ABQ Dem State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino has the money lines on that under the radar special redistricting legislative session that kicks off at the Roundhouse today: 

The most interested parties in this session are the 112 lawmakers whose districts boundaries will be redrawn as they are every ten years after the census.

 But John Q. New Mexico doesn't have much reason to get too absorbed. The Democrats are expected to cement their big majorities in the House and Senate for the next decade with little change to the numbers on either side of the aisle. 

The biggie is the redistricting of the southern congressional district with the Dems prepared to carve it to their liking—and to the chagrin of current GOP US Rep. Yvette Herrell who appears helpless. 

The session could last two weeks with the Senate looking at proposed maps that would put several senators of the same party in the same district, including ABQ Dems O'Neill and Duhigg. There's a lot of clean up to avoid those kind of collisions.

Here in ABQ Ortz y Pino could have had the same lines about this being Election Eve in the city as he had about the special session. Few are aware of it. Not that they need to be. These are runoff elections for only two city council seats in the NE Heights. 

In District 7 it appears Tammy Fiebelkorn is headed for a romp over R Lori Robertson in the Dem heavy area. That's based on the consultants who are tracking party turnout like bloodhounds on a fox hunt.

In District 9, which includes the affluent Four Hills neighborhood, Republican Renee Grout is better positioned. Dems are worried Rob Grilley will come up short. Again, that's based on turnout numbers thus far. 

If Tammy and Renee do score wins, the council would be divided 5 to 4 in favor of the D's. That would be down one from the current 6 to 3 split which leads us to Councilor-elect Louie Sanchez from the Westside. 

Louie says he should get to drop the "elect" from his title and pronto. He argues that since he defeated an appointed councilor in the Nov. 2 balloting--Lan Sena--he gets to take the oath of office now and vote at today's city council meeting--not wait to January 1 like the other councilors elected last month. 

Sena was appointed by the mayor to fill out the term of Councilor Ken Sanchez who died in office. 

Sanchez has not yet filed a lawsuit.

Sanchez would love to be at today's City Council meeting to vote against a $110 million bond package proposed by GOP Councilor Brook Bassan and backed by Mayor Keller. That would require seven of the nine councilors to pass the measure without having to send it to the voters. But what's Louie worried about? The latest whip count from the Gators at City Hall has the package dying on a 6 to 3 vote.

The newbie councilor's grandstanding is not without a point--a political point. He's serving notice on Mayor Tim that his second term will be rockier. If the council goes 5 to 4 Dem tomorrow night Sanchez could be the swing vote on major matters and throw some rocks at the ABQ Alcalde. 

Yeah, we know--get a life.  Forget it. We go deep in the weeds over the claim of Councilor-elect Louie Sanchez and Councilor Ike Benton that the law permits Sanchez to take office now--not January 1--and that an election involving Benton serves as precedent. So, with the help of our Senior Alligators in we go: 

Councilor-elect Sanchez (and Councilor Benton) have been taken to school by the Alligators. Perhaps they could argue all those council actions somehow went against the intent of the City Charter. But they can’t assert there is a Benton precedent for Sanchez to take office early when there is none. 

And why didn't Benton have his 2021 election resolution state that the new councilor from Sanchez's district would be seated early when he said he knew from his experience that that was permitted? 

That concludes this segment of "Into The Weeds."

In a blog commentary last week we said that the "leading lights" of the legislative leadership were among those supporting the PNM-Avangrid merger but those leading lights remind us that none of the leadership has taken a public position on the merger and are awaiting the PRC decision.