupting between the two, one that would help probable GOP Senate nominee Heather Wilson.

In other contests, northern Dem Congressman Ben Ray Lujan stopped challenger Harry Montoya dead in his tracks, Lujan received 92% of the delegate support in the northern district, with Montoya getting 8 percent. It takes 20 percent to get an official spot on the ballot, so Montoya will have to file additional petition signatures if he hopes to keep his long shot challenge alive,

In the race for the open seat on the NM Court of Appeals, Judge Monica Zamora bested Judge Victor Lopez. Both won spots on the ballot but Zamora overwhelmed Lopez 63% to 37%.

In the southern congressional district Evelyn Madrid Erhard received 88% delegate support in the south to 12 percent for Frank McKinnon. Likely June primary winner Madrid Erhard would be facing GOP US Rep. Steve Pearce.

Long-winded speeches were cited as the primary culprit in slowing the preprimary to a snail's pace, but party officials said enthusiasm was high and they declared the event a success in spite of the late vote counting.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2012
Not for reproduction without permission of the author

On the Hill with Pearce
Steve Pearce turns 65 this summer, but there's no fishing hole or rocking chair in his future. In fact, Pearce is as fiery as ever as we discovered when we visited the southern New Mexico Republican congressman on Capitol Hill recently. We played an hour long game of fast-paced verbal volleyball with him, bouncing from the banking crisis to the Spaceport to the funding crisis in the federal labs, especially Los Alamos. When all was said and done we wondered aloud if the passionate Pearce was setting himself up for another run at the US Senate in 2014 or perhaps someday for Governor.

"We only think two years ahead," he quipped. "We're seeking re-election this year and when it comes to politics that's what we will concentrate on."

It was a deeply dejected Pearce who walked away from the podium on Election Night 2008. Dem Tom Udall scored a landslide win over the Hobbs conservative who conquered the world of private enterprise by building and selling an oil service business, but was thwarted in the pursuit of a cherished political dream.

Still, if Steve Pearce is bitter, you would never know it. During a break in a hearing of the House Committee on Financial Services we threw fastball questions at Pearce and he fielded them with rat-a-tat responses that revealed the experience he has accumulated in his stints in the US House, first from 2003-2009 and then back again starting in 2011.

His voting record is the 36th most conservative out of the 435 US House members, according to National Journal rankings, but while others may see him as doctrinaire, Pearce does not. "I know you guys (the media) call me conservative but that's not the whole picture." he declared.

Pearce has a point. Coming at him from an independent point of view we found a number of areas of agreement as we got down to business and updated his views on a range of issues in a tiny anteroom adjacent to the grander committee room.

Pearce says the GOP has "got the tone all wrong" when it comes to immigration. He did not directly tackle Governor Martinez's obsession with the repeal of driver's license for undocumented immigrants, but you could tell he was not pleased that this has come to top the state's social issue agenda.

He has supported legislation to make it easier for businesses in the rural and agricultural district south if I-40 to attract immigrant labor and has hammered away at border security as well. But he has not burst into emotional flames over illegal immigration. For Pearce it's all business, nothing personal.

His hearty support of the NM Spaceport is welcome by voters of all stripes--he pointed out a framed thank you note on his Washington office wall that he received from Virgin Galactic chief Richard Branson. Pearce praised the project during Spaceport America dedication ceremonies last year.

Pearce, who served as an Air Force pilot in the Vietnam era, sees the futuristic project near T or C as a major employment driver for his district. When the Legislature failed to approve an immunity bill for the Spaceport, he took to the op-ed pages to blast the trial lawyers for killing it.

Governor Martinez stalled in supporting the Spaceport when she became governor but since has warmed up. Still, the inability of the administration to get a bill through the Legislature is worrisome. She gets another shot--maybe her last--in the 2103 session. And while Pearce takes pains now to support the Spaceport, the congressional delegation has not been seen working as a whole to support the project, even as other states begin competing for space business.

MIXED MESSAGE

Pearce's office seems to have some mixed messages on funding for Los Alamos and Sandia Labs, arguing that there are efficiencies that can be made to save money but continuing to maintain that they are vital to the national security. It's the Tea Party in Pearce that you can't take out of him (he is a member of the Tea Party Caucus). He warns that other states will continue to covet the high-paying jobs the labs generate and that keeping them will require"fighters" in the state's congressional delegation. He does not see the current Demociratic Senators--Bingaman and Udall--as falling into that category, even as he is careful to praise them personally. Asked if probable 2012 GOP US Senate nominee Heather Wilson--who Pearce beat in the divisive 2008 GOP Senate primary--could be that "fighter," he replied, "Maybe."

That's when we wondered if Pearce himself might make another run at the Senate in '14 when he would be 67.

PEARCE THE POPULIST

That powerful House Committee On Financial Services is Pearce's baliwick. He does not sit on other standing committees. The ongoing financial crisis has put him in the catbird's seat and Pearce is decidedly "Main Street" not Wall Street. It's a small-town populist approach that he says calls for holding the big bankers "accountable"and it goes back to his 2008 vote against the bailout of the banks which won him praise outside of his usual political circle. The way he railed against the sins of Wall Street during our sit down, we offered that he and his 2012 Dem opponent--Evelyn Madrid Erhard--might actually agree on the matter. "We might," Pearce deadpanned in response.

But don't get the idea that having some common ground with others means Pearce still doesn't have his famous edge and penchant for throwing out the red meat. He gives full-throated attacks against the "unreasonable enviornmentalists" who he sees as impeding economic progress in the mining and agricultural developments that are mainstays in his sprawling district. And his defense of the oil industry--the 500 pound economic gorilla of southern New Mexico--remains unabashed.

It is his conservative--some say ultra-conservative side--that endears him to much of his district while putting off voters in the other two congressional districts. It was his inability to bridge that gap that led to his 2008 Senate defeat and it remains his chief challenge in broadening his power base.

Since he made his comeback and reclaimed his House seat by ousting one term Dem Rep. Harry Teague in 2010, Pearce has set a peripatetic pace. He has visited the district repeatedly and broadened his message in intensity and propensity. His new position as chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus gives him the potential for a wider audience. His hiring of Capitol Hill heavy Todd Willens as his chief of staff is seen as guiding this change as well as taming some of Pearce's gruffer instincts, ensuring he does not become isolated from the political mainstream.

Being in the GOP majority in the US House surely energizes Pearce and engenders some bigger thinking. But for now he must await the outcome of the US Senate race and the fate of his old rival Heather Wilson. When the dust settles in November Pearce will then look about. He can complete his career as an engaged and driven member of the US House or take a gamble and again go for the more lasting impact that comes with ascension to the statewide stage.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

Thanks for stopping by this week. Reporting from Albuquerue, I'm Joe Monahan.

E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com)

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Can Martin Heinrich put away Hector Balderas? Can Eric Griego have a break away day? Those are the questions at the top of the list for politics watchers preparing for that ultimate insider event--this Saturday's Dem Party preprimary convention.

It's a lot of insider baseball but it can have a major impact on a campaign's momentum and fund-raising. Take that race for the Dem nod for the US Senate seat between Rep. Heinrich and Balderas. Both are expected to easily win 20% of the delegates needed to win an official spot on the June primary ballot, but can Heinrich win 60% or more of the vote and thus put pressure on Balderas to drop his candidacy?

Hector's fund-raising is anemic and our insiders say he did not appear to show much muscle at the Bernalillo County Dem ward meetings--the prelude to the preprimary. If his delegate share does not put him within shouting distance of Heinrich, pressure will grow on him to get out and clear the way for Heinrich.

(On the R side, Lt. Governor John Sanchez dropped his bid when his campaign headed south, sparing likely nominee Heather Wilson a major challenge. Greg Sowards remains in that race. The GOP preprimary convention will be held March 17).

Insiders say while Heinrich is the heavy favorite among Bernalillo county delegates, Hector is expected to do well in northern counties like Taos and Dona Ana in the south. If he scores an unexpected surge and can then turn that into fund-raising prowess, the Senate race could be redefined. But if Heinrich comes with a big win, his camp will have a valid case that the Dems should avoid a potentially divisive primary and clear the path for him. In return, Hector, serving his second term as state auditor, can perhaps broaden his support for a future political run.

THE HOUSE SIDE

Rarely has the Dem nomination for the ABQ congressional seat been more valuable. With Obama expected to come with a big win in November in the ABQ area and our R's sources here and in Washington indicating the R'S are not keen on putting up a major fight to keep the seat, the three Dem candidates are pumped.

The expectations for Saturday's preprimary? They've shifted. At first, former ABQ Mayor Marty Chavez was seen as the default winner simply because of his superior name ID and long party involvement which could help activate an organization. But his long-standing troubles with the liberal Dem base and the indictment of his former live-in girlfriend on embezzlement charges has the insiders saying that State Sen. Eric Griego has a shot at taking first place. Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham, joining the race later in the game, has always been seen as a third place preprimary finisher and still is. All three candidates are expected to get the 20 percent of the delegates needed to get an official spot on the June ballot.

Griego is an unabashed liberal in a year when that is very much in style with the Dem activists. Chavez has always been more popular with moderate and conservative Dems. His endorsement from Clinton was a good get, but it is Obama backers who are driving the narrative and that is where Griego is scoring.

None of the three candidates has packed much punch in the fund-raising department. A break away preprimary win by one of them--not really expected--could attract cash.

With this nomination so valuable, expect all three candidates to keep charging ahead for the nomination no matter what happens Saturday.

GET THAT 20

If a candidate at the preprimary does not get 20% of the delegates, they can still score a spot on the June ballot by gathering additional petition signatures. However, no candidate who has failed to reach 20% at the preprimary has ever won the party's nomination for the office they sought.

RHONDA RIDES OUT

Dem State Rep. Rhonda King of the legendary New Mexican political family will not seek re-election to her Santa Fe County seat. The seat has been in the family for decades, including in the hands of the late former Governor Bruce King and his son, Attorney General Gary King. Rhonda, a conservative Dem and owner of Rhonda King Realty in Stanley, has held it since 1999. She is a niece of the late Governor. The R's think they have a shot now that the well-known King is headed toward the exits. The reason she's leaving?:

I want to spend more time with my family, including my young daughter. I also look forward to continuing my service to the community, particularly my work on the Tri-County Juvenile Justice Board which provides programs to help improve the lives of youth in our communities.

Like a Senior Alligator told us, the new slogan for Santa Fe and the Legislature is: "It's just not fun anymore."

WHAT WE LEARNED

What did we learn from this week's muni elections in the state? Well, the pressure of the Bear Market continues to be felt in Santa Fe as voters watching their wallets refused to approve a bond issue for buildings and equipment for the police and fire departments. (They did approve the other bonds). And we also learned that Governor Martinez should immediately begin negotiations with Mexico to cede to them the border town of Sunland Park.

DOWN AND DIRTY?

The Independent Source PAC, a union-backed group watchdogging the Martinez administration, has its teeth in that Downs at ABQ lease deal approved by the state and is nipping again. They sent this off to the FBI:

We have developed...additional information...that raises further questions about the propriety of the awarding of the billion-dollar plus Racino contract. Andrea Goff, Susana PAC’s (Governor Martinez’s political committee run by Jay McCleskey) main fundraiser, turns out to be the daughter-in-law and business partner of State Fair Commissioner Kenneth “Buster” Goff. Andrea Goff was raising money for Susana PAC months before Martinez appointed Buster Goff to the State Fair Commission.

It appears this relationship between fundraiser Andrea Goff and Governor Martinez factored into Buster Goff’s appointment to the commission. As you may recall, Buster Goff was provided the unique ability to alter the terms of the lease allowing him to support the contract after having publicly opposed the contract. It was Buster Goff who cast the tie-breaking vote that awarded the contract to the Downs at Albuquerque...

That's the type of stuff you are used to seeing in the newspaper, but things have changed.

PORK WATCH

The Guv signed the capital outlay bill Wednesday, making a point about waste but not depriving the state of a needed shot in the arm from the construction projects in the measure. She vetoed $23 million of the pet projects approved by the legislators, but the bill approved still provides $122 million. A separate bond package will go to the voters to decide in November. It totals $139 million.

Those are pretty solid numbers, but we could double them given that the state ranks last in the nation in construction employment. We're sure the Guv has been hearing from the biz community about keeping the capital dollars flowing. Shaving $22 million makes the point that the capital outlay process needs reform, but doesn't throw the baby out with the bath water.

HONORING EDWARD

National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation President Clara Apodaca checks in with this news regarding longtime ABQ business executive and former NM GOP Chairman Edward Lujan:

The National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation is hosting "An Evening at the National Hispanic Cultural Center With Virginia & Edward Lujan" on May 24. The night will include a special production highlighting the Center’s five programs. Dinner co-chairs are Sherman McCorkle and Ambassador Ed Romero...

Lujan, who built the family insurance business into a state powerhouse, is now 79 and still going strong. He was a key player in starting the cultural center. We ran into him at Barelas Coffee House where he was having a friendly lunch with Apodaca, the Democratic first lady of NM from '75 to '78.

There's always bipartisanship when they trot out the enchiladas....

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Brandenburg Vs. Romero
You want hot and heavy primary action? Well, pull up a chair and a bag of popcorn and join us on the campaign trail for the battle for Bernalillo County district attorney. Kari Brandenburg, seeking a fourth, four year term as DA, is preparing a spirited defense against an aggressive challenge being mounted by Jennifer Romero. Insiders say the preliminary sparring has already started behind the scenes and that there's no love lost between the two contenders.

Romero, 39, a native of Santa Fe and a UNM School of Law grad, is a former public defender with eight years under her belt, She has since returned Io private practice as a defense lawyer. Brandenburg is the heavyweight who has been down this road before. She faced off in a bitter duel against Republican Lisa Torraco four years ago and won.

Romero's team says they will come after Brandenburg hard and try to paint her as an ineffective DA who has not been forced to explain her record. It will be that same record that Brandenburg vigorously defends. And Kari has the personal financial strength to do it. Romero not so much. And that could be a big difference. Still, a Dem primary featuring one Anglo and one Hispanic is always one to watch. They can get close fast. No other candidates have signaled an interest in joining the fray and no name Republicans have yet emerged. That's fine. We probably have all we can handle in watching the show Kari and Jennifer are going to deliver.

SENATE PLOTTING
Sen. Ingle
Is State Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle vulnerable to being couped from his leadership post by fellow Republicans who are more closely aligned with the Governor and her political team? It has been the subject of ongoing speculation here since the Guv's operatives made clear they more or less forced GOP Senator Clint Harden out by threatening to primary him. Some of the Gators think Stu could be ripe for the plucking but others--including this Senior Alligator in Santa Fe--says not so fast:

I bet it doesn't get pulled off because Stuart is real popular among the current Republican senators. Also, there's that Senate institutional independence that cuts across party lines. Even if Sen. Adair beats Senator Burt and the replacements for Senators Boitano, Harden and Asbill were all loyalists to Guv political adviser Jay McCleskey, they wouldn't have the numbers. (The likely replacement for Dem Senator Lisa Curtis is Republican Mark Moores. He is a former chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Walter Bradley.) I might be wrong, but I doubt he'd go along with such an insurrection. But I think you're right that if there was an uprising, Adair would be part of it...

Interesting stuff and we tend to agree that ousting Ingle is getting tougher by the day. The coup effort against him is suffering from the disinfectant known as sunlight....

Now more on the political fallout from the Guv's strong-arm effort that forced Senator Harden to the sidelines. One of our east side Republican readers--a business owner--says there's plenty of discontent over this:

Joe, There are a lot people who were stunned when Clint announced his retirement. And we couldn’t believe it when the Governor endorsed the first person to announce for the seat. It would have set better with people if Governor Martinez had at least waited until others had announced and then made a choice after meeting all of them. The “East Side” voted heavy for the Governor in the election but she might not have that support the next time around. We feel like she is trying to control our election and we don’t like that. We want to choose our own State Senator. She is probably going to support Angie Spears with her SusanaPAC and some of us, who donated to that PAC, are wishing we had our money back in order to donate it to one of the other candidates...

Angie Spears is the nice of GOP Public Regulation Commission Chairman Pat Lyons and is the first cousin to the wife of Clovis area District Attorney Matt Chandler who in turn has close ties to the Guv's political operation.

How about that line about Republicans not giving money to SusanaPAC if they are upset about its interference in R primaries? That's kind of like Rush Limbaugh being hit with advertiser withdrawals, isn't it?

BLOCKED BOONDOGGLE?

A Santa Fe reader writes:

Joe, not sure if you saw this:

Lawmakers this session reallocated $4 million from a future mega government complex project to fund the more immediate reconstruction of the Manuel Lujan Building. That means 300 Taxation and Revenue employees will move out of the Lujan building this summer for about a year while it is completely gutted and renovated. It also means the state at a later time can again seek funds for the supercomplex, which is still without a location. The complex commonly is called the Las Soleras project for the area south of Santa Fe that members of the former Gov. Bill Richardson administration favored.

And the reader comments:

Let's hope this is the final nail in the coffin for this boondoggle project that should have never got as far as it has--one of Richardson's "legacy " projects. Susana should run from this as fast as she can.

Yes, we thought we saw Susana jogging down Paseo de Peralta the other day...or was that Chuck?

GROUND ZERO

With the crash in natural gas prices Farmington and San Juan County have been ground zero for the Great Bear Market. Its tracks run deep. The latest:

The number of daily drivers throughout San Juan County decreased more than 4 percent since 2008, said the Farmington Metropolitan Planning Organization. (It) can be attributed to a slumping local economy and high gas prices. During the same three-year period when local traffic dropped 4 percent, natural gas production in northwest New Mexico dropped 13 percent, according to (state) statistics...Fewer vehicles are traveling San Juan County roads, suggesting the area has yet to recover from an economic downturn.

"When you lose 5,000 local jobs, you have fewer people commuting to and from work and fewer industry vehicles on the road," San Juan County Commissioner Margaret McDaniel.

The oversupply of natural gas is keeping prices down, slamming Farmington and depriving the state of royalty revenue. Santa Fe says it makes up some of the slack through royalties from higher priced liquefied natural gas, but there's no denying the gas crash has been historic and a chief reason for the decline in money flowing to the state treasury.

TRACKING THE ACTION

With all 112 NM state senators and representatives on the November ballot and with filing day March 20, tracking the action can get pretty wild. Sometimes we just can't keep up with it all. Take the case of Roswell GOP State Senator "Lightning Rod" Adair. We posted a blog early Tuesday saying he had not made a definitive announcement about his plans to seek a fifth term. But it turns out newsman Milan Simonich nailed down Adair's plans to run again. We missed his article until Steve Terrell of the New Mexican pointed it out.

With that confirmation we can look forward to one of the hottest primary contests of the season. Adair will face fellow Republican Senator Bill Burt. Under redistricting, the two were thrown into the same SE NM district. This could turn into a high-dollar primary as Roswell oilman Mark Murphy, who spent hundreds of thousands in 2008 to oust GOP State Rep. Dan Foley, an Adair ally, is now supporting Burt in his battle with Rod.

Also Tuesday, we carried speculation that Greg Nibert (not Craig), a GOP Chaves County Commissioner friendly with Rod, could get into the race. That seems dated now that Adair is all in.

Well, suffice it to say the speculation and chatter in this Roswell-Alamogordo-Lincoln area seat is at fever pitch. We'll look for more twists and turns as they develop--if we can keep up.

And one other clean-up item. Readers Allen Stenger and Carol Guzman point out that we erroneously said that Sandra Fluke, the woman who was called a "slut" by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, is an undergraduate student. She is in fact a law student at Georgetown University in DC.

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Sen. Adair
Let's kick it off today with more of the intrigue going on within the state GOP. There's plenty of play action....

In blogging of how the Guv's political machine could take out Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle and replace him with a leader with more fealty toward Martinez, we counted State Senator "Lightning Rod" Adair as one of the eight votes they could round up to execute the coup at the next legislative session, but a reader writes:

Joe, You assume that Adair will be able to save his seat which is going to be hard for him in this new district...

Point taken. There is suspense over Rod's SE NM district. Under redistricting he has been thrown into the same district as fellow Republican Senator Bill Burt who the Guv appointed to the seat to fill a vacancy. We are waiting for Adair to formally announce his re-election plans which he must do by March 20. Las Cruces Sun-News columnist Walt Rubel says Adair will run against Burt. The New Mexican's Steve Terrell says Adair has told him directly that he will seek re-election. Also, newsman Milan Simonich came with this article quoting Adair as running for a fifth term.

The race is not a no-brainer for Adair. Burt, a radio station owner, is well-known in Alamogordo in Otero County which now makes up a large part of the district. He has announced he is all in on the Senate run.

(There has been some early compare and contrast between Adair and Burt over votes on a liability bill for the NM Spaceport. More on that here.

Adair has been an important voice in the Senate for the hard right of the GOP. That's why the state is watching this one closely.

STABBING STUART?

Meantime, the speculation over the political future of respected State Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle is rocking eastern New Mexico. We've blogged that Ingle, a local legend in the Clovis area, could be targeted by the Guv's political operation for replacement as GOP leader at the next legislative session. The Clovis News-Journal asked Ingle directly about that possibility. He responded, "Who knows?"

He's not exactly shooting it down, is he?

The Guv's chief political adviser, Jay McCleskey, put out a statement assuring the locals that the Guv is supportive of Ingle and that they will not field a primary challenger against him. But that came after months of talk that they were looking for someone to run against him.

So who would replace Ingle as Senate GOP leader if the long knives come out and he is ousted? Informed insiders say ABQ State Senator Bill Payne, the Senate minority whip, is first in line. In light of that you might want to know that the very first political client of Jay McCleskey was none other than....Bill Payne.

Yep. Around here, the Gators cover both the Fourth Floor of the Roundhouse--where the Guv sets up shop--as well as the "Fifth Floor" where the political plotting goes on and on and on....

THE PLOT THICKENS

Could this push for Senate conformity among the GOP cost the Governor politically? A Senior Alligator assesses Martinez's concentration on getting more compliant Republicans in the Senate this election year. He says it could be an overreach with consequences at the polls and could also detract from the R's hopes of increasing their strength in the narrowly divided state House:

"Holding serve" is an analogy from tennis. In tennis the server has the advantage to score. Hence Susana must now serve to hold onto the senators she has, instead of focusing on taking the House. She will be lucky to replace all of the Republican senators with those who will march to her wishes. Her anointed are tainted by the separation of powers and checks and balances issues...

And that sums it up in a nutshell. For example, Susana's anointed candidate to replace east side GOP State Senator Clint Harden, Angie Spears, has already drawn two opponents.

And then there's another factor you won't hear about anywhere else, but that's why we're here. Governor Martinez is a Hispanic woman from Las Cruces and Stuart Ingle is an Anglo male from cowboy country. The unity between the two can be fragile, no?

While the Guv and her operatives may want all R's to march in lockstep, the people doing the voting may have other ideas.

THE BOITANO SEAT

Mark Boitano has held his ABQ NE Heights Senate seat since 1997 so his retirement announcement seems to be creating some pent up demand. Republican Gerges Scott is first in line, coming with a formal announcement for the seat. He is an energy analyst with the DW Turner PR firm and a former executive news producer at KRQE-TV. He also worked as the PR flack for the Dept. of Corrections when Republican Gary Johnson was governor. Scott is a close friend of former Bernalillo County Sheriff and GOP activist Darren White who in turn has close ties to Gov. Martinez political adviser Jay McCleskey.

Not to say Jay and company will back Scott. They may have two other choices if they want to play. Insiders say Kurstin Johnson, wife of GOP Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson, is mulling a run as is Lisa Torraco. We'll see how the field settles on filing date March 20. No Dems really need apply here. Boitano country is Republican country.

IN OUR TIME

It is fundamental to understanding this era in New Mexican politics that the Governor, the GOP and a fair number of citizens do not want government to do much of anything. While Senator Adair recently called the recent session of the Legislature the biggest "do nothing" one he could recall, Farmington GOP Senator Bill Sharer has a different take:

Generally speaking, any legislature, not just New Mexico's, mostly does things to people, not for them. This time one of the great successes was not doing anything to anybody...

After the big government Richardson era, the slowdown in Santa Fe could be seen as the pause that refreshes. The trouble comes when the pause becomes permanent.

WILL LIMBAUGH SURVIVE?
Limbaugh & Santullo
Is the Rush Limbaugh talk radio era nearing its end? The conservative host has been atop the heap for decades, but his latest misstep is a doozy and causing advertisers to bail. When discussing contraception he set off a firestorm by calling a a student at Georgetown University Law School as a "slut" and a "prostitute."

We asked New Mexico talk radio pioneer Mike Santullo for his thoughts on where Limbaugh goes from here;

I think he will barely survive it. But, yes, I think it is the beginning of the end. In the over 20 years he has been on, this is the biggest negative reaction to anything he's done. The time is right for him to start crumbling. Time wise, the country has had enough and he isn't the icon he once was. The political climate isn't in his favor anymore give the fact that he and other conservative talk show hosts have not weakened Obama as they had hoped to. To quote Bob Dylan, "The times they are a changin'."

Limbaugh is heard locally from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. weekdays on 50,000 watt talk radio giant 770 KKOB-AM where he enjoys high ratings. If there have been calls for an advertiser boycott of Limbaugh locally, they have been below the radar.

Santullo began in talk radio in the early 70's when the medium was in its infancy. He held forth on KZIA-AM, ABQ's first full-time talk station. Later he toiled as a press flack for Dem ABQ Mayor Ken Schultz and as a director for the NM Commission for the Blind from which he retired.

MARTY'S MONEY

The letter to the ABQ Journal editor that was also sent here and which we ran Monday said ABQ congressional candidate Marty Chavez had received a severance package from his DC employer when he left that job. But Chavez's campaign says the letter writer is wrong and sent a copy of his W-2 showing he made $96,000 in wages for part of 2011 and received no severance before he left to run for Congress. The issue of severance pay popped up recently when it was disclosed that congressional hopeful Eric Griego received $24,000 in severance pay when he left his post as executive director of the NM Voices for Children. The group defended the payout as normal while critics lambasted it as a disguised campaign contribution.

IT'S DONE--FOR NOW

The redistricting of ABQ's nine city council districts is done and three of the council districts will now be on the Westside where growth boomed during the go-go years, but has since slowed. ABQ Mayor Berry came with this take:

I support having three full council districts on the Westside...I (also) supported a center city district, which (this redistricting) accomplishes as well....This has been a long deliberative process with significant public participation and I would like to thank all those involved for their input...

But neighborhood groups are threatening legal action to thwart the redistricting plan. The plan approved is called "Map-L." As is our custom we go deep inside City Hall and to one of our Alligators for an opposing view and one informed by an up-close look at the action:

The following is the basis for the demographic argument against Map L. District 2 is 35% white and has a total population of 63,508 2,833, so it has a + 4.7% deviation. District 3, also a majority-minority district (11.6% white), has a +2.8 deviation. The argument is that two minority-majority districts have the largest positive deviation. Councilor Winter's is 4, Jones 8, and Harris 9. All have negative deviations and are not minority-majority. The plan dilutes minority vote because of the deviations. This is a link to the demographic data of the map. This is a link to the map.

And there's another major concern with the approved plan. Here's that:

Map L packs the poor into District 2. The new District 2 would have the vast majority of low income census tracts and all of the federally-designated "pockets of poverty."

Let's see what happens, if anything, when and if these arguments go before a judge.

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The bear is back. We thought we had finally chased him away after more than three years of dining on the economy, but this guy is stubborn and has an extra large appetite. Just look at him, pleased as punch with himself and poised for yet another meal.

And what's he dining on these days? How about for an appetizer the loss of 20 jobs at high-end Christie's real estate in Santa Fe as the housing market there continues to darken?

Second course dining could feature the downturn in the Rio Rancho area housing market--an always delectable delight for our hungry bear. The menu reads as follows:

Home construction in Rio Rancho has declined steadily since a mid-decade high. Builders broke ground on 264 new single-family homes between January and the end of November, according to the city website. That’s a 39 percent drop compared with the January through November period in 2010, when housing starts were at 436.

But this isn't a baby bear. For the main course, he will go all out. Up to 800 jobs at Los Alamos National Labs:

The National Nuclear Security Administration has approved a plan to cut staff at Los Alamos National Laboratory through voluntary buyouts. Lab officials last week announced plans to reduce their permanent full-time workforce by between 400 and 800 employees this spring, or as much as 11 percent.

We missed this part of the Los Alamos story. From the NYT:

In 2008, amid similar budget constraints, 431 workers were let go with buyouts. But this year’s cuts will probably run deeper, and Mr. McMillan acknowledged that they would be difficult.

No great meal concludes without dessert and our bear will not go wanting. For his, the Bear will savor the loss of 60 jobs from the ABQ Sony studios:

Sony Pictures Imageworks is closing its downtown Albuquerque studio this July when the company's lease expires...The nearly 60 workers at the studio in Albuquerque will be offered jobs at other Sony facilities in Canada and Los Angeles.

That's a fine meal indeed. But this Bear is cosmopolitan. He wants a cappuccino and an after dinner drink to complete his repast. And he finds it in Las Cruces and the tax collection crash:

The Gross Receipts Tax remittance from the state for the month of February 2012 totaled $6,832,214 a 3.9% decrease from the GRT remittance of February 2011. February receipts represent December economic activity. The year to date growth rate now stands at a negative 0.3% for the first eight months of fiscal year 2012. February figures, representing the Christmas shopping season, are a reversal of the slow improvement seen since September.

Yes, New Mexico is a fine dining spot for the Great Bear. He apparently has been spotted fleeing other states as a stronger economic recovery takes hold, but as you can see from the picture of him posted today the Bear is out of his lair here and ready to be served again--al fresco style.

What will it take to chase this fella away?