Joe Monahan

Budget hawks continue to bait a trap for Governor Lujan Grisham but she's not biting. Those hawks--the usual suspects and their media patrons--are clamoring for an immediate "emergency" special legislative session to tackle the budget disaster confronting the state. They want to convene in the middle of a pandemic in that petri dish known as the Roundhouse and begin bludgeoning state spending to address a deficit that could reach $2 billion for the budget year that starts July 1. The Governor is standing pat on her mid-June timetable for a special, as she should. Here's why:

--There is no clarity yet on how much federal help--if any--the state will get to fill the hole blown in the $7.6 billion budget. A federal package was making the rounds in DC Sunday but did not include bailout funds for state and local governments. However, we should have clarity by mid-June. It would be irresponsible to start chopping state programs now while ignoring critical DC developments. The federal aid could be as much as $2 billion and that would go a very long way in solving the current crisis without us having to do much of anything.

--The oil market remains in pandemonium, swinging wild up and down--mostly down--as the world adjusts to the collapse in demand. The emotional trading will subdue over time and oil will find a  true price--either higher or lower. By mid-June it will be much more clear where we stand with oil revenues which fundnearly 40 percent of the budget. Meanwhile, for 60 days we need to do nothing,

Despite this the hawks flap their wings and try to generate a panic so they can use their always sharpened knives. Sorry hawks, you best save that bait for yourselves or maybe have a Dove bar to soothe your shaky nerves.

CALL UP THE RESERVES

Those demanding an immediate special seem oblivious to the huge state reserves, even though it was they who insisted we create such a stockpile. A total of $1.9  billion general fund reserves. That's a lot of cash and makes clear that our primary problem is not the budget year that starts July 1, 2020 but the one that starts July 2021. How will we deal with that hole?

The time to deal with that will be at the regular session in January. Meanwhile a quick one day mid-June special (after the peak of the virus) to plug the budget for 2020 and launch a modest stimulus fund for small business seems to strike the right balance. We face a calamity for sure but the only way to beat it is to stay calm.

NEWS ANCHOR IN NEWS

Shelly Ribando

Domestic violence is one of the unfortunate effects of the stay at home orders, and it is impacting all segments of society. Michael Patrick, the public information officer for BernCo District Attorney Raul Torrez, has been placed on "administrative leave" after being accused of abusing his wife and 8 year old daughter. His wife happens to be popular longtime KOAT-TV news anchor Shelly Ribando.

Police were called to the couple’s Northeast ABQ home Tuesday after a credit card agent on the phone with Ribando reported that she heard a scuffle and that Ribando said her husband hit her, a police report states. They were arguing because Patrick had used a credit card to get an apartment, and Ribando was trying to cancel the payment. Ribando reportedly told responding officers that Patrick pushed her down and that he also pushed their 8-year-old daughter. Patrick denied the allegations, and his daughter also denied being pushed by him. Police said they did not observe any injuries on anyone.

KOAT did not ignore the story and informed viewers. Shelly herself read a story about domestic violence on a recent newscast without flinching. The ABQ Journal did do a report on the incident Saturday but never mentioned DA Torrez by name, instead citing the "Second Judicial District Attorney" and in a Sunday front page story on Torrez and the increase in domestic violence during the pandemic the paper failed to mention the abuse case right in his own backyard. What's up with all of that?

The other TV stations in ABQ (as far as we could tell) did not mention the incident involving Patrick, a taxpayer funded employee, who works at the very agency charged with prosecuting domestic abuse cases and is frequently quoted in news stories.

Help for anyone experiencing domestic violence or abuse can be found here.

And another pandemic story involving law enforcement had the Gators buzzing, This one from ABQReport details how APD's top brass ignored social distancing measures while paying respects to an officer who recently passed. The Mayor and the Governor's office seemed to think that was just fine. Others disagreed.

THE BOTTOM LINES

A Roswell rally to promote opening businesses in the state drew only a small crowd Saturday afternoon. A news report said about 80 to 100 were at the event--many wearing facemasks--taking part in the protest in the SE NM city.

Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh:

. . . He personally feels that Chaves County, with 1.2% of the state’s cases, should not have the same restrictions as areas such as McKinley County, which has about 18.5% of the cases.

The state's stay at home order runs through April 30 but the course of the virus is such that an extended shutdown lasting until May 15 appears to be a possibility.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020