Johnston

Here's an idea for NM House Speaker Brian Egolf: Put in a good word for your primary opponent Lyla June Johnston, a Navajo Nation member, to get this Dem Party gig and escape a possibly bruising campaign for your Santa Fe House seat:

. . . The Democratic Party of New Mexico announced recently that we will be partnering with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to bring on a full-time Native American Outreach Organizer. The addition of this position so early in the election cycle will allow DPNM to more effectively engage Native communities and ensure that Native voices are being heard in the Democratic party.

Meanwhile, Johnston, a climate activist and poet, among other things, has announced she will fast for a full week on the steps of the state capitol and pray for a resolution to global warming.

While the Dems talk about bringing more Native American and Hispanic support to their cause, isn't the meager representation of people of color in the legislative leadership looking even more glaring as this majority minority state continues to add minorities?

These positions are all held by Anglos: Speaker of the House, State Senate Majority Leader, Senate President Pro Tem, Senate Finance Committee chairman, House Appropriations Committee chairman, Senate Minority Leader, House Minority Leader, Senate Majority Whip and Senate Minority Whip.

Just three of the ten posts in the official legislative leadership are minorities in a state that is now well over 60 percent majority minority.

RATS!

Colorado legislators went back to work this week and are facing something that thankfully New Mexico's lawmakers won't when they go back to work at the Roundhouse next week:

Rats close park near Colorado Capitol after spike in homeless camping. . . Denver officials closed Lincoln Park Wednesday, fearing diseases, bites and more from a rat infestation that grew worse as tents popped up in the area. “Human and animal waste, drug paraphernalia, food waste … it’s making the conditions unsafe,” said the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment. “We’ll reopen the park when it’s safe for people to be here again.”

While we don't have that kind of public health hazard, homelessness here has apparently been rising faster than elsewhere in the USA:

. . .  A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report shows New Mexico had the nation's largest percentage increase in homelessness from 2018 to 2019. That increase of 27% is detailed in the 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. In addition, the report shows that the state had a 57.6% increase in chronic homelessness last year, also the highest in the nation.

ABQ voters last year approved a $14 million bond issue to finance a 300 person capacity homeless shelter. Mayor Keller is asking legislators for an additional $14 million. We can only hope rural legislators give us city folks a helping hand and approve the Mayor's request. It's not as if there isn't plenty of money to go around.

YET ANOTHER

Another hopeful or you might say "wishful thinker" is throwing his hat into the race for the GOP US Senate nomination. Rick Montoya of Sandoval County, a former assistant Secretary of Interior in the Reagan and Bush administration, is prepping a run, friends report.

Congressman Ben Ray Lujan is the presumptive Dem nominee, although he has token primary opposition. He is heavily favored to win Blue New Mexico in November. No R has won since Sen. Domenici's re-election in 2002.

NEW UNIFORM 

State Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth has unveiled the new uniform Democratic Senators will sport at the 2020 legislative session.

Designed in a state workshop, the uniform is a classic beige/tan, reflecting the high desert topography of New Mexico and most ably modeled by Sen. Richard Martinez of Rio Arriba County. Don't you think?

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020