Friday, December 26, 2014Holiday Reader Mail Provides Entertainment And Food For Thought I went to the retirement celebration last Saturday and I have never heard so many people say so many nice things about a person who wasn’t dead. Good one, Tom. Of course, if James B. can't take all those nice things being said about him, he can always announce for Governor. . . Reader Bruce Larsen reacts to an Alligator comment that Gov. Martinez's recent round of cabinet appointees are "mediocre:" Would that all Cabinet appointees have the intelligence, credentials and experience of Barbara Damron. She is a dynamo beholden to no one who will bring life and vigor to her Department! MAYOR MONIQUE? A self-described "veteran Wall-Leaner" at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe says he sees some politics behind another of the Guv's cabinet moves: The Monique Jacobson move from being Secretary of Tourism to Secretary of the Children, Youth and Families Department is less about good government than it is about getting her executive experience and grooming her for future political office. Don't be surprised to see the ABQ Sandia Prep graduate running for Mayor of Albuquerque. She has an illusion of success as Tourism boss only because she simply moved the department into the 21st century (I'm still trying to figure out what the Texas ad agency's "New Mexico True" slogan means). Hey, Wall-Leaner, when did it get so easy moving anything around here into the 21st century? As for mayor of ABQ, we have a long wait for that. The next mayoral election isn't until October of 2017. NEW MEXICO LAVENDER 
Joe, Are you still sure that New Mexico is a "Dem dominated state?" We have a Republican Governor who is in her second term, we now have a Republican controlled House of Representatives and we have a state Senate with enough "conservative" or "Martinez Democrats" that she can pretty much get her way come January. Now, I will give you the fact that Democrats still have both of the state's U.S. Senate seats and two of the three Congressional seats, but,= with this conservative wind blowing through La Politica, how long is ABQ Dem Congresswoman Michelle Lujan-Grisham going to go without a strong Republican opponent? What if Dem Senator Martin Heinrich is looking at a two term Republican Governor to run against in 2018?
I would say that the days of New Mexico being a "Dem dominated state" are limited to about 8-10 days. You have to admit that New Mexico is no longer "true blue." It is, at the very least, a light shade of lavender. I believe New Mexicans have realized that the failed policies of Bill Richardson and Barack Obama is what has placed them in a tight quandry that they have been in for the past decade. Thanks for that. What we have is an upstairs-downstairs situation. Upstairs you have mostly all Democrats--the congressional delegation. Downstairs you have R's running much of the show. When it comes to those federal offices and the presidency we are still "true blue." Grisham and Heinrich don't have a lot to worry about. But lavender sounds like a pretty good color to describe the current downstairs political backdrop. 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.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2014. Not for reproduction without permission of the author
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