Wednesday, August 26, 2015Susana's Travel Schedule, A Macho County Clerk?, APS Crisis Coverage And Our Wednesday Bottom Lines Gov. Martinez and a group of economic development officials are visiting northern California for a round of business meetings. Martinez and the others are meeting with executives from a number of companies as part of an effort to attract business to New Mexico. The governor is traveling with representatives from the private, nonprofit group Albuquerque Economic Development and the city of Rio Rancho. Speaking of business development in ABQ, let's see. In the past few days, there's been a murder in the parking lot of the Village Inn on the city's westside, a "gruesome" stabbing at a home in the NE Heights, a shooting in the parking lot of the Rio Rancho Chili's a woman hit by a stray bullet while walking in the South Valley and a dead body was seen floating down the Rio Grande near Central Ave. Hey, Susana, are there any companies out there in sunny Californian that make bullet proof vests? Send them our way. . . MACHO CLERK? Can a a man get elected Bernalillo county clerk? We don't believe it has happened before, but Dem Roman Montoya, the deputy county clerk, says he is going to give it a try. He has lined up some support from the liberal wing of the party. Real estate broker Linda Stover announced earlier she will also seek the Dem nomination next June. She is the wife of former APD Chief Bob Stover. Current County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver is term-limited. We won't say no R's need apply, but it's been a long time since the GOP took the post. JEFF GETS LUCKY? Can Jeff Varela, son of legendary Santa Fe Dem State Rep. Lucky Varela replace dad in the House? He'll try. Lucky, retiring after 30 years, says Jeff has his full backing and has been a help to him at the Roundhouse. Jeff Varela is a human resources specialist who in the past worked for state government as personnel director. A hand-off to a relative isn't a no-brainer so everyone will watch to see if Jeff gets a primary opponent. No R's need apply in the heavy Dem district. APS CRISIS COVERAGE
As a parent of a student in APS I cannot help but think that the current train wreck involving Governor Martinez, Secretary of Education Skandera, APS Superintendent Valentino and the former Assistant Superintendent Jason Martinez was long in the making. Governor Martinez, in order to gain control of the state's largest school district, launched a hit campaign to destroy APS school board member Kathy Korte who opposed Skandera's failed education agenda. Before that, a political committee connected to Governor Martinez targeted then APS Superintendent Brooks with mass mailings. And before that Martinez targeted ABQ Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, an APS employee who opposed her efforts. After watching Martinez's puppets on the APS Board--Duran, Muller-Aragon, and Maestas--launch a media offensive to defend Valentino and subvert the board's process for investigating Valentino's misconduct, there can be no doubt that Governor Martinez and Skandera's denials of involvement in this scandal are flat out false. The four other APS board members not on Governor Martinez's payroll must right this ship. For the sake of my son, his fellow students, and their teachers they should bring in former state education secretary Veronica Garcia to fix this mess. Garcia will not fall prey to the Fourth Floor and unlike Skandera, Garcia understands what it is like to be in a classroom and to run a school. It is time to retake our school district. We wondered here Tuesday what percentage of ABQ' school-aged children now attend private school. A reader pointed us to the website of ABQ Economic Development where it's reported that 13 percent of ABQ's some 118,000 students attend private or parochial schools. WATER WORRIES Reader Joe Barela in Rio Rancho writes in reaction to Gov. Martinez's handling of the toxic waste water spill into the Animas River: Joe, I find it interesting that Governor Martinez is suddenly taking an interest in the quality of our state's water. As I recall she was against lining the holding ponds at all the state's dairy's. MADISON MAIL Reader Kevin Bersell writes: Hey Joe, Isn't it interesting that the state email system was set up in a way that rejected mail from the Democratic Party but apparently you could use it to subscribe to Ashley Madison? Makes you wonder doesn't it? Details on the email blockade here and on subscribing to Ashley Madison here. THE BOTTOM LINES. . . Today come from Peruvian Nobel prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa: In one of the best essays in the book, Culture, Politics and Power, Vargas Llosa explores the decline of our political sphere. Sullied and sometimes exposed by tabloid journalism, politics is estimated to be a “mediocre and grubby activity that puts off the most honest and capable people and instead mainly recruits nonentities and rogues…” The best, as a result, are no longer attracted to it. Your #1 political stop year in and year out. 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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