We ribbed the southern NM congressman when we chatted him up last week on this blog:

We joked with (Dem US Rep. Harry) Teague, asking whether he will put up a billboard in Hobbs of Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and himself. He laughed aloud and replied: "No, I won't, but they (the R's) probably will."

But now we get an actual billboard (well, at least an altered image) from the National Republican Congressional Committee which we post here today. It features Harry, Nancy and the Prez and how it might look on a highway down in conservative Hobbs. We've got to believe that the real deal is not far behind.

Teague is being challenged by Republican Steve Pearce who held the seat before he vacated it for a run at the US Senate. This is Teague's first re-election test.

NO MORE LOW PROFILE
Maggie Hart Stebbins
Bernalillo County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins has been around public service a while so when we ran into her recently we asked why we had never crossed paths: "I've always liked to keep a low profile," she informed.

But her days of a low-profile are long gone. Hart, 47, was appointed by Big Bill in May 2009 to fill a vacancy left on the Bernalillo County Commission when Deanna Archuleta took a job in D.C. Now Maggie must win the June 1 Dem primary nomination as she seeks her own four year term to the seat which represents a large swath of the ABQ SE Heights, including the university and Nob Hill areas.

She appears to have two primary opponents. One is Arturo Archuleta who was among those Big Bill considered appointing to fill the commission vacancy last year when the prize went to Hart. We haven't seen an official announcement from Archuleta, but Hart says she believes he is in and she is off and running. Archuleta is the Executive Director of the Mexicano Land Education Conservation Trust, a non-profit organization aimed at providing technical assistance to Spanish and Mexican community land grants.

Also, Danny Hernandez, a longtime UNM Dem area activist and a member of the metro flood control authority board confirms he is challenging the new commissioner and says he will run a grassroots campaign. We don't know of any R's yet seeking the seat.

Hart Stebbins, who has four children with husband Eric, had her kick-off event over the weekend which was co-hosted by a who's who of ABQ area Dem liberals. They included Jim Baca, State Reps Al Park, Danice Picraux and Gail Chasey, plus Senators, Griego, Keller and McSorley. That kind of support is going to bring campaign cash for the ubiquitous mailings that are part of these commission contests.

Hart has spent her first year learning the ropes on the five member commission, but she did sponsor a major piece of ethics legislation. It won plaudits with the libs but was dissed by the ABQ Journal which said it was passed in haste. Her progressive background has worried some business types, but we note that so far both her potential challengers are coming at her from the left.

The 1985 Harvard/Radcliffe grad worked until recently as a projects manager at the Mid-Region Council of Governments where she was marketing manager for the Rail Runner. Previously she toiled for Raymond Sanchez when he was Speaker of the House. She has also worked on Capitol Hill in D.C.

The county commission has three Dems and two R's. The winner of the June primary for the Hart seat can be expected to hold it for the D's come November.

UNM WOES (CONT.)

Did you see the latest from the University of New Mexico? No big deal. Just falsified time sheets, an unauthorized bonus plan and failing to pay employee overtime. All that from a recent audit of the Biology Department and you can add it to the stack of afflictions our Harvard on the Rio Grande suffers from. It seems all segments of the university are in need of a thorough scrubbing.

Imagine this. The Legislature makes a special appropriation of $2 million a year for two years for the office of the State Auditor to hire ten forensic auditors who do nothing but look at the books of UNM and other state agencies and start finding the "fraud, waste and abuse" that we hear the politicos mouth about so often.

Okay, all you cynics, please stop rolling in the aisles with laughter. A fella can dream, can't he?

KIKI AND THE GATORS

That was a fun pic we posted Friday of House Appropriations Committee Chairman Kiki Saavedra shining shoes at the capitol. We suggested he would use any money he made to help balance the state budget. We also urged him to take a look at the 19 UNM vice-presidents making $4.5 million a year as a means of saving some cash. But that comment, not surprisingly, brought this Alligator strike via email:

Joe, I agreed with you a while back when you called for sweeping changes at UNM...Your blog exemplified everything that is wrong with UNM. Kiki Saavedra is not worried about controlling exorbitant VP salaries as much as he is making sure they keep paying his son, Marc, nearly $150,000 to lobby the Legislature.? He gets a 45K raise in salary!! UNM is in dire straits because of these guys.

UNM lobbyist Marc Saavedra, son of Kiki, had his salary boosted in the past couple of years from $94,000 to about $135,000 as of Feb. '08, according to the ABQ Journal.

THE KOCH REPORT

And then there's University of New Mexico Regent Jamie Koch who recently told us he expects he will finally have a confirmation hearing before the Senate Rules Committee this legislative session on his reappointment to the board by Big Bill.

That committee is chaired by ABQ State Sen. Linda Lopez who is running for the Dem nod for lieutenant governor. Insiders are tracking this one, sending us state records that show Jamie gave Linda a $1,000 contribution last August. So how are we going to get an unbiased examination of Koch's tenure from Senate Rules? Koch responds:

...I have raised some money for her. There is nothing hidden about these efforts. You will find my name on her list of contributors going back a number of years. I supported Ms. Lopez when I was state Democratic party chair. I supported her when she ran for state senator. I have encouraged her to run for Lt. Governor. I have supported many Democratic legislators and will continue to do so...I support people for public office because I believe these people are capable of doing a good job, not because I expect anything in return.

When I look at your blog, I see ads from various politicians, none of whom will get a free pass from you just because they advertise..Likewise, I do not expect to get a free pass from you or any of the legislators. I welcome the opportunity to state my positions clearly so people will know where I stand.

Thanks for the note, Jamie. However, I don't think we are in comparable positions. You preside as a regent over the state's largest university which is funded by millions of taxpayer dollars. We preside over a privately financed Alligator pond. But we appreciate the bump up in status.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009
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