The IRS surprised La Politica this week with a ruling that could bring some prominent voices to the table to make candidate endorsements, The ruling:

In a break with decades of tradition, the Internal Revenue Service says it will allow houses of worship to endorse candidates for political office without losing their tax-exempt status. The surprise announcement came in a court document filed on Monday. Since 1954, a provision in the tax code called the Johnson Amendment says that churches and other nonprofit organizations could lose their tax-exempt status if they participate in, or intervene in "any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."

Here in River City, Pastor Steve Smotherman of Legacy Church, one of the largest in the state, has flirted with endorsements while preaching to his conservative evangelical parishioners. In fact back in 2021 he openly endorsed a candidate for ABQ city council and was called out for it.

Now Smotherman could get in the endorsement game legitimately but Democrats need not apply for the Pastor's nod of approval. Smotherman isn't going to endorse any candidate who is pro-choice. 

The watch is on for other state religious leaders who may want to dip their toes in the political waters with no threat of crossing the IRS. But they may have second thoughts. Their endorsement could be sought in a Republican primary but could then backfire in a general election featuring a more moderate electorate.  

SUMMER VIBE

From the NYT travel section on Taos:

“There’s a vibration there that’s stunning and moving and just makes your heart feel good. The landscape is raw and it’s wild and you just want to get up close to it,” says the architect Rick Joy. “You feel enchanted, and you kind of even feel like you might be enchanting.” 

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Clark's Kitty

The '26 race for the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State featuring Dona Ana County Clerk Amanda López Askin and Santa Fe County Clerk Katherine Clark is off to an early and nasty start. 

ABQ Dem state Sen. Katy Duhigg, who has had differences with Clark over state legislation, unloaded on Clark on the socials, posting a snide remark about Clark's description of what the SOS job encompasses:

Tell me you don’t know the job you’re running for without telling me you don’t know the job you’re running for. 

Then came this comment from a poster supporting Askin and in the process playing the race card: 

I am so happy we have a NATIVE New Mexican Hispanic woman who is ready to take over the reigns from our current rock star SOS Maggie Toulouse Oliver.

Clark and Askin have both capably presided over elections in their home counties and are hungry for advancement. 

It's also clear that Clark understands the job she is running for and that not being a "native Hispanic woman" is certainly not a disqualification. After all Secretary Maggie, who has done ten years as SOS and is now leaving, is Anglo. Perhaps Rep. Gabe Vasquez, who has already endorsed Askin, should urge everyone to pull the claws in a bit? 

Clark has so far held her fire. Her latest social post is about her new foster cat: 

Meet Luna, my new foster kitty for the next 4 weeks. Española said they have kittens and some are injured and well, I couldn’t resist. 

Well, at least Clark doesn't have to contend with any serious clawing from Luna. 

DATELINE ABQ

In the ABQ mayoral race former US Attorney Alex Uballez was first out of the gate in criticizing Republican Darren White over the news that White took a Florida tax exemption that he wasn't entitled to. Now Mayor Keller has piled on:  

Dear ABQ Neighbor, Did you catch the story. . .about Republican Darren White claiming a $50,000 tax break meant only for full-time Florida residents?. . . White declared his beachside house as his primary residence--even while voting in New Mexico and now running for Mayor. He submitted a Florida driver’s license, utility bills, and bank records to make it official. That’s not just a “simple oversight.” It’s classic tax-dodging--and it raises real questions about Darren White’s honesty, integrity, and legal compliance. And let’s be honest: it’s straight out of the Trump playbook. Dodging taxes, playing both sides, and expecting no consequences.

White dismisses the attack, asserting he committed a "technical" violation and has contacted Florida officials to correct it.  

Also in the seven way mayoral derby, Keller says he has been endorsed by AFSCME, the labor union that represents a fair amount of city government workers. The union says: 

Mayor Keller has always shown up for the workers who show up for Albuquerque. From Day One, he’s fought to protect good union jobs, raise wages, and invest in the people who keep this city running. AFSCME is proud to stand with a mayor who stands with us — and with the workers who provide the services every Albuquerque resident relies on, from cleaner parks to timely trash pickup.

HIBERNATION OVER 

Bill McCamley, former Las Cruces state rep and Secretary of Workforce Solutions under MLG, has emerged from a long political hibernation to assume the role of campaign manager for Dem US Rep. Gabe Vasquez also of Las Cruces and who is seeking a third term next year. The lone Republican who has announced for the southern congressional seat, which also includes a sizeable swath of BernCo, is talk show host Eddy Aragon. McCamley lived in Austin after resigning his cabinet post in 2021. 

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The pounding of the table can cease. Finally the state will have satellite broadband as an option for internet stranded households--not just expensive fiber optic lines that will take years to rescue them from the information desert. 

The good news comes because of the Trump administration edict that $42 billion in federal broadband funds including $675 million for New Mexico be reworked to include satellite and other nonfiber options:

The new criteria includes “technology neutrality,” with no preference for fiber, fixed wireless or low orbit satellite service, as long as it meets performance benchmarks, because “the full force of the competitive marketplace must be utilized,” the policy notice says. The new requirements allow broadband providers to set their own price for a “low-cost option” and no longer prioritize fiber technology. 

The state Broadband Office and certain legislators have been dragging their feet on satellite, arguing that fiber is faster and more reliable. There has also been intensive lobbying for fiber from the telco companies who are major campaign donors. 

The most obvious satellite hook-up is via Starlink owned by the polarizing Elon Musk. But in this case he has the technology that can rapidly deploy internet for some of the 40,000 underserved areas in the state, many of them remote households where kids can't get the education they need and deserve because of the lack of broadband. 

NEW BROADBAND BOSS 

Jeff Lopez

The previous director of the broadband office was bounced by MLG and replaced by Jeff Lopez who one might think is a fiber-only advocate because of his previous employment by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband. Lujan has shunned satellite (wrongly and quizzically) for years. But Lopez has a new boss now and suddenly sees the federal handwriting on the wall and the satellites in the sky: 

There's little joy here over passage of the Big Beautiful Bill and its substantial cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, but there is a long ignored lesson. New Mexico has far too many of its citizens reliant on the welfare state and vulnerable to the whims of Washington. 

Forty percent of the state's residents receive Medicaid--the highest per capita rate in the nation. Twenty-three percent receive food stamps. Any place else these are outlandish numbers but here they are expected, acknowledged and little debated. 

The punishing cuts planned for the programs will not take full effect until after next year's midterm elections so the Republicans can practice dodging the bullet. That also allows time for the state to absorb the shock. 

Significantly, massive surpluses in Santa Fe totaling billions are available to ease the pain of the reductions.

There is little discussion of the hard work and game changing approaches that would be needed to change the state economic dynamic and begin putting on line much better paying jobs and finally disrupt the addiction culture that keeps so many sidelined. But there are shreds of hope that the dependency on the social safety net may ease  in the long term.

Santa Fe District Judge Mathew Wilson has laid out a court-ordered plan for the administration to fulfill the promise of the 10 year old Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit that found the state is failing to provide adequate public education to a wide swath of students--mostly Native American and Hispanic--which is thwarting their social advancement and creates generational dependency on the welfare state. 

The other is the passage of a constitutional amendment to fully fund early childhood education for ages 0 to 5, critical years for brain development. The measure providing over $150 million annually took effect in mid-2023 and will take years--not months to deliver the desired results.  

Even with those green sprouts, the legendary inefficiency of the state bureaucracy in implementing them and the traditional lack of aggressive legislative oversight is a major concern. 

Meanwhile, the enduring irony of the state's political narrative continues. With over $60 billion in a myriad of reserves we continue to languish, with a too large proportion of our citizens remain stuck in a quality of life long ago surpassed by the rest of the nation. 

SHOULDERS SHRUGGING 

Here's an update on that other bout of economic turbulence that recently hit the state. 

For Sandia National Labs where as many as 500 layoffs are underway, the labs overall budget will actually move up a smidgen next fiscal year--less than 1 percent--while Los Alamos and its weapon modernization programs mean that budget will skyrocket a stunning 17 percent. 

For Sandia and ABQ the trend is the issue. The subdued response to the layoffs here by the public, press and congressional delegation--(or no response at all) is in sharp contrast to earlier generations who bolted from their chairs at any mention of a budget threat to the labs.

The collective shrugging of shoulders over the layoffs sends a message that they are no big deal and that New Mexico may not be ready for a fight. Future budget-cutters could use that as a guide on deciding whose bread gets buttered. 

Don't say we didn't tell you.

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