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Thursday, June 14, 2018

Candid Camera: Rep. Rodella Relaxes After Suffering Primary Upset: Plus: At APD The Old Boss Is The New Boss, And: The Winner Of Our Vintage ABQ Ticket Giveaway Is. . . . 

Rep. Rodella
It seems State Rep. Debbie Rodella, defeated in the biggest upset of Primary Election Night, is ready to ease into retirement. One of our Alligators sent us this pic of Debbie relaxing at the slots at Sandia Casino--and it was taken the afternoon after her June 5 defeat.

Rodella, a moderate/conservative Dem who chairs  the important House Business and Industry Committee, will soon have plenty of time to try her luck at her favorite games instead of worrying about complicated tax policy and the like. She will finish out 25 years as a legislator at the end of the year.

While Rodella is getting early retirement at 56, the woman who defeated her is going to have to delay any plans she may have had to join Debbie. 70 year old progressive Dem Susan Herrera was the unexpected victor for the northern legislative seat. No R's are running for the seat and none need apply in this all-D-all-the-time district. . .

No retirement for interim ABQ Police Chief Mike Geier but you already knew that. Despite protestations by the Keller administration that there would indeed be a true national search for a reform-minded police chief, interim Chief Geier was tapped for the permanent position. The police union that marches to the tune of the status quo is happy, even as the Kellerites say there will be reform under Geier, a 20 year APD veteran and former Rio Rancho chief.

Geier was criticized recently for defending the bungling of the case of a seven year old girl whose parents forced her into prostitution and whose bloody underpants were never collected as evidence when APD was investigating. But that wasn't enough to shake the Mayor's faith in him.

If he turns the department and the crime count around, Geier will make Keller a hero. If he doesn't, he could make him a one term mayor. . .

That had to be one of the shortest-lived political careers in a while. GOP Secretary of State candidate Johanna Cox has dropped out of the race, leaving it to the GOP to find a replacement candidate. Cox cited the need to attend to family but news articles outlined several legal malpractice cases against the ABQ attorney that put the heat on her to make for the exits.

It's all somewhat academic. Dem SOS Maggie Toulouse Oliver is the odds-on favor to win re-election. Former State Rep. Sandra Jeff is running as a Libertarian. Now let's see who the R's put on the sacrificial altar.

WATCH THIS ONE

A Senior Alligator writes from Valencia County:

Joe, "Chicharrones" Monahan, keep an eye on the race between Republican State Rep. Kelly Farjado and Democrat Leroy Baca in Valencia County. Leroy has a good chance. He has strong support from the two warring sides of the Democratic Party in Valencia County.

Really? Kelly has been an able vote-getter there but we'll watch.

Ever since we sat down with that Gator for some chicharrones in Bosque Farms he has awarded us the nickname  of "Joe "Chicharrones" Monahan. It's one of our higher honors in our 15 years of writing this thing.

Meantime, former Bernalillo County Commissioner Steve Gallegos, who years ago suffered a heart attack, told us the other day he limits himself to one serving of chicharrones a month and that we should do the same. Hey, Steve, how about if I volunteer at the next matanza to stir them but not eat them? Does the vapor count?

AND THE WINNER IS. . .

It was a trick question and why not? After all there was $170 in tickets on the line for the Vintage ABQ Grand Tasting Friday, June 22. But you can't fool all the people all the time and more than a handful of readers submitted correct answers in an effort to win the pair of tickets. The questions were:

Who is the first person to be born in the State of New Mexico to be Governor of the State?

And who is the first person to be born in the State of New Mexico to be a US Senator from NM?

The tricky part was being "born in the state." That means beginning on January 6, 1912 when New Mexico became a state, not prior to that when it was a territory of the U.S.

Kim Armano was one of many who got thrown off by the semantics:

Here's my guess - generated with a couple minutes from the group think of wikipedia- Ezekiel Cabeza de Baca as governor and Dennis Chavez as senator. Toss that in your crooner cap.

Kim, I would have loved to toss that in my "Sinatra Forever" cap along with the winning answers, but both of those men were born when New Mexico was a territory.

Reader Isabelle Zamora went even further back in territorial history for her answer:

Donaciano Vigil was the first Governor of NM born in Santa Fe NM in 1802 and he was first elected into office in 1847. Dennis Chavez was the first US Senator born in Los Chaves, Valencia County, New Mexico in 1888 and was first elected in 1930.

Ed Mechem
Okay, so what were the correct answers? Well, it turns out there is one answer to both questions as was explained by our question designer:

Some people will get tripped up by the fact that there was at least one Governor and one US Senator born in NM before NM became a state, namely Gov. Seligman and Senator Dennis Chavez. But the answer to both of those questions is actually the same person --Ed Mechem. He was never actually elected to the US Senate, having been appointed, but he was the first person to be born in NM after NM became a state to be both the Governor and the first US Senator to be born in NM after statehood.

Big Ed, as the Republican politico was called, was born six months after we achieved statehood in January 1912. From Wikipedia: "He was elected Governor in 1950 and 1952, did not run in 1954, and was elected again in 1956. . .After winning another term as governor in 1956, he was defeated for reelection again in 1958, then elected to a fourth term in 1960."

In 1962, when Senator Dennis Chavez died, Mechem appointed himself to Chavez's vacant seat. Big Ed ran for election in his own right in 1964 but lost to "Little Joe" Montoya.

So who is our winner? Well, as we said we had several so we put their names in our Sinatra cap, told Alexa to play Frank's' "Come Fly with Me Album" in the background, mixed up the scraps of paper and then pulled the name of Dennis Gabaldon out of our hat.

Congratulations, Dennis.

Thanks to all who took part. And it's not over. We'll have one more contest with the prize being another pair of Vintage ABQ Grand Tasting tickets so stay tuned.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2018
 
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