Chief Actor In "Crotchgate" Now Heads PAC To Elect Gonzales ABQ Mayor; First Money Report Shows Real Estate Heavyweights Backing Sheriff

Hallinan & MLG

Major real estate interests are first in line to dole out cash to support BernCo Sheriff Manny Gonzales in his bid to defeat Mayor Tim Keller this November. 

According to the first money report from the pro-Gonzales Save Our City PAC, the committee has $59,000 in cash on hand and raised a total of $69,000 after the first weeks of fund-raising with the promise of more to come. 

Don't look for John and Jane Doe on that list. The significant donors are major ABQ real estate players. Like Jimmy Daskalos ($10,000), Titan Development ($10,000), Peterson Properties ($5,000) and business group Fresquez Concessions ($5,000). Full report here.

Reports for the PAC's, which operate separately from the candidates' campaigns, are due with the City Clerk today, including the Build Back 'Burque PAC which is supporting Keller.

And who is supervising the raising of all this moolah to back Manny? Well, none other than veteran Dem operative James Hallinan, fresh from months of making headlines over "Crotchgate" in which he accused then Guv candidate MLG of throwing water on his crotch and then grabbing him there. Hallinan, our reliable Alligators inform, is now the director of the Save Our City PAC hoping to unseat Keller.

The gig marks the return to the state political circuit of Hallinan, 38, who has been cashing checks totaling $62,500 from a lawsuit settlement with the MLG campaign over his sex harassment charges. There could be more coming his way but the Guv is mum:

“I was focused on the pandemic, and I'll stand by that decision every minute of every day," said Lujan Grisham, describing the decision to settle. . . The governor's office and campaign have declined to say whether further payment is still due to Hallinan. 

Gonzales is a conservative Dem who progressives shun. Hallinan has been most often associated with moderate Dems such as State Auditor Brian Colón and Attorney General Hector Balderas. In fact, Hallinan has been supportive of Trump. Sheriff Gonzales fielded criticism when he worked with the Trump administration to curb the city's crime rate. 

The Save our City PAC is headed by Sam Vigil, whose wife was a murder victim, and ABQ state Rep. Bill Rehm, a conservative Republican. Under city rules Gonzales can have no involvement in the PAC--known in city lingo as a "measure finance committee." 

The Dem sheriff, however, made a controversial hiring of his own when he signed longtime GOP operative Jay McCleskey as his lead campaign consultant. 

Both Keller and Gonzales will receive $661,000 in taxpayer money to run their campaigns. The PAC's can be expected to raise enough to make each contender a $1 million player. 

Our Alligators last week broke the news that Gonzales was on his way to qualifying for that public financing. That has been confirmed. According to the city clerk, the sheriff now needs only a couple hundred more $5 individual donations to make the cut. The deadline is this Friday. 

BEARS REPEATING

It bears repeating. A Democratic governor in Dem nominated NM is very difficult to topple. Dems don't like to vote for R Guv candidates. But when they do it is often prompted by corruption or allegations of corruption, so we get this: 

(MLG) on Friday announced overhauls aimed at helping the Department of Workforce Solutions better handle a barrage of pandemic-related unemployment benefit claims. The changes include a partnership with Attorney General Hector Balderas' office to crack down on rampant fraudulent jobless claims estimated to be as high as $133 million over the last year, as well as hiring an additional 110 employees to staff an unemployment operations center.

Workforce Solutions (aka the labor department) has been a dumping ground for political appointees for at least 50 years. The pandemic exposed its institutional failures and reforming it may be a beneficial side effect of the health crisis. For a Governor facing re-election, reform is now an imperative.  

THE BOTTOM LINES

Former ABQ Dem state Rep. Idalia Lechuga-Tena is the latest prominent Dem to pursue appointment to the vacant seat of State Rep. Melanie Stansbury who today will be sworn in as the state's newest member of Congress. 

The Bernalillo County Commission will make the appointment and is now taking applications: 

The commission will appoint a replacement. . . during a special meeting on Tuesday, June 22 at 4 p.m. The meeting will be held via Zoom. Nominations from interested individuals will be accepted until Friday, June 18 at 1 p.m. Applicants should submit a cover letter and résumé to the Bernalillo County Manager’s Office, Attention: Julie Morgas Baca, County Manager, Suite 10111, One Civic Plaza, NW, Albuquerque, NM, 87102 or via email to: manager@bernco.gov. District 28 is located here.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021