GOP congressional candidate Mark Moores is wasting no time in trying to define Dem nominee and front-runner Melanie Stansbury. After opening with a positive spot about his UNM football playing days, Moores unveiled his first hit on the ABQ lawmaker.
The 30 second spot, not posted on the net, accuses state Rep. Stansbury of doing "very little" to abolish the state tax on Social Security benefits while he, a GOP state senator, has been a leader on the issue and supports doing away with the tax. He says seniors have been among the groups most hurt by the pandemic and deserve the break.
The spot is filled with plenty of gray hairs as Moores aims his sights squarely at the 60 plus crowd that is expected to have one of the highest turnouts in the June 1 special election.
But Stansbury isn't buying it as her campaign responds with this:
This attack is false and laughable considering Moores plans to go to Washington to vote with the Republicans to privatize Social Security. Rep. Stansbury has sponsored bipartisan legislation to provide a Social Security income tax exemption. . . She has been there for seniors throughout the pandemic, and even helped shop for her senior constituents when they couldn’t. On the other hand, Mark Moores has not sponsored a single bill with the sole purpose of exempting Social Security income from income taxation.
New Mexico is one of 13 states that taxes Social Security. A bill to repeal the tax was tabled in the House tax committee in the last legislative session.
The secretary of state said Friday that six candidates, including two write-ins, have officially qualified for the June 1 ballot.
Independent Aubrey Dunn and Libertarian Chris Manning will be on the ballot with Stansbury and Moores.
NOT RUNNING
 |
| Rep. Ely |
One of the first election announcements from a state legislator for the next election cycle comes to us. Dem Rep.
Daymon Ely of Bernalillo and Sandoval counties says he will not seek re-election in 2022. The 63 year old attorney, who specializes in legal malpractice, say family considerations are the reason.
Ely of Corrales is a former Sandoval County Commissioner who was first elected in 2016 to House District 23 which was then a swing district. Since then, the district has become more Democratic and will likely remain so when the once a decade redistricting is completed later this year.
Ely has been tight with House Speaker Brian Egolf who relied on him for advice and rulings as the House parliamentarian. It was often at late night sessions where tempers sometimes flared where you could see Ely doing his legal footwork.
Ely most recently made blog news when he announced that he would introduce a bill requiring political parties to conduct primary elections to pick candidates for congressional seats that become vacant in between regular elections, instead of having their central committee members do the task. The bill was not approved and the central committees selected the nominees for the vacant ABQ congressional seat on the June 1 special election ballot.
Ely was a key player in implementing the state ethics commission approved by voters in 2018.
He still has the redistricting session as well as a regular legislative session before his term expires at the end of 2022.
NUCLEAR THREAT
Sandia and Los Alamos nuclear weapons labs have been firing on all cylinders, financed with record appropriations and bursting with record employment. But a threat to that growth spike is surfacing in DC as a spending brawl is
pending:
Nuclear weapons are emerging as one of the top political brawls in the brewing battle over next year's defense budget. Democrats have been introducing bills to curtail costly nuclear modernization programs, as well as writing letters urging President Biden to support their efforts. But Republicans are shooting back with their own letters and op-eds calling on Biden to stay the course on programs that largely originated during the Obama administration. They’re also working to pin down Pentagon nominees on where they stand.
Los Alamos is so overflowing with new employees that they're moving
500 of them with an annual payroll of $64 million to Santa Fe offices. How would you like to own a restaurant next to that? But the modernization of nukes is seen as wasteful and unneeded in some quarters and that's what the legislative battle will be over. (Better take only a one year lease on that new lunch spot you're opening.)
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021
