Judy Pratt
I hadn't seen Judy Pratt in years. I still haven't seen the former ABQ SE Heights State Rep and 1984 Democratic US Senate candidate in person in quite a while, but this recent photo of her popped up in my email box and I thought it would be of interest to long time watchers of La Politica. Judy looks liks she's doing well. She's in full character, too, protesting the Iraq war.

Judy was the surprise winner of the 1984 Dem nomination over party powerhouse Nick Franklin who ran a poor campaign, allowing the more liberal Judy to have the honor (or the dubious distinction) of becoming the Dems sacrificial lamb for the then hyper-popular Pete Domenici.

Republican Pete was so far ahead in the polls that he turned down every plea for him to debate, except one. To put the debate issue to rest, he finally agreed to an appearance with Pratt on the low-rated PBS station for half an hour on a Friday night. He went on to win the election with 71.9% of the vote. Pratt left the Legislature and would remain the only female candidate of a major party to win the US senate nomination until Gloria Tristani came along in 2002 and suffered the same fate that Judy did when she faced Pete.

THE PASSING PARADE

There were two major journalistic passings this week--the planned closure or sale of the ABQ Tribune and the death of longtime open government advocate Bob Johnson. He headed the Foundation for Open Government which I joined several years ago at the urging of Susan Walton, a honcho at Sandia Pep School and a FOG activist who I worked with in the old days at the UNM Daily Lobo. The New Mexican came with this tribute for the 84 year old retired AP newsman. Well done, Bob.

A FISH STORY

Big Bill must have summoned all his disciplinary powers to keep a straight face Thursday when he was probed on whether big campaign contributions are influencing the construction of two
transportation department projects which have brushed up against the federal investigation of the construction of the Bernalillo County Metro Courthouse. Read all about it here. Has the Guv given any thought to rebidding these deals? He may want to because this thing is starting to smell like three day old fish.

LATE FRIDAY--SANTA FE -- Governor Bill Richardson today ordered the Department of Transportation to cancel the Request for Proposals for its headquarters redevelopment project and to take steps to re-bid the project following two investigations the Governor ordered.

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

The New Mexican's Steve Terrell sent along this photo from the office of Floyd Trujillo, a Santa Fe "ward heeler type" who worked for the late Dem US Senator Dennis Chavez. It gave us a good laugh. Chavez wrote."A politician that is poor is a poor politician."

Chavez, who died in '62, would not be surprised today about the influence of big money in campaigns but he must be rolling in his grave over the news involving Idaho Senator Larry Craig and his restroom fling. Back in the day, there was a thing called shame. It seems to have been replaced by notoriety or celebrity....And so it goes on this Labor Day weekend in the Summer of '07.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2007
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