Time for some clippings from our newsroom floor--tasty scraps left over from another colorful week in La Politica.

We don't have a particular story to go with this photo of Big Bill. But we thought it captured the Governor in the moment as he explained his veto of the food tax this week.

Richardson is 62. He now has nine months left on the eight years of his governorship, unless he leaves early for that lobbying job with the motion picture industry.

Luis Sánchez Saturno of The New Mexican took the portrait.

A FRONT RUNNER OR NOT?

On that GOP primary for the state House seat being vacated by Rep. Kathy McCoy. Our first take was that Dan Salzwedel, former director of the NM Activities Association, might have the edge over rival Jim Smith. But insiders in the East Mountain district say when the pair challenged McCoy two years ago it was Smith narrowly beating Salzwedel 16% to 15%. McCoy got 69% in the district which includes portions of Bernalillo, Santa Fe and Sandoval counties. No matter who wins this primary, they are headed to the Roundhouse. No Democrat filed for the seat.

SOME RELIEF

They're laying off nearly 700 call center workers at ABQ's Convergys. That's the bad news. The good news is Sprint in Rio Rancho says it is going to hire 200.

DC CHILE ADDICTS

We'd almost feel sorry for those emailing us from DC this week, bemoaning our occasional posting of New Mexican food photos on the blog, saying it amounts to long-distance torture. But that's before we think of their paycheck stubs. Still, we do have some sympathy and let John Alejandro join Alberto Morales and Jim Richards in sharing the final thought on this topic:

Joe, I'm a native Santa Fean living in Washington for the past 12 years (I work for APCO Worldwide, a communications firm). Please feel free to tell Alberto and Jim that I have a stash of red Bueno chile (HOT!) and roasted green chile (frozen) from Hatch, and that they have an open ended invitation to come over if they need a fix (I make a mean Frito Pie). I will also ensure that Sen. Bingaman gets a bit, so he can take it over to the senate cafeteria to show them how it’s done!

Heck, John, since it's Hatch chile even southern chile chauvinist Richards might take you up on that invite. Meanwhile, the posting of pics of New Mexican delicacies will continue here, but with a new appreciation for the emotional pain such images can inflict on our friends living in food purgatory far from the banks of the Rio Grande.

BANKER BLUES

Some of the media cry in their beer over the fresh aggressiveness of the feds when it comes to monitoring what loans are on the books of local banks. They claim it is stifling lending activity. But New Mexico banks and thrifts saw their losses go up by more than $100 million in the fourth quarter of '09--to a total of $119 million. That helps explain the tougher standards. The feds don't want to again get caught with their pants down as they did with the national banking crisis.

Wouldn't the same critics wailing over the tougher federal regulation that led to the January shuttering of Charter Bank here, be the first to cry foul if we were to get more bank failures that cost taxpayers millions to bail out? You bet they would.

MY BOTTOM LINES

What? You missed National Puppy Day? Well, make up for it and give that doggie some ice cream.

Thanks for your company this week. Email your news and comments.

From Albuquerque, I'm Joe Monahan reporting.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009
Not for reproduction without permission of the author