Friday, March 11, 2011Sanchez Team Stumbles In Early Media Light; Senate Bid Word Awaited, Plus: Robo Polls On Dem Chair Races NM Lt. Governor John Sanchez is prepping a run for the 2012 GOP US Senate nomination but he's having trouble getting his communications act together.Thursday the DC newspaper Roll Call, quoting GOP sources, came with the headline, "Republican Joining US Senate Primary" and said he "was poised to join" Heather Wilson in the race. She announced Monday. But hours later Sanchez's staff was trying to walk back the Roll Call report, telling the Hill newspaper that the Roll Call article was "premature" and that Sanchez would not be doing anything until the 60 day legislative session concludes March 19. John, the war you start is supposed to be with Heather, not the newspapers. Well, with a right wing stampede forming to get him in the race, one supposes a case of nerves can be expected. It's clear that Sanchez wants to get in, but he needs staffing and consulting advice that gets him in clean. The hemming and hawing over when and how does not inspire confidence in his leadership abilities. Sanchez will be in DC later this month for a national lieutenant governors meeting at which he could start talking about his candidacy with GOP big wigs. Meanwhile, national Dems were already beating up Sanchez, owner of a roofing company, for his business practices. Come on in, John, and let's get this party going. INSIDE CITY HALL City Hall insiders come with more details on the ouster of TJ Wilham, the $75,000 a year public information officer for Public Safety Director Darren White. They say that Wilham got into hot water when he tipped off the ABQ Journal about text messages his fellow PIO--Chris Ramirez--sent to ABQ police detective Trey Economidy III minutes after Economidy had shot and killed a suspect. Ramirez, described as a friend of Economidy, offered soothing words in the text messages, some of which were published by the Journal. Police Chief Ray Schultz expressed concern that Economidy was not sequestered and able to text with Ramirez. Sources report that there was talk among Mayor Berry and his staff about firing Wilham, a former Journal reporter, but in the end he was shifted over to the city's Emergency Management Office to work on "special projects" for six months. Maybe when TJ finishes up over there he can go back to the newspaper and write of his wild times with White. CHAIRMAN ROBO POLLS  Wondering how that battle for the chairmanship of the Bernalillo County Dem Party is going? Well, a lot of readers report receiving a robocall poll this week testing the race between incumbent Ana Canales and challenger Victor Raigoza. We're informed that Canales is ahead. Raigoza was pinpointed as a favorite by some of the Alligators early on, but the betting is shifting to Canales ahead of the March 19th county meeting.As for the contest between NM Dem Party Chair Javier Gonzales and challenger Sam Bregman, a robocall poll of state central committee members was also conducted. A source tells us Javier is ahead. Dems meet at the end of April to pick the chairman. NOT MUCH OF ANYTHING There have been 1,263 bills introduced in this year's 60 day legislative session and only one bill has passed--the one that funds the session. There's a week to go. So what is the lesson? One wall-leaner says: If you don't establish priorities, you don't achieve your goals, unless your goal is not to achieve much of anything. That goes for both the Dems and R's. PLOP, PLOP A reader writes of the State Senate's refusal to approve the bill favored by Governor Martinez to repeal driver's licenses for illegal immigrants: Sounds like the Sarah Palin of NM had a bad hair night Wednessday night! So far she's had a plop, plop, fizz, fizz session. NOT TOO EARLY  A retort to reader James Meiers who said here that Dems attacked Martinez too early when she ran for governor and they are again making the same mistake:Martinez wasn't attacked by Dem Guv nominee Diane Denish until after the June 2010 primary. In fact, most of the pre-primary Democratic effort was focused on torpedoing Republican candidate Pete Domenici, Jr. which ultimately was a huge waste of time, too, considering how poor a candidate he turned out to be. The problem with Martinez is that there ultimately wasn't a whole lot to hit her with that was compelling enough to make a case. Now that she's doing an awful job as governor there's plenty of fodder. TEACHING US Reader Bill Croft writes: I felt that some points were lost both in the reader's comments and your response to them on Monday's blog. Teachers I have spoken to are willing to pay extra to make the ERB pension fund solvent. UNM professors are overwhelmingly in favor of reducing the number of vice presidents and otherwise streamlining the administration, and are unhappy that the administration is cutting student support and teaching budgets instead. What the legislature is doing is different. The bills to increase teachers' ERB contributions reduces the employer's contribution by the same amount, so that the net effect is a 66% state income tax increase on teachers to pay for the budget deficit. Likewise the "tuition credit" is a tax on higher-education students (or their parents - whoever is paying their tuition) to pay for the budget deficit. The legislature ought to be honest and say they are laying extra taxes selectively on teachers and students to pay for the state budget deficit. Is that what the people of New Mexico want? It certainly isn't helping our dismal education record. INTERNS NEEDED  For the college set:Senator Tom Udall invites New Mexico college students interested in gaining legislative or press relations experience to apply for internships in his Washington, D.C., office. To apply online or download an application, please click here. There are two sessions for summer internships: May 29 – July 2 and July 3 – August 6. Deadline to apply for both sessions is March 25. Thanks for stopping by this week. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. Interested in advertising here? Drop us a line. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2011
Not for reproduction without permission of the author Thursday, March 10, 2011Senate Pushes Back: Guv Loses License Repeal In Midnight Showdown; Long Debate Gets Ugly, Plus: Janice Looks At Heinrich Seat, And: Partying Alligator The Great Diversion--otherwise known as the debate over repealing driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants--finally ground to a halt late Wednesday night with the Senate rejecting Republican John Ryan's bill for an outright license repeal. Instead, they adopted a compromise bill that keeps the licenses, but toughens penalties for fraud. That will probably go nowhere with the House which must agree to it, thus ending the emotionally-charged and sometimes ugly exchanges that have echoed around the Roundhouse. The Ryan bill lost 24-17 with two Dems joining the losing R's--Tim Eichenberg and John Arthur Smith. The compromise bill that the Governor called a sham passed on a 25-16 vote shortly before Midnight. Smith was the Dem voting against.She won in the House last week, but the Senate vote was a big setback for Governor Martinez. However her political team will spin it as a win, claiming it will mean their chances of picking up legislative seats in 2012 have dramatically improved because the public is overwhelmingly in favor of an outright repeal. But even if that is the case, there is a price to be paid. The five hour Senate debate last night descended into talk of the Ku Klux Klan, racism and Mexicans. By pushing so hard on this racially charged issue, Martinez, as Governor King, might say, "opened up a box of Pandoras." Fighting hard for what you believe is one thing. Putting at risk the state's historic "live and let live" attitude among all its peoples is another. That is not goodwill that the state's first female Hispanic Governor wants to squander. The death threats against legislators shows how toxic the atmosphere has become. The Guv's strong arm tactics may or may not have backfired. What is clear now is she needs to apply equal passion to healing the wounds this debate has opened. She came with this statement following the defeat: It is unfortunate that the Senate Democratic leadership rejected a bi-partisan compromise to repeal the law giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, which had passed the House with a significant bi-partisan majority. The people of New Mexico sent a loud and clear message that they want this dangerous law repealed, but some in the legislature chose to shut out the voices of their constituents in favor of partisan political gamesmanship. I promised the people of New Mexico that I will fight to repeal this law and that fight will continue. The long obsession with this temper-triggering, but ultimately secondary issue was an in your face reminder that neither political party is really ready to fully grapple with the economic predicament the state faces. A stubbornly high unemployment rate, a commercial real estate collapse, a continuing bear market in residential real estate, business closures and anemic tax collections by local governments continue to stare this new Governor and the Democratic leadership in the face daring them to do something. Don't hold your breath. SUMMING IT UP State Senator Kent Cravens, speaking near Midnight, summed up the prevailing sentiment: "This has been a mess tonight." THE WAY IT PLAYED Here's how the AP played it to the state and nation late Wednesday when the closely watched license debate drew to an end: SANTA FE, N.M.—In a political setback for Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, the Senate rejected a politically charged proposal Wednesday night to stop New Mexico from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The Senate voted 24-17 against a proposal by Republican Sen. John Ryan of Albuquerque that would have ended the practice of granting licenses to foreign nationals without a Social Security number. SNEAK PEEK Rep. O'Neill  It may be remembered as one of the gutsiest votes of Legislature 2011, but will it cost ABQ Dem State Rep. Bill O'Neill his seat? The second term lawmaker from a swing district refused to bow to pressure from Governor Martinez and her attack team (robocalls into his district etc.) and voted against their favored proposal on the hot-button issue of driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. The measure was blasted out of committee on a 36-34 vote. O'Neill is already prepping for the 2012 battle that the R's are sure to engage him in. We get a sneak preview in this this op-ed piece he authored:I voted for a floor amendment that I felt was far superior to HB 78. It narrowly failed in a 36-34 vote. Offered as bipartisan compromise, it incorporated elements from several driver’s license bills...This compromise bill would have revoked falsely issued driver’s licenses. It would also have made it a third-degree felony for an MVD employee to issue a fraudulent license, and it would mandate a two-year expiration for any license issued to a foreign national. Since the vote, I have borne a great deal of criticism as a result of my vote. And if you wonder just how gutsy O'Neill's vote was, look at this. O'Neill won re-election by a mere 163 votes against Republican Justin Horwitz, It was O'Neill with 5,535 votes to Horwitz's 5,372. That's 50.70% to 49.30%. Maybe he wins next year. Maybe not. Either way, the fighting Irishman appears ready for whatever Martinez and her political arm throws his way. IS IT THE ECONOMY? While the R's will use wedge issues like the licenses to try to pick up the three seats their party needs to take the majority in the state House, the Dems will counter with the economy as we see in this missive from Dem Party Chair Javier Gonzales: Martinez's rhetoric and actions seek to divide New Mexicans...She has spent absolutely no time during her first legislative legislative session focused on what the people truly care about: jobs and job creation. Let her adopt the no-compromises attitude of George W. Bush and Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Getting her driver's license bill by attacking those who disagree with her won't change the fact that her lack of leadership on jobs so far has been appalling. In fact, the only substantive thing she's done so far on jobs is to kill them--leading a personal crusade to kill the film industry in New Mexico. Which will prevail, the wedge issues or the economy? It seem much would depend on how the economy is doing here come late 2012. TESTING THE WATERS  We dropped the tidbit the other day that former ABQ GOP State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones was looking at a bid for the ABQ congressional seat held by Dem Martin Heinrich. Janice now announces she's formed an exploratory committee to formally test the waters. She wants to see if she can raise the necessary money before going all the way in.The two biggest things that must be tested are whether or not we can raise the financial resources necessary and how much support can be generated. Also, she is assuming that Heinrich will give up the seat to seek the Dem US Senate nomination. But if he doesn't, she could decide to stay out. ABQ GOP City Councilor Dan Lewis has already formed an exploratory committee. An Arnold-Jones primary could get interesting. He is seen as the more conservative candidate, but Janice was prominently positioned behind Heather Wilson this week when she made her announcement for the Senate seat. That gave rise to speculation that perhaps Heather might quietly help Janice in the months ahead. Quietly being the key word as Arnold-Jones has often ruffled the feathers of some of the conservatives who Wilson needs to secure the Senate nod. Wilson held the ABQ House seat for 10 years. HEATHER AND THE DEMS Reader James Meiers writes: The Dems should stick to their own yard right now. (Dem Guv nominee) Diane Denish's decision to attack Susana during the primaries was so stupid that whoever even suggested it should have been fired. Like this current action does with Heather, it made them look scared when they are holding somewhat of an advantage and emboldened their political foes. More importantly it motivated the Republican voters that if the Dems are scared they're already losing two years before election day. WHITE PR MAN MOVED Wilham  From City Hall:This week TJ Wilham requested to be reassigned to a different position for personal reasons. Public Safety Director Darren White honored that request and assigned him to serve as a special projects coordinator in the Office of Emergency Management. Wilham is a former ABQ Journal reporter who was paid $75,000 a year in his PR job which was created when White took over in December 2009. No previous public safety head ever had their own PR flack. The controversial White has run into a rugged PR patch of late, getting a vote of no confidence from the ABQ police officers union. His actions as Bernalillo County sheriff have also been making headlines. Maybe the pressure got to Wilham. No word on what his "personal reasons" were, but having seen these moves before, a meltdown would not be unusual. Berry has been urged to tone down White and TV news insiders say it appears he has not been as active on the media front. With Wilham out, Berry could now decide not to hire a replacement which would keep White further away from the media stream coming out of Government Center. As for Wilham, this is a soft landing. Just what does a special projects coordinator do? And with a City Hall budget crunch, do we really need one? ALLIGATOR REPORT From the capitol and an Alligator with their sense of humor fully intact: Strange things happen in Santa Fe during the legislative session. The Santa Fe Democratic Party had their annual Mardi Gras fundraiser event and one of the prominent guests attending was the southeast NM GOP strategist, the Honorable Senator Rod Adair. He was visiting with Javier Gonzales, the current state Democratic Party Chair. Has Lightning Rod finally seen the light, turning left and going blue? Is he developing a strategy to help Javiar get re-elected as Chairman? Did he think it was a GOP fundraiser? Does he just enjoy Jambalaya and rice and beans? Are Democrats just more friendly and fun? Maybe it's all of the above. I'm glad to see he finally saw the light! This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. Interested in advertising here? Drop us a line. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2011 Wednesday, March 09, 2011Santa Fe's New Lightning Rod Could Face Hometown Heat, Plus: Following The Money--$14 Billion Of It, And: ABQ is A Pretty Big Deal
Rep. Jeff
 With apologies to State Senator "Lightning Rod" Adair, we have to reassign his nickname for the 2011 legislative session to a House member. While "Lightning Sandra" doesn't have the same cachet as Lightning Rod," she has certainly earned the moniker. Now Gallup area Dem State Rep. Sandra Jeff may have earned herself a Democratic primary opponent in the 2012 election.Jeff, a Navajo who lives in Crownpoint, is only serving her second two year term but she became a giant killer this session when she broke ranks with the House Dem leadership and voted to "blast" out of committee and onto the House floor the controversial bill to repeal driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. Because the partisan divide in the House is so narrow, Jeff's vote was a deciding factor in rescuing the Republican backed bill which was eventually approved by the House and awaits action in the Senate. Jeff also broke with Speaker Lujan on other bills and that has roused attorney and former Gallup Mayor Bob Rosebrough ('03-'07). He confirms to us that he is seriously weighing a primary challenge to Jeff. He says he has good relationships with the Navajo community and believes they want Dem representation, not Jeff's political brand which has recently found her in the Republican camp. Whether there is a Jeff-Rosebrough face-off will depend on the redistricting to be done later this year in Santa Fe. If the district remains made up of part of Gallup and part of the reservation, Rosebrough will be positioned for a run. If the district becomes all Gallup, he will support Dem Rep. Patty Lundstorm who could be thrown into a primary with Jeff. Those two have tangled before. If the Dems can't enforce party discipline on the playing field in Santa Fe then it will have to be done through the election process, if at all. LET'S MAKE A DEAL Sen. Jennings  Can the state Senate take the heat from Governor Martinez and her political arm? We think so if Senate Dem heavy Tim Jennings votes for a an amended bill regarding driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. Jennings said the measure that came out of committee Tuesday night and is headed to the Senate floor--possibly today--is a compromise that toughens up penalties for license abuse but does not require a Social Security number to get a license as the House passed bill does.Jennings is from a conservative SE NM district. He says he can live with the bill. If he can live with it in light of the heat the Governor is putting on everyone, we should have a deal. Let's face it. The Governor does not deserve a total win on this, not after uncaging her attack dogs and attempting to intimidate legislators with campaign tactics in their home districts. And Democrats do not deserve to triumph over her either as the public overwhelmingly wants these licenses either eliminated or under much tighter control. This compromise bill gives both sides something and they each live to fight another day. The Governor, a former district attorney, calls the compromise "a sham" but hopefully she will learn that the legislative arena is not a court of law--or necessarily a court of public opinion--where everything is black and white. Maybe Senator Jennings, with over 30 legislative sessions under his belt, can help show her the way. SAM LOSES No, we haven't had the election for NM Dem Party chairman yet. That happens late next month, but trial lawyer Sam Bregman, challenging Chairman Javier Gonzales, was making headlines for a court loss--not a political one. Bregman's high profile client--attorney Ron Bell--was found guilty of DWI despite Sam's best efforts. You can bet that Javier hopes that's a trend. FOLLOWING THE MONEY  The proposal to use the state's $14 billion Permanent Funds to help cover the budget shortfall can be complicated to explain. ABQ Dem state Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino says we and Senator John Arthur Smith mislabeled the plan:Joe...You repeated a misunderstanding about Senator Michael Sanchez' SB1. I'd like to correct this because confusion over the measure even led usually keen Senator John Arthur Smith to misspeak on television news. Both of you referred to it as "bonding against the permanent fund," something it definitely is not. ...It is actually bonding against the general fund. It would authorize up to $300 million in short term (i.e., five years) revenue bonds, to be repaid with interest within five years out of general fund revenue. The confusion comes in because those bonds would be purchased by the permanent fund--in precisely the same way that fund buys other government securities: as an investment. It actually will earn more on this investment than the market rate. It strikes me as a fully-constitutional and creative way to deal with our need for immediate cash... Growth in the economy will produce the extra general fund revenue we will need to pay it back. We aren't threatening the permanent fund...it just gets another investment option. I hope your readers will take a look at that bill and make their own minds up. So, what if the general fund didn't grow enough to pay off the annual payment on the bonds? Ortiz y Pino says the state would not make the Permanent Funds pay, but would use money that would have gone into that year's budget to retire the bonds. While we may not be using the "bonding capacity"of the permanent funds, we would be using their formidable investment capacity to solve year-to-year budget woes. That's what worries Senator Smith. Will we look to the permanent funds each time we have a fiscal crisis? What are the limits? And he also worries about betting that economic growth will be ample enough to cover the bond payments. If it isn't, we would have to chop programs to pay back the fund. There is another proposal floating around that would target money from the permanent funds to early-childhood needs. The thought being that this is where we need to break the cycle of poor education and generational poverty. It could some day have appeal to conservatives if finely targeted and had accountability. Politically, we felt the bonding proposal Ortiz y Pino writes of hit a brick wall when the projected budget shortfall for next year fell well below the $450 million some had feared. It has come in at less than $200 million. (The AP says the House approved budget has $155 million in cuts from last year's budget. The ABQ Journal says it is $174 million.) But if New Mexico's finances continue to stagnate and its social conditions (education rankings etc.) remain in the cellar, serious discussions will continue on how to further tap into the funds which already throw off hundreds of millions annually to finance government. Leader Sanchez's proposal seems a responsible start to those discussions. OVER THE TOP YEARS  All this state investment talk reminds us of an article in the Sunday Journal in which investigative reporter Mike Gallagher repeats a piece of information. It isn't "news" but is so outrageous it bears repeating so it is never repeated:Marc Correra's father, Anthony Correra, was a close friend and political fundraiser for Gov. Bill Richardson, raising millions of dollars for his presidential run. The elder Correra was a familiar fixture at the Governor's Mansion...and played a key role in bringing (Gary) Bland on board as state investment officer--a Richardson appointee. Bland...had considerable authority in determining what investments the state made. Bland has said that he and Anthony Correra, a former stockbroker who agreed to surrender his licenses after an insider trading investigation, talked almost daily about the "markets" and, at one point, Anthony Correra had a desk in the SIC offices. Talk about the fox in the chicken coop--an actual desk for a non-government employee in the office charged with investing and protecting the state's over 100 year old financial legacy. Bland is under federal investigation. Anthony Correa made millions in "placement fees" for investments made with Permanent Fund money. He is under investigation and was last said to be living in Paris, France. Bill Richardson lives in Santa Fe, his legacy tarnished by the odious scheming. Governor Martinez and the Legislature continue to work on reform measures to restore trust in the state's investment practices. NOT A RUMOR  The ABQ Journal says this of the possible US Senate candidacy of Lt. Governor John Sanchez:"Sanchez is also rumored to be considering a run." But on Monday we blogged this statement from Sanchez made to KRQE-TV: Folks here in the Roundhouse and across the state of New Mexico are saying consider this run for the U.S. Senate... Sanchez said for now his main focus is on the legislative session and the state’s budget but is considering running for the Senate seat. He said he is leaving all options open for now. How is that a rumor? And the newspaper gets some push back on an inflammatory story it ran on its front pages Saturday in which it quoted House Minority Leader Tom Taylor asserting that 30 percent of the state's film rebates go to pay actors' salaries. The paper did not question Taylor's numbers, but Jon Hendry, biz agent for the union that is involved in film making here, says a quick check of the state's film site would have shown that such salaries account for only 12 percent of the rebates. Last year about $65 million was paid in film rebates. Legislation pending in Santa Fe would cap that amount at $45 million per year HOW BIG ARE WE? We're kinda big... Albuquerque is the the 57th-largest metropolitan area in America out of 940 surveyed, according to new estimates from Buffalo Business First. The Duke City's metro population at 885,805 as of Monday morning. Following Albuquerque in the rankings were Las Cruces (199th; 213,841); Santa Fe (273rd; 150,993); Farmington (325th; 125,761); Gallup (488th; 70,283); Roswell (512th; 64,505); Alamogordo (519th; 63,313); Hobbs (526th; 61,804); Carlsbad-Artesia (581st; 53,525); and Clovis (662nd; 44,212). STILL A CHANCE?  A reader sends a news story and a comment:Well, maybe there is an opening for Bill Richardson after all: President Obama has selected Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to succeed Jon Huntsman as U.S. ambassador to China..He will make the announcement on Tuesday. Former Governor Richardson's political career came to a screeching halt in 2009 when he was forced to withdraw his nomination to become commerce secretary due to a federal corruption investigation. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. Interested in advertising here? Drop us a line. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2011 Not for reproduction without permission of the author Tuesday, March 08, 2011Heather Is First Heavy In GOP Senate Race; Who's Next And When? We Go Long And Deep On Race Outlook, Plus: Roundhouse Musings Heather Wilson put her old band back together Monday, playing a familiar tune that had them dancing in ABQ but still sitting in their seats elsewhere around the state. Rather than clearing the dance floor, her entry into the race for the 2012 GOP US Senate nomination may have emboldened the party's substantial conservative wing to find an alternative. Republican insiders said she offered little in her speech or in the personalities on stage with her to placate the GOP majority who rejected her first Senate candidacy in 2008.Complete video of Wilson announcement event as videotaped by the Tea Party is here. The Wilson announcement release with legislative and other endorsements is here. Wilson plucked from obscurity Bill Redmond, the conservative minister who won one term in the US House from the north in a fluke election in the 90's, to warm up the crowd of 100. He hummed the conservative tune for Heather, but seemed like an odd voice in the choir, surrounded as he was by party establishment types from decades gone by--Senator Domenici, former Congressman Lujan and former GOP party chair and 2010 Guv candidate Allen Weh. MODERATES NEEDED?The heavy ABQ presence highlighted Wilson's metro support, but also laid bare her continued problems in rural New Mexico. The most notable name absent from Heather's dance card was that of her archrival GOP US Rep. Steve Pearce, the man who crashed her symphony in 2008, beating her for that year's US Senate nomination in a vicious brawl that left both combatants reeling. Here was Steve getting ready for a rematch--not with him in the race--but with a surrogate challenger: If she announces, I will simply take note of it. It’s not going to cause me to move forward. We have a lot of time for the party to come together behind a candidate. Let’s evaluate our potential. Let’s evaluate the opportunities and the threats, and let’s do the best we can to get that seat. If we’re going to have a free for all, it’ll look very similar to what it did two years ago. As for going on a suicide bomber mission and giving up his southern House seat to thwart Heather, Pearce, kept the threat alive: The filing deadline is still nine months away, and I have plenty of time to make decisions. I’ll reach out to my supporters, but now, for New Mexicans, the stakes are higher than personal ambition. But the smart money is still betting that Pearce and other conservatives dissatisfied with Wilson's ways continue to look to Lt. Governor John Sanchez to utter some soothing sounds about getting in the game. And if you're Sanchez, what's not to like? National conservatives could easily raise on the Internet much of the $2 million or so a competitive GOP Senate race will take. For good measure, throw in conservative third party advertising like the Club for Growth did against Heather in '08. And remember, Sanchez continues to be Lt. Guv even if he were to lose to Heather in June 2012. JANICE AND HEATHER Arnold-Jones  Among those on the stage for Heather's afternoon ABQ announcement was former ABQ GOP State Rep. and 2010 GOP Guv hopeful Janice Arnold-Jones. The Alligators said that could be a signal that Heather will play nice with Janice if she seeks the GOP nomination for the US House seat if, as expected, Dem Congressman Martin Heinrich vacates it to make his own run at the Senate seat that Jeff Bingaman is giving up after five terms.Janice's presence also raised the issue of hot-button GOP consultant Jay McCleskey who handled Governor Martinez's campaign and in the past has been an ally of Wilson, but who has not been a welcome sight in Janice's neighborhood. Insiders say McCleskey and company have not signed with Heather and are not expected to. It will be closely watched as we are still over a year away from the GOP pre-primary convention. But McCleskey has plenty to do with his number one client--Vice-President...err..Governor Martinez. Meanwhile, McCleskey launched a website for his new firm--McCleskey Media Strategies. THE PRE-PUB Heather had excellent pre-publicity on her announcement, leaking it first to the national press which hit it heavy all weekend as did the local press and TV news. You could not get much more milk out of the cow than that. She topped it off Monday with the formal declaration. Coverage was more cursory Monday as other news dominated. TV news also mentioned the possible Sanchez candidacy through the weekend and into Monday. THE SUPPORT  Wilson's longtime mentor, former GOP US Senator Pete Domenici, did the formal introduction (and endorsement) of her. In '08, he waited until the last minute to give her his blessing. Domenici has been out of power since then, so his stroke is less. He gave birth to Wilson's political career in 1997.Wilson said about half the GOP caucuses of the state House and Senate support her. They listed the names in the release we posted above. What about the other half? Well, you've heard of keeping your ammo dry. Wilson also came with her website--heatherwilson.org. THE COSMETICS Wilson is 50 and had a bout with a highly treatable form of cancer. She looks her years, but not older. She wore a TV friendly blues dress sans the jewelry. The hair dresser went to work on the gray. Her voice today seems a bit lower than the already low pitch we've all grown accustomed to. And she has not shed her habit of getting emotional. She choked up when she talked about the service of veterans. Accompanied by Domenici, nearly 79, she looked the part of a daughter, but that's how it has always been between those two. THE MONEY John Sanchez has personal wealth from his roofing business and the probable assistance of national conservatives to fill a campaign kitty. Heather has neither, but she does have contacts in the military-industrial complex which will be the first to get her phone calls. But with Domenici out of power, she has to be concerned about hitting her numbers. Her first campaign finance report will be due at the end of March. MARTINEZ FACTOR  How does the Governor feel about her Light Guv possibly running for Senate? No one has asked her yet. Will she try to keep him out? He is not aligned with her campaign arm. Their relationship is not known to be warm. Does Sanchez have the backbone to resist the pressures that will now build to keep him out? It's all part of the test of ascending the political ladder.DEM DEALING Things being the way they are these days, the national Dems were on the campaign trail bashing Heather even before she had the chance to formally yell, "I'm a real conservative, really!" They came with this hit video. THE REACTION Heather's nomination problems were highlighted immediately as reaction to her entry into the race was decidedly mixed on the airwaves of ABQ conservative talk radio KKOB-AM, usually friendly ground for Wilson who served ten years in the US House from ABQ. Host Jim Villanucci is in her corner, but Tea Party type callers could not be pacified and hammered Wilson over her votes to increase the national debt and for the big bank bailout of 2008 which Pearce voted against. She deftly dodged a question on whether she supported the controversial Arizona anti-immigration law. HEATHER'S BOTTOM LINE The bottom line to Heather's big day was pretty much the same as the day before. If no big name challenger emerges to challenge her on the right, the nomination is hers. But nominations for open seats in the US Senate are rarely given away. That is especially so in this era of economic turmoil which has fostered a Republican Party that is more conservative than ever. Heather Wilson is the first major candidate in the race, but Republicans are still uneasy in their easy chairs.  Reader Stan Fitch writes:Our nation needs moderates from both major political parties with people who are willing to exercise the fine art of mutually accommodating differences in philosophy and politic. What a shame then that someone like Heather Wilson is under attack from Republicans, especially the Tea Party. With the R's fighting with each other, it looks like a cake walk for the D's. On the other hand, a DC reader writes: I can’t see how Wilson wins a Republican primary unless she makes it extremely personal and nasty, essentially disqualifying her conservative opponents on non ideological grounds. We saw in Delaware, Colorado, Nevada, and Alaska last year that general election electability is a losing argument in closed Republican primaries. The winning equation is simple--the most conservative candidate wins the 2012 primary. And the race is only for the 3-4 weeks people pay attention, not for the 15 months. The first 6-8 months of Wilson’s campaign are critical. She doesn’t need to raise money as much as completely remake her image ideologically. Money won’t scare off anybody. If she has a completely clear field, it will say a lot about the conservatives in the NM GOP party that they are not as strong as they project themselves to be. ROBBINS RESIGNS That didn't take long. ABQ School Board member David Robbins resigned his new city hall job as a constituent services aide Monday when it was pointed out city rules prohibit city employees from also serving as elected officials. Robbins sent this email: I resigned the position with the City first thing this morning. By the way, I never said condoms can increase the risk of spreading sexually transmitted infections. I did say and stand by it, that condoms do not prevent pregnancy, STD's, or HIV. Robbins said he had been on the city job about a week. His hiring was the subject of an Alligator strike on the Monday blog. However, that blog made it seem as if city employees could only be stopped from serving in elective city offices. That was later expanded by administrative order to include all elective offices. THE CAPITOL CRUNCH  From the Roundhouse a news reporter writes:Joe, As I get ready for another intense legislative week the events of last week have not set well. Last Thursday in the House--the first day of the driver's license repeal extravaganza--was fascinating in terms of content, passion, and level of communication. The next day the inexorable procedural maneuvering became more transparent. Like you said, this was about driver's licenses? I would love to see all that willpower and fierce determination applied to jobs and the economy! Remember, a House member asked Rep. Nunez, sponsor of the license repeal, what he considered NM's most pressing problem to be. He said, "Water." The House member asked, "And does this issue help us solve this problem?" Nunez answered, "No." It was the same response to Nunez' second most pressing problem facing NM--jobs. 'Nuff said. Let's see what this crucial next week brings. Maybe even something in the way of ethics reform? So much to do, so little time. They could do a lot. How about a memorial in support of the Spaceport to erase lingering doubts about the state's commitment? Ditto for the film industry. Tinker with the incentives, but can't we speak in one voice in telling the movie world that it's welcome here? MORE TV NEWS Some more on the TV news ratings from February. The media mavens point out that the 9 p.m. news on KASA Fox 2 actually pulls a higher household rating than the 10 p.m. news on KOAT-TV. The early news scored a 7.2 rating in February with KOAT garnering a 6.9. They say that's the first time that's happened. The two broadcasts don't compete directly, but the early news muscle is worth mentioning. THE BOTTOM LINES It's no secret that more than a few of our state representatives are well into their 70's, which led to this remark from a Roundhouse jokester: I saw a representative wake up from his nap on the House floor today and ask for Governor King! This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. Interested in advertising here? Drop us a line. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2011 Not for reproduction without permission of the author |
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