Harvey Yates, Jr.

It's no secret that former NM GOP Chairman Harvey Yates, Jr. has had a falling out with Governor Martinez and her political consultant Jay McCleskey, but now Yates has taken the feud a step further, delivering a direct hit on Martinez.

 Yates says allegations of corruption in Susana's administration should not be viewed by Republicans as far-fetched:

Most voters recognize that Susana Martinez is governor today because voters were fatigued by the former administration’s corruption. In 2010 Republicans were elected to end corruption. Thus, I was concerned when rumors of impropriety began to seep from the Martinez administration. But as to corruption, I was skeptical. Now, months later, I am not so skeptical.

Yates of the wealthy SE NM oil family, tangled with Martinez and McCleskey when he supported veteran conservative Dem state Senator Tim Jennings for re-election in 2012. The Governor's PAC attacked Yates for that support calling him "a country club Republican."

Yates previously took a public swipe at McCleskey. Now he has fired a direct shot at Governor Martinez on corruption. A party split doesn't get any deeper than that.

Yates was GOP chair in 2010 and was instrumental in advancing Martinez's gubernatorial ambitions. It resulted in a falling out with former GOP Chairman Allen Weh who was also running for the GOP nomination. Now two former GOP chairs--Weh and Yates--have abandoned Camp Susana.

It is the awarding of a controversial 25 year racino lease to the ABQ Downs that headlines the charges of possible corruption in the administration that Yates references. That lease is the subject of an FBI investigation.

(The ABQ Journal reported on July 19: "The FBI investigation hasn’t reached the grand jury stage, nor have any subpoenas been issued"

Harvey made his comments in an op-ed piece for the newspaper. We'll see if Susana or Jay respond.

HOW TIMES CHANGE

It was May 24, 2010 when our blog headlines screamed: "GOP Fissure: Chairman Yates Says Weh Ads "Dishonest.""

It was a key moment for Martinez who went on to win the GOP nomination in June in a landslide.

WHERE ARE THE DEMS?

If Republican Harvey Yates can take on the Guv on the corruption meme why can't the Dems?

WHEN FOR WEH?

Weh & Martinez

Speaking of Weh, he's about the only Republican who has expressed an interest in taking on Dem US Senator Tom Udall in '14. But some of Weh's supporters are telling us it could be months before the businessman makes an announcement. "Why spend money now when there is no primary?" offered one of them.

A Weh entry could be put on hold until early next year. Or maybe he's also thinking about that speculation that he could challenge Governor Martinez in the '14 GOP Guv primary. Fun stuff...

Udall reports he now has $1.5 million in cash on hand to wage his re-election campaign for a second term.

ABORTION VOTE

Will the vote on the proposed ABQ anti-abortion amendment be delayed? Legal deadlines to get it on the Oct. 8 mayoral and city council election ballot are drawing near and the process of verifying the necessary petition signatures is going slowly:

The city is in the process of verifying the petition signatures and says they have confirmed 2,519 so far. The petition needs to be a little more than 12,000 signatures from registered voters to get the ball rolling.

The City Council meets Monday. It has limited time to act to get it on the Oct. 8 ballot or else a special election will have to be held at a cost of over $500,000.

Opponents of the proposed City Charter amendment that would ban just about all abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy have set up a web site--Respect ABQ Women. The lead group in gathering the petitions to get it on the city ballot was Operation Rescue.

ABORTION DEBATE

A reader writes of the abortion debate that has been ignited in ABQ:

Joe, Semantics plays such a pivotal role in our political discussions. I'd like to point out that our current abortion rules prohibit abortions after 26 weeks. The period in between the two measures--from 20 to 26 weeks--would not be called "late term" by many people. If most people are opposed to "late term" abortions, using that phrase to characterize current law can be misleading and detrimental to ensuring safe, legal abortions for New Mexico women.

Perhaps it would be clearer to use "20 weeks" and "26 weeks" to refer to the two competing measures rather than the vague and emotional "late term."

Thanks for your coverage of this. I dare to hope that the right has stirred up a real hornet's nest of middle-of-the-road people who are disgusted with the insistence on treating women like children. 

DATELINE DENVER

The news:

Denver-area home sales prices reached an all-time high level in May, finally topping previous highs attained seven years ago before the real estate bubble burst, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index,

Meanwhile, back in New Mexico:

Home prices in New Mexico were still down 18.4 percent in May from their peak in May 2007.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2013. Not for reproduction without permission of the author