The good news for Michelle Lujan Gisham is that she may be brought into the US House because of the strength of President Obama in the ABQ congressional district. The bad news is that she will be a member of the minority in the House unless.....

House Democratic leaders insist they have a fighting chance to pull off what outside analysts call a major longshot: Winning back 25 seats to regain control of the chamber this fall. Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the third-ranking House Democrat, told The Hill that he puts the odds at about 50-50, and said President Obama can influence the outcome.

Serving in the minority in the House is a real downer. You are almost completely shut out. Just ask Dem Martin Heinrich who is leaving the ABQ House seat to run for the Senate. Over there, the minority part still has ways to have some stroke.

Grisham will not only be watching her own race results Election Night, but the national picture for the US House. How it turns out will have a whole lot to do with her future job satisfaction.

KEITHGATE

What a week for the Guv and her Chief of Staff Keith Gardner. Emailgate came crashing through the gates with attorney and possible 2014 Dem Guv candidate Sam Bregman driving the truck. All of a sudden emailgate went from drip, drip, drip to a gully washer.

Martinez herself had to go before the cameras and address the multiple angles of the ongoing scandal. Not good. And Gardner's admission heard on a tape recording that he doesn't use state email because he is afraid he would go to jail had the Alligators saying that we may reached an inflection point--that the rosy view of this administration could be sullied by the continuous pounding it's taking. Speaking of which, this reader was quick to pile on Keith:

Governor Martinez appears to have completely dismissed an admission by Gardner that some of his communications, if disclosed, could send him to jail. Gardner admits in a recorded conversation, that he never uses his state email account, but even more importantly that he goes completely "off-line" for many of his communications so as to not wind up in legal trouble. Governor Martinez's silence about Gardner's admission seems to indicate that she is untroubled by illegal conduct by those at the highest levels of her administration--so long as they don't get caught. As a former prosecutor shouldn't heads be rolling after Martinez learned that the man she entrusted to run her government is engaging in actions that could produce jail time?

Unfortunately for Susana, Bregman drew blood this week and the smell of that stuff in the water has a galvanizing effect not only on sharks but also on lawyers. Stay tuned.

THAT TAPE

That four minute video tape of Susana defending Gardner and lashing out at Bregman was unsettling. She was harsh, a bit arrogant, defensive and looked very annoyed. It was the side of Susana that has for the most part been kept out of public view. The background optics of her administration have been her cherry countenance amid the smiling school children she seems to greet almost daily.

This sour Susana is not a selling point. Her political guru Jay McCleskey has done his best to keep Susana from bristling before the cameras--pretty easy to do when the media and the news flow tend to be on your side. But that is slowly changing. Susan and Jay cackling behind closed doors over how they want to devour their political enemies is one thing, but to bring the fighting side of these personalities before the New Mexican public is the last thing you want to do.

Martinez must now go off script and handle a scandal that will continue to develop in an unscheduled and unpredictable manner. Her reversion to the prickly personality of a district attorney--which she was for so long--may help her legally but it can be poisonous to her carefully crafted public persona.

ABQ VS. LAS CRUCES

From Las Cruces politico Tony Schaefer comes with this:

In a posting this week you reported that the construction economy in Las Cruces is far better than that of Albuquerque. I hate to say is just isn't so. If you subtract the massive one time spending by local, state and federal agencies including the public schools and NMSU, our economy is just as flat. 

...The debate between Dems and Repubs can be simply summed up as continued spending versus budget trimming. The big question is where we draw the line, as in how much debt are we willing to accumulate.  Unfortunately, whatever the goal of spending; feeding the poor, housing the homeless, defending the nation, all have costs. The overriding question must be how the costs of such efforts can be paid for and thus sustained.

Respectfully, Susanna Martinez has no idea of how the private enterprise system operates, since she never has held a job that was not supported by the public. Where is the private industry experience of Sen. Tom Udall or Rep Ben Ray Lujan or Rep. Martin Heinrich or ABQ congressional candidate Michelle Lujan Grisham or any of the current office holders or candidates? At least Rep. Steve Pearce was in the private sector, but his veer to the far right has left most of us hoping for better.

The goal of governance or politics here is not the public good, it is not improving the economy, it is not job creation. It is the goal of promoting political hegemony. It is better to gain one more Republican in office than to allow a Dem to ascend the political ladder, even if that Dem would assure more jobs and vice versa. Jobs and the economy are simply not on the agenda. Until the people of New Mexico demand better they will gain nothing better. It is time you and we all wake up and smell the roses. If we expect that New Mexico will survive based upon continued federal, state and local spending then I expect we all will be crying over our demise sooner rather than later, as will I.

WIN SOME CHILE

Hey, it's better than passing around envelopes full of cash like they were said to have done in the old days. The news:

Green chile is the best way to kick-off the 2012 Fall Election Season. Michael Padilla for State Senator is hosting a huge BBQ in the ABQ South Valley this Saturday, September 8. The event will be at 4:30 PM, at 7241 Isleta SW. We will be giving away 15 sacks of New Mexico green chile (extra large 35 lb. sacks). I hope you can make it...

Now don't go thinking someone is going to vote for a candidate just because they're getting a 35 pound sack of green chile. Well, not unless it comes roasted....

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The New Mexico marketplace is flooded with polls these days, nothing like over 20 years ago when the ABQ Journal first began campaign polling. Back then they were the only game in town and while today there are many other polls conducted here, the first general election survey from Brian Sanderoff of Research and Polling to be published in this Sunday's Journal is still highly anticipated.

Candidates who have their heads under water (hello, Heather) are hoping for something different to breathe fresh life into their campaigns. The front-runners look to Sanderoff to confirm the numerous other surveys that have been taken over the summer. In an effort to influence his numbers candidates have been known to time their TV buys with the dates Sanderoff is thought to be making his calls.

Because he has a highly accurate list of likely voters and historic knowledge of the state's politics, Sanderoff knows how to weight his responses, separating him from the pack. Still, it is rare for the Journal's surveys to differ dramatically from the others anymore. The polling field is getting more advanced with each passing election cycle, but that won't stop those trailing candidates from hoping against hope for a homegrown polling bounce when they pick up the Sunday fish wrapper..

PRIVATE IS REALLY PUBLIC?

Governor Martinez Chief of Staff Keith Gardner was caught in an audio recording released this week saying that he never uses his state email account because "...that's all discoverable. That's why I never email on my state email...anything that can come back and bite my ass."

Well, could Keith's ass still suffer bite marks for using private email to conduct state business? We asked one of our Legal Beagles for his take:

It seems to me that if someone were to postulate and prove in a lawsuit that it was the pattern and practice for an individual or group of individuals to, more than not, use their private emails to conduct business, then those emails should be viewed as the individuals' business emails. It is not that the business communications never occurred, simply because they occurred via a private email address instead of a business (or officially sanctioned government) email address.  The bottom line is that when we consult and/or advise clients on appropriate email usage (whether for the business or personal setting), we tell them: "if you are okay with what you just typed showing up in a public forum or as a piece of evidence in a case, go ahead and hit send."  I suppose it is the modern day equivalent of "would you say that if your mother was here?" 

PINNING HER DOWN

Martinez & Gardner

The Gardner tape was released by attorney Sam Bregman, a possible 2014 Dem Guv candidate. If his goal is to get Martinez talking about him, he's succeeding. For the first time Wednesday she addressed emailgate questions at a news conference. The full video is here and here are some excerpts:

That (the release of the tape) is so low. It was strictly political. He gave 25 seconds of an hour and ten minutes because he did not want the press putting it in context. I think New Mexicans clearly understand what his strategy is...that is to move up the political ladder...and he can run for office all he wants. He's lost the last five elections...Fine. He can do it, but not on the backs of two young girls who are survivors who sexual assault. That is wrong. (Gardner) did not do anything wrong. He was a father sitting down with a friend talking about sexual assault of two relatives. How in the world could it be wrong they are comforting each other...

Martinez stood for questions for over three and half minutes on the matter, appearing angry and annoyed and looking like the prosecutor of old. Her comment about Bregman losing "the last five elections" was an example of her frustration. Bregman has a number of political losses, but not five in a row.

Say what you will and whether he has a case or not, Bregman is the first Democrat to get a rise out of Martinez and to take the terms of the debate away from the Fourth Floor (and Fifth).

Martinez dismissed all other aspects of emailgate as "political." But this was no longer a Governor who was able to relegate emailgate to staff. She had to directly join the debate, or at least thought she did. Bregman got what he wanted.

KEITH'S WEB

A reader writes of the statement from Gov. Martinez Chief of Staff Keith Gardner that he does not use a state email account out of fear of going to jail:

I use private email because I don't want to do anything illegal? What fun!

WHAT ABOUT JON?

A reader writes of our coverage of the poor jobs situation in ABQ and New Mexico:

You mentioned the Governor and Mayor Berry as being responsible for creating jobs in New Mexico.  What about the secretary of the State Economic Development Department, Jon Barela?  He is responsible for job creation statewide.  He has a staff and a robust paycheck. 

For sure and Barela has got to be feeling some heat about now.

AT UNM

Despite numerous tuition increases in recent years the cost of attending UNM is low by comparison to other states, but we pay our professors a lot less than other schools:

Out of the 50 states, New Mexico is ranked in the bottom 10 for average full-time professor salary and six-year graduation rate, but in the top 10 for lowest full-time student tuition and fees. According to the almanac, New Mexico is ranked 42nd for full-time professor salary, 45th for six-year graduation rates and 7th for student tuition and fee costs. To see the full report, go to chronicle.com.

IDEAS SOUGHT

The new Prez at UNM is looking for ideas to revive our dead-in-the-water economy:

If you’ve got ideas on how the University of New Mexico can foster economic development in the Albuquerque area, UNM President Bob Frank wants to hear from you. Frank and UNM will host an economic development summit Friday, Sept. 21 on the UNM campus. Frank is looking for ideas that can be discussed during the daylong conference...

We can't make that conference, but our laundry list for UNM has been voiced here before,

---Build a dental school UNM to fill a vital gap in state healthcare and provide professional employment opportunities for young New Mexicans

---Clean house at the long-troubled UNM Athletic Department. Doing so will restore public confidence and help with fund-raising

---Make over the top administration of the University and bring in your own team. Again, a move to restore confidence in UNM which hovers at record lows after years of political gamesmanship...

Many more, but that's a start.

HO HUM HEINRICH 

Another day and another TV ad from US Senate front-runner Martin Heinrich. With a healthy lead in the polls (about 7 points) the Dem contender is not being forced by GOP hopeful Heather Wilson into taking any chances. His latest TV ad consisting of general platitudes about the middle class and such continues the low-risk strategy of the ABQ congressman. The ad:

Traveling around New Mexico I talk with middle class families who are struggling to get by. A lot of Washington politicians just don’t get it. They have the wrong priorities. In New Mexico we know what’s important. Putting Main Street ahead of Wall Street. Educating our kids and keeping college affordable. And honoring our promises to our veterans. I will always put New Mexico first. I’m Martin Heinrich and I approve this message because the New Mexico I know is worth fighting for.

Left to his own devices, Heinrich is already a low-key guy. With this polling lead, he's about as exciting to watch as a possum hanging from a tree--and that's just the way he likes it.

HEATHER'S CHOICE

And here we go again with a candidate losing their grip and still not willing to throw the dice to get back in the action. It's Heather Wilson riding the fence on the "Dream Act.":

Wilson would not take a definitive position on the Dream Act, which would allow children brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents to become citizens when they graduate from high school or enroll in the military. But she sounded sympathetic to their plight and suggested that some accommodation should be made for them. 

Heather needs some game changes to kick start her campaign. She is not going to find them in the GOP platform.

DON'T SHOOT HER

Former ABQ Journal columnist Jim Belshaw picks up on an editing error on the Wednesday blog and writes:
 
Joe wrote: National Republican Senatorial Committee is not going to go gun-ho with TV ads for Heather. I'm delighted to hear the NRSC won't be shooting her. But I think you're looking for "gung-ho."
Yes, Jim, that's what we're looking for. Shooting Heather would be bad for the blog ratings.

GOP HATS

Reader Deryle Perryman writes of our lead photo on the Wednesday blog:

If those lovely, and happy New Mexican ladies are in fact, Democrats, why are they wearing those atrocious Republican hats? C'mon ladies, paparrazi are everywhere.

Hmm....If in fact they are "Republican hats, maybe they can have donkeys stitched on the hats. Or maybe they were on a budget and got the leftovers from the GOP confab in Tampa.

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Patty Cervantes & Ida Cordova

Why wouldn't these two New Mexico delegates to this week's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte be smiling as they arrive for the festivities? The Dark Age that descended over the state's Dems in 2010 appears to have lifted.

President Obama, Senate hopeful Martin Heinrich and ABQ US House contender Michelle Lujan Grisham all appear to be in the driver's seats in their respective elections. And the Dems also appear set to hold their own in the state legislative contests. Their toughest opponent may be potential voter apathy. Races that don't look close could keep voters at home.

But that's a distant worry for the partying Dems. While state Republicans rejoiced over the appearance of Governor Martinez at their national party convention last week, if the present trend continues it will be the party of the donkey that ends up doing the rejoicing that matters on Election Night.

THE TRIALS OF HEATHER

The most disappointing development for state R's has been the early body blows suffered by GOP US Senate candidate Heather Wilson. Her campaign has been turned into the political equivalent of the Bataan Death March as word spreads that that the National Republican Senatorial Committee is not going to go gung-ho with TV ads for Heather. That and those bad polls led pundits across the USA to join us in ranking the Senate contest "lean Dem."

In light of the damage this is doing to Wilson's fund-raising and overall standing the NRSC is trying to walk back that report about its ash canned TV buy, but they have a lot of convincing to do. Here's a portion of a memo they are circulating:

The NRSC often reserves time in advance when we believe it might be difficult or expensive to make an advertising buy because of a high demand for television time. In this instance, the NRSC reserved the time when it was not clear how significant a role New Mexico would play in the presidential race. The state has not surfaced as a presidential battleground...Furthermore, none of New Mexico’s congressional campaigns are on television, and there are no other statewide elections in New Mexico this year. Therefore, outside organizations have found that it is not necessary to reserve time--they just make a decision to spend money in New Mexico at a low cost and buy the time with little to no advanced notice. Heather Wilson is running a tough, smart campaign in New Mexico. We believe she has the ability and strategy to be New Mexico’s next US Senator....

Not a bad try for the young politicos at the NRSC, but the pundits and the cynics in the bleacher seats are mumbling, "Thanks, but we heard you the first time."

Wilson's campaign is now going to be afflicted with rumors of personnel changes, money shortages, campaign infighting and all the other glorious internecine details that go with an effort that appears permanently damaged. And to think Heather has to put up with that for 60 days. No wonder she kicked the NRSC in the shins for that memo.

One of Wilson's problems--heck, the problem of the entire GOP around here--is the public's mistrust of them when it comes to Social Security and Medicare funding. Dems own this issue and in the past it has been troublesome for Wilson. She came with a new ad pledging her support for Social Security, saying when her father died her family received Social Security benefits so she knows its value and will fight to protect it. Heinrich immediately cited her past support of partially privatizing the system--a no-no for most Americans.

Heinrich's latest ad is a Spanish language spot which he finishes off himself.

JANICE EMERGES

While Heather is about seven points back in the public polls, ABQ GOP congressional hopeful Janice Arnold-Jones trails Dem Michelle Lujan Grisham by about five or so, according to a number of internal polls that are floating around. But it could get worse as the Dem contender becomes better known.

Janice comes with her first wave of TV in an effort to hold back the wave that could come at her. The first is a bio spot of the former NE Heights state legislator that touts her record for open and transparent government--an issue that is sure to induce a sleep that Rip Van Winkle would envy.

The other spot, called "An America We Can Believe In," is a semi-gauzy ad that talks in general terms--and we mean general--about job creation.

Janice has the smarts, but she is gong to need a whole lot more fire and brimstone if she is going to get this race in play. And she only has a month to do it. 

DARREN VS. JANICE

You would think Darren White, the former Bernalillo County sheriff who was the losing 2008 ABQ GOP congressional candidate and who was bounced from his job as ABQ's Public Safety Director when he interfered at the scene of his wife's auto accident and who has since parlayed his political connections into becoming general manger at the Downs at ABQ, would quietly be thanking his lucky stars that he has any job. But no. We blogged recently of how Darren continues to stab at fellow Republican Janice Arnold-Jones via his Twitter account. Reader Cynthia Leyba has had enough:

I'm a Democrat but Darren White doesn't have room to criticize Arnold-Jones. He lost big time when he was the nominee in 2008.. If he dislikes her positions so much he should have run again. Oh, that's right, he was too far to the right to win. Republicans, instead voted for a Democrat or didn't bother voting at all.

And it's not as if Darren doesn't have enough to keep him busy. The Downs at ABQ, already mired in pay to play allegations--one of which is that White was given the general manager job as part of a deal for the state to approve a new racino for the Downs--is having major problems in getting that hyper-controversial racino built:

Construction of a new 65,000-square-foot casino for the Downs at Albuquerque is about a month behind schedule, but general manager Darren White said that the owners are planning to open it “early in the second quarter” of next year. Officials at Expo New Mexico, the state-owned fairgrounds that leases land to the racino, said the construction will have an impact on the upcoming New Mexico State Fair, which will take place Sept. 12-23 at the fairgrounds. 

Other questions: Are banks going to be forthcoming with the financing necessary when the attorney general says he is investigating possible corruption in awarding the racino to the Downs? And what about White's management qualifications--or more precisely the lack of them--will that have an impact on bank financing? Maybe those are the questions Darren should be pondering rather than spending time dissing Janice. Somehow we don't think that's what his new racino bosses are paying
him for.

EMAILGATE (CONT.)

Martinez & Gardner

More grist for Attorney General Gary King as he investigates emailgate and more trouble--maybe big trouble--for Governor Martinez Chief of Staff Keith Gardner.

Attorney and possible 2014 Dem Guv candidate Sam Bregman comes with a sensational tape recording in which Gardner is heard saying he "never uses his state email" because "I don't want to go to jail." The news:

... the secret recording is of a conversation between Gardner and a friend, Brian Powell of Roswell. Powell told Bregman he made the recording when he and Gardner were having a conversation about family issues. Powell, who works for the Roswell Fire Department, did not tell Gardner he was recording him and it's unclear why he was recording him. "That's why I never email on my state email ... anything that can come back and bite my ass," said a voice that Bregman claims belongs to Gardner. " Shit,  I never use my email because it's all done on different stuff ... I don't want to go to court (or) jail."

Gardner, deputy chief of staff Ryan Cangiolosi, Guv political adviser Jay McCleskey, Republican National Committeeman Pat Rogers and others, appear to have been conducting a shadow government that did state business via private email. TV news explained that Bregman released the tape as part of a legal case he is involved in. He says the Gardner statements show he is "drunk with power" and running a secret government.

Gardner says the tape was released "out of context." The AP:

Gardner said in a statement  that the 24-second clip of a private conversation was "intentionally misleading" and was about potential evidence in a sexual assault case involving Gardner's relative, not state government business."Sam Bregman today crossed the line. He tried to use a snippet of a private conversation about two young girls in a sexual assault case to mislead the press," Gardner said in a statement. "He knew what he was telling the press was false and he knew that his actions would result in identifying my female relative in the case. Bregman should be embarrassed as a lawyer and utterly ashamed on a personal level."

The full 24 second audio tape of Gardner is posted here.

The union-funded Independent Source PAC, which has been investigating the administration's dealings with the racino lease at the Downs at ABQ, saying it suspects bid-rigging, pounced on the Gardener tape and called for the staff chief's resignation:

...Keith Gardner, was heard in a recording boasting, that not only does he not use his state email account to communicate, but that he intentionally goes “off-line” to communicate information he doesn’t want disclosed to the public. Gardner stated that he did so especially in situations where disclosure of his communications could result in his going to court or jail. The admission of intent to deceive the public should be enough to end Gardner’s employment with the governor. So too should it end the employment of Ryan Cangiolosi, the deputy chief of staff and Gardner’s right hand man.

There are two schools of thoughts here--that the drip, drip, drip of emailgate is bound to take a political toll on Martinez and could lead to serious legal charges against key players. The other school says it is much ado about nothing--that using private email for state biz is no big deal.

Our Alligators say emailgate has been hard for the public to understand, consisting of separate chapters and that the state's Dems have not produced a comprehensive narrative that would cause political damage. They also point out no paid media has been done on the story or much of a drumbeat heard from party headquarters. Further complicating the affair is the potential Guv candidacies of both Bregman and Attorney General King.

Still, the law is the law and it appears if nothing else Gardner and company are going to be tied up in legal strings for months to come. Whether they ensnare the Governor as well is a chapter yet to be told.

A TWOFER?

The ABQ City Council meets today and reader Ted Cloak has a question for the nine member panel:

Joe, Any chance that the ABQ City Councilors could come up with a deal: A supermajority for both the I-25/Paseo makeover and the minimum wage hike?

That would be an interesting play. Mayor Berry is trying to avoid a Nov. 6 vote on $50 million in bonds for the rebuild of the Paseo Del Norte/I-25 interchange by winning a "supermajority' of the council. That would take seven of the nine councilors. Five R's and one Dem support Berry, but the three remaining Dem councilors want the public to vote.

Lurking in the background is the mandated election on raising the city's minimum wage from $7.50 an hour to $8.50. It's mandated because citizens filed enough petition signatures forcing a vote. But if a council supermajority approved of it--like Paseo--it would not have to go to the ballot.

As things stand, the Republican majority appears determined to have a special election in the dead of December on the minimum wage measure rather than place it on the November ballot where its chances of passing would be better than at a low turnout special.

The compromise would be for the Dems to vote to approve Paseo without a public vote and the R's to go the same route with the minimum wage.

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Posted to your left is everything you need to know about the flat-on-its back New Mexico and Albuquerque economies.

Every other state around us is experiencing year-over-year job growth--some significantly so like Oklahoma at 2.5% and Arizona at 2.4%. Our state remains in a jobs depression/recession with negative year-over-year job growth of -0.2 percent for the month of June. The city of ABQ is even worse, with negative growth of -1.1 percent. And so it has been for a number of years.

The political pressure has to build sometime, doesn't it? We are ranked at or near the bottom of the job growth charts in the entire USA--month after month and now year after year.

So far Republican Governor Martinez and Republican ABQ Mayor Richard Berry have been silent on this--the #1 issue facing the state--and their political opposition has been ineffective in placing much, if any, blame at their doorstep, even though Martinez took power January 1, 2011 and Berry on December 1, 2010.

The Martinez administration has announced an "economic summit" to try to show some involvement, while ABQ Mayor Berry continues to blame Washington for his city's economic woes. But if a fire is not lit under these leaders via a healthy political opposition that forces them to act, their popularity numbers will stay high and nothing much will get done. The feeble opposition makes it easy for blame--and responsibility--to be shifted elsewhere. It's not supposed to work that way.

By far this is the worst economy in the state and city in the post WWII era. Life-changing decisions are being made daily about selling or shuttering businesses, tax collections in the city can't keep pace with inflation or population growth and the state remains dangerously dependent on revenues from the oil industry. As we've blogged before, the worst ABQ commercial real estate crisis since the Great Depression has left acres of office space vacant. "Got Space" signs posted on them have become as
familiar as "Bienvenidos" placards.

And nothing it seems is being built--nothing.

The state and city economic development departments languish in a state of permanent siesta. Outside of some development on the southern border, ABQ and New Mexico have been dead money since late 2009.

This Governor and Legislature and this Mayor and City Council show all the energy and concern of a slug. They seem to think the jobs crisis will be solved when everyone who can't find a job has left the state or given up looking.

Now with the 2012 campaign fully upon us, will we have a sharp debate over our future here--or will ABQ and NM watch its top professionals slowly migrate away? Watch its best students flee? Stand by while even more federal jobs cuts are contemplated and then implemented?

We need debate and discussion--not denial. There are obviously no easy solutions but the head-in-the-sand approach to job creation around here by both the Republicans and Democrats would make an ostrich proud.

We desperately need leadership in the public, private and business sectors that will rise to the occasion. We are not getting it and until we do we are going to see plenty of more shocking charts like the one posted on today's blog.

HOW IMPORTANT?

Just to let you know we're not blowing smoke when we bleat about the massive economic impact Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories have on this state and city. The labs get about $4.6 billion in annual funding. And what is the gross revenue of New Mexico's top 100 private companies? Well, it's $4.6 billion. The Labs equal all the cash coming in for the top 100. Those private firms employ11,000. Sandia and Los Alamos employ some 20,000. And you can safely assume that a good chunk of that  "Private 100" revenue comes from the Feds.

BERRY'S BURDEN

He can continue to dismiss the dreary economic news exacting its toll on his city, but ABQ Richard Berry can't bury his head in the sand and wish reality away. Here's another brutal report about the economy that he looks out at from his 11th floor City Hall office:

With the loss of 2,200 construction jobs between July 2011 and July  2012, Albuquerque ranked 312th in construction employment among the  nation’s 337 markets, according to the latest report issued by the  Associated General Contractors of America. The Duke City has been among the nation’s construction laggards for several years. Albuquerque ended July with 19,200 construction jobs, a 10 percent  decline. Statewide, there was a total of 43,800 jobs, a drop of 1  percent in a year. The Duke City’s decline over that period is attributable to slowing  public sector work combined with an anemic private sector rebound.

Some of Berry's critics may start asking him (and Governor Martinez) why ABQ is looking so anemic when compared to Las Cruces. The news:

Based on McGraw-Hill Construction’s report on July contracts for  future construction, Las Cruces is the strongest market in New Mexico,  while Farmington is the softest. For the first seven months of 2012, Las Cruces had more than $180  million in construction contracts, a 44 percent gain. Farmington had a  34 percent drop. Nonresidential construction contracts gained 88 percent in Las Cruces  to $87.5 million, while in Farmington, nonresidential work dropped 50  percent.

We've said it for several years now and we'll say it again. The Bear Market in ABQ and New Mexico is changing the lives of hundreds of thousands. Before it is all over it will be as profound in its own way as the Great Depression was in the 30's.

RICHARDSON ON FACE

Here is yet another entry to drive the critics crazy who believe former Governor Big Bill Richardson ought to be wearing a ball and chain and sporting prison stripes. Here he is from this weekend discussing the Democratic National Convention at Charlotte on the venerable CBS broadcast "Face the Nation:"

...You're going to see this convention not appeal to the base, not have a bunch of nasty attacks. You're going to see a convention filled with promising young Hispanic speakers, you're going to see diversity, you're going to see multiculturalism. You're going to see a real effort to engage the middle class, engage the American worker, and say that we want to be positive about this country. We're not going to be a bunch of negativists. 

Richardson, always informed and articulate on politics, remains in good stead with the national media. The former congressman, governor, UN ambassador and energy secretary will be used by the Obama campaign to drum up support in the Hispanic community. His popularity remains higher out of state than in state.

The conservative press here continues to go apoplectic that Richardson is running around loose. His campaign cash for contracts administration is what drives them up the wall but now we're apparently seeing a repeat under the current administration. Downs at ABQ, anyone?

Here's a transcript of the CBS program and here's the video.

SENATE WATCH

Slip, sliding away. Another one joins the bunch. From DC pundit Stu Rothenberg on the NM Senate race featuring Dem Martin Heinrich and Republican Heather Wilson:

Republicans have a quality nominee in New Mexico but face a challenging political landscape. Former Rep. Heather Wilson (R) has a reputation as a moderate, but the race appears to be slipping away, according to multiple surveys. What once looked like an even match-up with Rep. Martin Heinrich (D) now looks like a significant lead for the Democrat, in a state that President Obama will likely carry in November. National Republicans appear to think so as well, as the NRSC pulled their ad reservations for the fall last week. 

It's not like she's giving up. Nor should she. Her Labor Day schedule:

I've been in Hatch at the Chile Fiesta. I was in Socorro for the county fair, up to Angel Fire yesterday, over at Wagon Mound for Bean Day and back down in Bernalillo and back in Albuquerque...so we have been all over the state.

The most appealing thing about Wilson in this era of austerity is her unabashed zeal for fighting for New Mexico's federal funding--and her leadership skills. She learned it from her mentor Senator Pete Domenici. Now she is in another of those fights for her political life. We fully expect her to go down fighting, if that's what it comes to.

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First things first. Sure, the campaigns are about to get underway in earnest but this Labor Day other matters top the agenda--like toasting the season with some fresh green chile. Or in the case of Annie Chavez who reads us from DC and snapped today's photo, even the frozen variety:

While I prefer red I was happy to find some real Hatch green chile at the Harris Teeter store on Capitol Hill yesterday. They've carried Bueno's frozen green chile for a few years now, ever since Senator Bingaman got the Senate cafeteria to highlight green chile for a month.  Rellenos this weekend!

They ushered in the 41st annual Hatch Chile Festival over the weekend and word is there is plenty of the fiery stuff to go around--even for New Mexicans in exile
 like Annie.

ROUGHED UP ROGERS

First he is forced to resign form the board of directors of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (FOG and now Part Rogers, whose name has become synonymous with "ill-advised emails," has been hit in the wallet. He has been forced out from his longtime job at the Modrall law firm. And the lawyer/lobbyist and GOP National Committeeman may still not be done with the consequences of his emails. There is an investigation by the attorney general into the awarding of the racino lease for the Downs at ABQ and Pat is up to his eyeballs in possibly incriminating emails over that.

His departure from Modrall was prompted by an email that poked fun at the Governor for meeting with state Indian tribes. He wrote, among other things, that General Custer would be offended.

Still lingering in the Rogers email saga: If FOG and Modrall had to let him go, what about the Republican Party? His email tales are now toxic and could pop up on the campaign trail and  hurt GOP candidates. So far, the Guv and the GOP are not calling for Rogers to resign.

THE SLEEPY COUNCIL

We hope the ABQ City Council will do the right thing and allow a proposed hike in the minimum wage on the November 6 ballot, but when it comes to this council--among the least productive in decades--you can't take anything for granted. Negotiations with state officials have led to an agreement that will allow a $50 million bond issue for the rebuild of the Paseo/I-25 interchange on the the general election ballot. That avoids an expensive special election But guess what? If the Republican majority council does not agree to place the measure on the November ballot we are back to square one--hosting a special election in the dead of winter at a cost of upwards of $750,000.

The politics are easy to understand. The minimum wage increase from $7.50 to $8,50 an hour would have an easier time passing when placed on the Nov. 6 ballot when turnout will be high. Turnout will plummet for a special election, giving opponents--like the council majority and Mayor Berry a better chance of defeating it.

It may be good politics for the council to keep the wage proposal off the November ballot, but it's lousy leadership. Unfortunately, that's what we have come to expect. We've had a record number of fatal and nonfatal police shootings and an historic lack of job growth for three years. But this city council sits there like a bump on the log--except when it comes to their ideological agenda which in this case could needlessly cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars for a special election. If the councilors opposing the wage boost are truly the fiscal conservatives they claim to be, they will save voters the excessive cost of a special election and let the people decide November 6.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com)
  
Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. Email us for details.

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