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Friday, June 27, 2014

State Dem Leadership: Time For A Change? Plus: The Readers Write 

We end the week with Gary King finally responding to the nonstop TV onslaught he's been subjected to from the Guv. Martinez camp. The ad is strong but the buy is nowhere near what is being spent against him.

Gary could use a whole lot of back-up, but the state Dem Party seems defunct as do third party groups that might ordinarily be called on to administer first-aid to King and launch some counterattacks....

It raises the question of state party leadership and whether current chairman Sam Bregman should consider stepping aside after the Fourth of July and letting someone take over who is ready to do battle.

A recent op-ed piece from former Dem Guv candidate Alan Webber in which he slammed the Martinez economic record had a number of the Alligators wondering if the Santa Fe businessman might be the guy to take the helm of the party for the campaign months to come. Bregman has indicated no plans to depart and a forced change is unlikely, but the grumbling over the lack of fight in this 21st century Democratic Party is far from over. . .

GUV NUMBERS

We still await the first independent, nonpartisan polling on the '14 Guv race, but Bruce Donisthorpe of BWD Global says he was commissioned to do a poll for the NM Republican Party and is now sharing those results.

The automatic phone call poll was taken June 10 and 11 as the heavy TV attacks on King were first starting. It showed Martinez with a 53%-40% lead over King. About 7% of likely voters were undecided. The auto-dial survey included 1,526 interviews with likely voters. The survey’s margin of error is 2.5%.

Donisthorpe has often polled for this blog, but we did not take part in this poll. Donisthorpe also did polling in the Dem Guv primary for candidate Lawrence Rael.

Reader Larissa Lewis writes:

When will someone acknowledge, explain, reveal the subterranean/shadow economy that functions as the matrix for cash flow in Burque?- the drug trade. With one of the highest concentrations of gang members per capita, these guys are not making $8.50 an hour, and with every job lost here, a vacuum is created and probably filled with drug sales. So the crime rate and drug overdoses increase, and thus the negative spiral accelerates. .

Reader Joan Fenicle writes:

I'm hearing that it is difficult to get Gov. Martinez to commit to any forums or debates. A suggestion to the sponsors of these events--don't cancel the event. Just put a cardboard cutout of the missing candidate in an empty chair and hold the event without her/him.

A UNM professor writes:

Joe, during your visit with UNM President Bob Frank did you ask him why the heck UNM is spending its money on economic development and not on its teaching and research mission? It seems to me economic development should be the responsibility of state and local government in collaboration with the business community.

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