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Tuesday, August 23, 2016

47th And Used To it, Plus: Susana Nicked In New TV Ads, Also: Not Liking Ike; Councilor Scored Over ART Defense 

Other states would grow sullen if they saw their state ranked 47th out of 50th in the Governing Magazine economic rankings, but we're so beaten down around here anytime we're not 49th or 50th it's a cause for a mini-celebration. The magazine looked at. . .

. . . the current state unemployment rate; the improvement in the state unemployment rate over the past year; the per capita state GDP in 2015; the percent change in real state GDP between 2014 and 2015; the percent change in state personal income per capita, from the third quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016; and the percentage growth in year-to-date increases in jobs for 2016.

Just three of the bottom 10 states in 2013 -- Connecticut, Mississippi and New Mexico -- stayed stuck in the magazine's bottom 10 in 2016.

With that gloomy news and so much more facing her, you would think her foes would use any advertising time they buy to take Gov. Martinez out on the economy. . .

There is a TV ad campaign up and running that takes on Martinez--not for the lousy economy--but for her environmental record. The ads come from the progressive nonprofit ProgressNow NM and might strike some as esoteric as they deal with a sinkhole problem in Carlsbad.

The ads are the first negative TV featuring the Governor since her re-election bid in 2014 when an underfinanced Gary King nicked her. These ads are also relatively tame, not the hard-hitting sort that the Guv's machine has run with success over the past six and a half years.

Often times it is the donor of the cash for the TV time who determines the content.

Martinez's approval rating has slipped below 50% in the most recent PPP poll (47%) and she will officially become a lame duck following the November election.

NOT LIKING IKE

Councilor Benton
An Alligator strike today on none other than mild mannered ABQ Democratic City Councilor Ike Benton. Why does this Gator no longer say, "I like Ike?"

Well, that's because the North Valley councilor stuck his head out of the foxhole briefly to praise Mayor Berry's hyper-controversial rapid bus line for a nine mile stretch of Central Avenue known as ART.

Ike is an environmentalist and urbanite from way back so his support (his op-ed is here) is not out of line. But that's not enough to spare him the bite marks of an Alligator's sharp teeth who is especially upset that Benton seems to fault the public opposed to ART for supposedly not paying attention and being "confused.":

Councilor Benton has come out from the shadows to admonish the public for not paying enough attention to the ART project during its inception and for being "confused." Curiously, in the same op-ed, Benton admits that he and the city both failed to communicate to citizens about the project. If anyone knows about communication, it's Ike, who completely lost it at the ART meeting in his district.

Ike wants us to shut up and take our medicine and accept the project as it is because it's already done and solid. Hey Ike, a little tip--the city is calling around scrounging for money because they don't have what they need to pay for trees along the ART route. 

It's amazing that this Berry Administration enabler continues to exist in one of the most liberal districts in the city. As quiet as a church mouse, he's failed to say anything of significance about the police crisis or take the Berry Administration to task for anything.

If this is the level of opposition and alternative to the Berry Administration Dems are providing, it's no wonder the Republicans will continue to hold the mayor's office.

ART was given the legal go ahead last week by a federal appeals court in Denver and construction on the bus line is expected to begin in a matter of weeks, to the chagrin of its many opponents and many of the business owners along the designated route. Still, it's hard to stop liking Ike, even as we disagree with him on this one.

HATCH AND HATCH

There were a couple of problems with our first blog draft Monday on former NM US Senator Carl Hatch. First, we'll blame the spell checker for turning "Carl" into "Clyde" but this next one is on us. We blogged, based on information given to us by one of our longtime readers, that the village of Hatch in Dona Ana County was named after the former Senator. We should have know better. Really.

Hatch, NM began long before the 20th century career of Senator Hatch. The correct version:

Hatch was originally settled as Santa Barbara in 1851, however Apache raids drove the farmers away until 1853 when the nearby Fort Thorn was established. When Fort Thorn closed in 1859, the town was abandoned again in 1860. It was not until 1875 that it was re-occupied and at that time it was renamed for Indian fighter Edward Hatch, who was then commander of the New Mexico Military District.


Thanks to several Hatch readers for pointing us in the right direction. There is always more to learn about our Land of Enchantment..

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