Riley Del Ray (New Mexican)

As we said on the Monday blog, to the consternation of some Democrats, the fact is the whole matter of sex and sex harassment is not cutting their way.

No sooner had front-running Dem Guv contender Michelle Lujan Grisham and her acolytes popped the champagne corks over State Senator Michael Padilla dropping his lieutenant governor candidacy--at the urging of Grisham--than Grisham found herself wearing the same shoes as Padilla. Take a look :

A recent UNM graduate says she was fired from an internship in Rep. Lujan Grisham’s office because she is transgender. Riley Del Rey, 26, says she is raising the allegations now, nearly three years after the internship, because of a slew of stories about sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. But missing in the nationwide debate, she says, are the views of transgender people. Lujan Grisham said through a spokesman that neither she nor her office would discriminate against anyone. “Our office takes the rights of the [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community very seriously, and we are dumbfounded by any suggestion that we would discriminate against anyone for any reason." Lujan Grisham’s office referred questions about Del Rey’s internship to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the nonprofit organization that had hired her.

Is that wild, or what? The sooner Grisham gets out of the sex mess and on to the economy, jobs, poverty, education and other pressing issues of the day, the better off she'll be. Meanwhile, one Michael Padilla is saying with a smirk: "Welcome to my world, Michelle."

(Riley Del Ray video explaining her complaint is here.)

PILING ON 

Brewer

The local radical feminists were having a field day on Facebook criticizing yer little ol' blog for daring to say that the gayness of Santa Fe Mayor Gonzales could be an issue with conservative rural voters (it will be).

Piling on were failed ABQ mayoral candidate Deanna Archuleta who called us a "dinosaur" not an "Alligator" and urged an advertising boycott of the blog (guess there will be no ads from Deanna's wealthy doctor husband), under-the-radar Dem political consultant Heather Brewer and her Beta hubby who were so beside themselves that he called us a "pig." Well, a big "oink" to that.

Brewer also vows to never read the blog again. Well, we vow never to mention her again until she wins something. Gonna be a very long wait. . .

Also feeling their oats were ABQ Dem State Rep. Gail Chasey, the lawmaker that time forgot, Matt Ross, the paid Gonzales political operative who needs a job--any job--and said we equated sex harassment with gayness. (We may not have written with clarity but we did no such thing.)

Maybe these folks should talk to Ms. Riley Del Rey before they mouth off some more?

The sad part of this is that for eight years these consultants and wanna be important politicos have been absolutely rolled by Gov. Martinez and her political consultant Jay McCleskey who have scored victory after victory in a Dem majority state and who have cowed the Brewer political consultancy class into absolute submission and humiliation.

Meanwhile, these consultants and candidates have collected fat checks and/or campaign donations and failed our state--abysmally. Now, as the cycle turns in the Dems favor--with no thanks to them--they are getting brave--and arrogant.

As the news of the transgender complaint against her demonstrates, Grisham needs to get a handle on her hyperactive hand maidens and start getting real about the crucial issues facing this state. In other words, Michelle, put the sexcapades to bed, start reining in your kiddie corp and be a real leader. And if she can't, what's wrong with Jeff Apodaca or Joe Cervantes? Nothing. That's what.

THE PADILLA MATTER

When state Senate Democrats caucus this Saturday in ABQ we don't see them stripping Michael Padilla of his majority whip position. He's already been forced out of the Dem lieutenant governor race by Lujan Gisham. If Padilla was further demoted over sex harassment charges from a decade ago--when he wasn't in the Senate--it could appear that Grisham was running the senate show--not the senators.

Still, Padilla's strength is being tested. Our sources report that ABQ Senator Mimi Stewart has been making inquiries about the post in the event Padilla is dumped.

Padilla has already paid a steep price and will probably never be able to advance into statewide politics. Not a pleasant thought to contemplate at the age of 45. Is that reason enough to not make Whip Padilla the Senate's whipping boy?

Reader and Dem activist Theresa Trujeque says of the changed atmosphere in Santa Fe:

It is about time that lobbyists and legislators receive training in sexual harassment if they think a hand shake or a peck on the cheek will be considered sexual harassment. If they have not done anything wrong in the past why do they think they have to change the way they act. All it takes is treating women with the respect they deserve. It is not too much to ask.

REMEMBER WHEN?

Gardner

So far in New Mexico it is two Democratic politicians who have fallen from grace over sex harassment charges--the aforementioned Padilla and former Northern State Rep. Thomas Garcia who is accused by lobbyist Vanessa Alarid of offering to vote for a bill she was supporting if he would have sex with her. Now some Dems are reminding anyone who will listen of a past alleged transgression by Gov. Martinez Chief of Staff Keith Gardner. Longtime Martinez critic Michael Corwin resurrected the 2012 Gardner controversy:

To date, there has been no reckoning for Keith Gardner, who as Governor Martinez’s Chief-of-Staff, engaged in one of the most blatant and abusive acts when he very publicly assaulted and battered a young female Albuquerque Public School lobbyist, and did so in front of very credible witnesses (not just a he said she said). Governor Martinez, despite having prosecuted many cases on the strength of eyewitness testimony, protected and enabled Gardner, who thanks to her faced no repercussions. Until Governor Martinez fires Gardner, the reality is that there is a dividing line where powerful men can abuse young women without repercussions as long as they don’t touch her breast. This is wrong. It must end now. Gardner must go.

Here's the background:

An Albuquerque Public Schools lobbyist alleged in a letter to Gov. Martinez that Chief of Staff Keith Gardner painfully gripped her arm and yelled at her in “in an extremely threatening manner,” during the legislative session in February (2012).

“Mr. Gardner walked past me. He saw me and then turned back around to come up to me. My back was facing him at the time. Mr. Gardner grabbed my arm to turn me around. While painfully holding my arm and in an extremely threatening manner, he yelled that (the APS superintendent) should "be aware that the bowels of hell were about to open up upon him unless he stopped opposing the Governor's bills."

Gardner told the Journal he never grabbed Carrie Menapace’s arm or treated her aggressively, and points to surveillance video from the Roundhouse as proof.

Some irony there now that Gardner's wife is a teacher at APS.

MOORES OUT

ABQ GOP State Senator Mark Moores, mentioned here several times as a possible GOP lieutenant governor candidate, will not be making the run, says ABQ Journal reporter Dan Boyd who spoke with Moores.

That's the latest sign that there is no rush to join a GOP governor ticket with Rep. Steve Pearce, at the top as the Guv nominee. As one GOP consultant put it: "The recent ABQ mayoral election was the canary in the coal mine. The huge Keller win does not bode well for our party next year."

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2017