In obvious reaction to that take down, the Guv had a glowing profile of her planted in the pages of the Washington Examiner. Her visage was recently seen peering out from news boxes across the national capital.
The problem? The Examiner is owned by billionaire conservative Phillip Anschutz and is an unabashed mouthpiece for the conservative movement. The buoyant profile of Martinez in the pages of the Examiner's magazine does nothing to offset the damage done to Martinez and McCleskey in the national media and political circles as a result of the the National Journal piece.
There was little chance for the Guv to get any push back to the National Journal in other mainstream media simply because it pretty much nailed what is happening in the New Mexican government---that Martinez is inordinately dependent on McCleskey to call her shots and that his influence--to use the National Journal's words--could be "her downfall."
Martinez insists that she is no puppet but yet she avoids any adversarial journalism to explore the point, even as she encourages stories about her possibility as a vice-presidential candidate. If she really wants to the play the game then--as we've said before--why not sit down with NM Politics with Joe Monahan for a statewide TV interview or appear on a national broadcast like "Meet the Press" and stand for no-holds-barred questioning?
Jay is pulling down a handsome income from the Guv's political entities. With commissions his firm receives receives for media buys, he is one of the better compensated consultants in the USA. Maybe he figured he had to do something to spin out of the hole he and the Guv have been placed in. But answering the National Journal with a piece in the biased Washington Examiner is like bringing a whiffle ball to a game of hardball. No one is going to watch that action or take it seriously.
TRICKLE DOWN
The trickle-down effect of Intel's lay-offs in Rio Rancho is another example of most of our state's political leaders--Democrats as well as Republicans--behaving like ostriches. Actually they give ostriches a bad rap. Your focus on what is really ailing our state and impeding its economic growth is spot on.
By the way, if the corporate tax cut was such a great example of "compromise" by the Democratic leadership in the state House, why did they not secure a commitment from the Governor on the minimum wage bill, or better yet, get her to compromise on a commitment of more permanent fund dollars to early childhood education? They got snookered, or are just poor leaders.
The legislature needs to be, what's the word? Oh yeah .. Bold--in its approach to creating jobs. This Jobs Council report simply re-states what most people already know: we are hemorrhaging jobs.
The question for the Jobs Council is why is their plan so anemic? But then it sure seems endemic of the weak approach of the guys in charge of the House.The mantra of New Mexicans, particularly of our youth, for the next several years will be a variation to an old hamburger advertising campaign: "Where's the jobs?"
CROSS YOUR FINGERS
The only real bull market going on in New Mexico these days is in the SE NM oil fields. Take a look and cross your fingers:
Oil and gas royalties earned $62.3 million in November 2013 – the second-highest month on record for oil and gas royalties at the State Land Office, surpassing October 2013 as the second-highest month, according to a report issued by the office.
The booming oil market is largely responsible for increased state revenue forecasts for the budget year that begins July 1, 2014.
BEST RANT
First, we run the email sent to Cunningham byABQ Dem state Rep. Mimi Stewart and then the rant it drew from Cunningham in response.
Stewart: . . . .The Affordable Care Act is a boon to NM. Our health insurance exchange is working well and we have expanded Medicaid for our citizens living in poverty. The UNM Bureau of Economic Research says the ACA will bring $6 Billion into the state and create 8,000 jobs. Don't believe everything you hear or read. Those who want Pres. Obama to fail have spread lies about the ACA. The truth will come out in the end.
Cunningham: Madam Stewart, Are you aware that hell awaits the liar as much as it does the thief? Your bureaucratic poppycock qualifies in BOTH categories! The UN-affordable NON-healthcare TAX is a SOCIALIST LEGISLATED-ENSLAVEMENT ABOMINATION. The only 'jobs' it's going to 'create' are on government payroll and not one damned slot in the private sector. Isn't THAT why the Department of Homeland Security is buying 1,600,000,000 rounds of ammunition and 2,700-Plus "Mine Resistant Protected" MaxxPro MRAP vehicles for use on the streets of the United States? To be used against any and all citizens who dare to call COMMUNIST Bastards That Be--by their correct and traitorous names and titles?
Therefore, Madam, YOU are a knowing bald-faced liar of the first magnitude! When you send your KGB/Gestapa for me, LEAD THE PARADE YOURSELF! I await your reprisal. Expect mine in return.
Colonel Cunningham has the distinction of being the first person in the 10 year history of the blog to have all their "CAPS" not go edited. Hey, we want him on our side when the revolution comes...Now pass the ammunition....
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