Senator Heinrich says he recently headed for a deserted island to do a reality TV show in which he tested his survival skills. Actually, that sounds a lot like modern day New Mexico. The reality show challenge was probably a breeze. It airs Oct. 29. . .

Most but not everyone we asked thought the Heinrich move was no big deal. Here's the but from one of our Alligators:

I take the side of it being a little risky. He's a couple years into the Senate, things are at a standstill in DC and he uses his August recess time to fly to a Pacific island to film a reality show instead of spending time in the district.

Maybe when he runs for re-election, Heinrich's foe will urge the electorate to send him back to the island. . .

That was some interview ABQ police chief Gorden Eden gave to USA Today this week in which he asserted he was helpless to get rid of the bad apples at the department. Retired APD Seargent Dan Klein is one of many calling out Eden for pleading impotence:

The article should have been titled: "Why I will Fail by Gordon Eden."  He placed all blame on the police union. This is a perfect example of deflecting blame. This is a perfect example of vacating his authority. What did Mayor Berry have to say? So far the same thing he said when Chief Schultz was in charge. Zilch.

Cultural change for APD starts at the top, not the bottom. Mayor Berry never held Chief Schultz accountable for the millions lost and now he says nothing when his new police chief says he can't make any changes. Gordon Eden could have started making the changes necessary by not promoting officers who have abused citizens and lost the city money in lawsuits. He promoted anyway. He could have given discipline to SWAT officers and their Command Staff who seem unable to either turn on their cameras or keep them running. He has not. Now Chief Eden goes national and blames the police union and Mayor Berry says nothing. Since Chief Eden is abdicating his authority over APD to the union it is probably time for Chief Eden to abdicate altogether and step down. Change begins at the top, I see nothing more than excuses from the Berry / Eden administration for the next 3 years.

And a long three years it is going to be. . .

HEART AND HEAD

A number of readers commented that they think Dem Guv hopeful Gary King was fully aware of what he was doing when he said at a public event that Gov. Martinez did not have a "Latino heart."
It was portrayed as controversial by the Martinez campaign and her allies in the mainstream media, but it did serve to get King a ton of free media and finally get this campaign on the front pages. And when you aren't on TV because your fundraising lags, that's where you need to be.

Reader Bob Gurule writes:

I have no clue what is in Gary King's head, and I can only speculate what he meant when he said Governor Martinez didn't have a "Latino (sic) heart." A better description would have been 'the governor no es plebe or no es gente.' The Latino community would have clearly understood what he meant!

And reader Rich Talley comes with this:.

You wrote: "Well, it's not what's in her heart, it's what's in her head."

Shouldn't it be both? A well-balanced, mature individual (including political leaders, if there are any that are actually mature and well-balanced rather than narcissistic sociopaths) should be right in the head and the heart. Neurologists like Oliver Sacks tell us that people with flat affects show poor judgement. We need our emotions as much as our reasoning and knowledge.

The campaign will start getting more intense next week. We'll be along with you for the ride. . .

Reporting this week from Midtown Manhattan, New York City, I'm Joe Monahan.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2014. Not for reproduction without permission of the author