She says she hasn't made her mind yet up about seeking another four year term but if she does dive in to the race, Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen will have at least two Democratic primary opponents:

Carrie Hamblen, executive director of the Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce announced  a bid for Senate District 38, now held by longtime lawmaker Sen. Mary Kay Papen. . . Hamblen, 51, hosted a kickoff event at a private home near Pioneer Women's Park in Las Cruces. She'll seek the Democratic nomination, challenging Papen. Another candidate, Tracy Perry, CEO of Direct Therapy Services, also has announced she's seeking the party's nomination to the same seat.

Papen will turn 89 before next year's June primary and it seems the natives are getting restless for change. However, if she keeps drawing opponents who could split the anti-Papen vote, the Pro Tem could give it one last shot. Perry and Hamblen, who is active in the LGBQT community, appeal to progressives hoping to end Papen's Senate career which began in 2001.

 Senate District 38 is solid D. No R's need apply.

MORE CAPITAL CRITICISM

Back on that proposed capital outlay commission that would rank infrastructure projects by importance before the money was approved, Dem State Senator Joe Cervantes of Las Cruces writes:

Senate Bill 324 introduced this past session would have reformed and brought some process to spending hundreds of millions but it never received a hearing in the Rules Committee. You will not even find an analysis of the bill because the entrenched process is sacrosanct. The reform attempt just gathered dust. Apart from Senators I can count on one hand, there is a consistent unwillingness to bring sensibility to an embarrassing process. Second only to tax reform, this is a huge priority and a problem which politicians won’t even acknowledge. And it’s a problem with a solution. A commission is not the way. Legislators are elected to appropriate public funds. But creating special commissions and task force committees is the default approach when politicians lack the courage to do what they should but want the appearance of doing something.

CORRECTING MTO

Reader and veteran NM columnist Harold Morgan writes: 

Joe: On July 3 you quoted Secretaty of State and Dem US Senate candidate Maggie Toulouse Oliver as saying, "Bragging about raking in more than a million dollars shows how out of touch the Congressman has become having lived in D.C. for more than a decade. The per capita income for a New Mexican is $25,000."  The correct per capita income figure, for 2017, is actually $39,811. The number comes from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. 
MARGARITAS AND ENCHILADAS

Reader Peter Ives writes of our blog about the upcoming elections in Roosevelt and Curry Counties to permit alcohol sales in areas of the counties that remain dry:

Joe, Regarding alcohol sales (6/25), the larger problem is that the state made the a huge error in separating the licensing of beer and wine from spirits. The consequence is that it is almost impossible to get a real (tequila) Margarita in a Mexican restaurant in NM unless they can afford the hugely expensive spirits license. Only the largest or well-funded chains can manage that. 

The law needs to be changed to have one single liquor license for our restaurants and cafes. A special license for bars and package stores could be required for that category. The latter will not lose any business for folks wanting a Margarita with their enchiladas. I recently returned from a road trip and noticed that in many of the states I passed through, I could get cocktails in ordinary restaurants and cafes. I even stopped at a coffee shop in the small town of St Francis, Kansas that had a shelf of spirits.  Why is NM so backward? 

Well said, Peter. We bet the margarita/enchilada combo was on the Ives' Fourth of July menu.

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