Thursday, February 04, 2021Sources Report Haaland Confirmation Not Expected Until March; Special Election To Follow, Plus: On The Econ Beat And A Little Gem From La Politica That's the word from our exclusive and reliable sources as we track the historic nomination of the first Native American who would become Secretary of Interior. A mid-March swearing-in would place the special election to fill Dem Haaland's ABQ congressional seat sometime in June. The Secretary of State will call the election for a date that comes 77 to 90 days after the seat is declared vacant. Dems are hoping for a Tuesday, June 1 election--similar to when primary elections are held--because they believe that would boost turnout. Dems are heavily favored to retain the deep blue seat, but special elections can present surprises when they wander into low turnout territory. As for where Haaland's confirmation stands right now, here's the scoop from one of our on-the-beat Alligators: The hearing by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is now expected at the end February or early March. After approval there the nomination will go to the full Senate for a vote. If approved, President Biden signs off and she is sworn in. At this point there doesn't seem to be a rush to speed up the process. Because of the razor thin Dem majority in the House, leadership is said to want to keep Haaland there to vote for Biden's first major initiatives. While Haaland is expected to win confirmation in the 50-50 Senate, the hearings will not be without moments. Biden's pause of oil and gas drilling permits on federal lands has made her appointment more controversial. Haaland will have to hit the briefing books to keep up with veteran senators. Energy Chair Murkowski and ranking Dem member Manchin both have deep ties to the energy industry. A break for Haaland is the presence of NM Sen. Heinrich on the committee. (Murkowski, an R, will soon be replaced as chair by a Dem, perhaps Manchin). DIVERSIFY OR WORSEIFY?  Sandia National Laboratories has upped the size of its workforce by nearly 20% in the last five years. And it hired more than 1,000 people during a year upended by the global pandemic.
The national lab in Albuquerque now has about 12,700 employees. That’s up about 2,000 people from the roughly 10,700 employees the labs had in 2016, according to an analysis created by the labs. . .Sandia’s New Mexico employees collected about $1.3 billion in payroll in the labs’ 2020 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Diversifying the economy is mostly idle chatter with little coming of it as the federal presence here becomes even larger as the private sector shrinks. In fact the powers that be are crying in their beer because ABQ was rejected by the Feds as a site for the US Space Command, a federal pork barrel if ever there was one. Attempts at diversification are worthwhile but not if they are accompanied by the demonization of federal government spending which is the cornerstone of the state's economy. Hypocrisy--like wanting the federal Space Command is fine--but leave the demons in the deep. WHO CAN DO THIS? To get some economic relief to hard-hit rural New Mexico experts want more quality broadband and availability, a subject of this reader email: Joe, I recently drove down a newly paved road that ended in the community of La Joya (20 miles north of Socorro). If government leaders can pave the road to La Joya, why can’t they figure out some way to get internet service to every nook and cranny in the state? With all the brainpower at our national labs surely someone has devised a system to facilitate internet connections. The experiment going on with Zoom etc. at government at all levels is embarrassing in a state that touts its advances in technology. We should be leading the country by example. Instead, the audio/video feeds from the city/county commission meetings, mayor news conferences, and Facebook communications is of a quality akin to a child with a coloring book. Doesn’t anybody know how to do it? CLEAN-UP In a first draft Wednesday we cited Ballotpedia in assigning a $174,000 annual salary to MLG. That is incorrect. Her current salary is $110,000. She vetoed a 2019 bill that would have raised her pay to $126,500. She once served in the US House where salaries are currently $174,000. And Edward Hollington, listed here as an independent candidate for the ABQ congressional seat, says he is involved in a lawsuit to make it easier for independents to run for the seat but is not a candidate. A LITTLE GEM  One of the Alligators digging around came with this find: Griego was sentenced in 2018 to 18 months in prison and fined $47,000 for his convictions on public corruption charges. The 6,255 square foot house is listed for $689,000. This is the home of New Mexico politics. Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021 Wednesday, February 03, 2021Heinrich Scores Top Committee But Is He Still Eyeing A NM Return? Also: Fourth Floor Pay Hikes Draw Eyeballs And On The Oil Watch: Energy Exec Argues Biden Lease Action Will Cost NM
I look forward to serving on the Appropriations Committee. . . As the new Congress and administration prioritize addressing the inequities in our economy and providing relief to Americans who are struggling, the Appropriations Committee will be at the center of those important policy and funding decisions. I am eager to get to work and help shape the future of our country and put New Mexico on the best path for long-term, sustainable success so we emerge from this pandemic stronger than ever before. Heinrich, 49, and first elected to the Senate in 2012, is now the state's senior senator. Even with his appropriations appointment and continued service on the Energy, Intelligence and Joint Economic Committees, Heinrich's future remains the subject of speculation. That's because last year he let rumors fly that he would be interested in running for Governor if MLG scored a job in the Biden cabinet. That didn't happen but talk continues that he may want to leave the Senate. Perhaps with the prestige appropriations post he'll be more enamored with the job. Or maybe not. FOURTH FLOOR PAY HIKES Speaking of the Governor, the tradition of high dollar pay raises soon after a Guv takes office is continuing under MLG's watch. Labor activist Bruce Wetherbee finds that while pay raises for most state employees have been nonexistent, sporadic or meager, many Fourth Floor paychecks have been fattened up considerably. A few examples: Policy advisor and former head of the ABQ firefighters union Diego Arencon has seen his pay go from $90,000 at the start of the administration in 2019 to $135,000, a $45,000 hike in two years. Cabinet Affairs Director Caroline Buerkle's paycheck has climbed from $110,000 to $135,000 and Communications Director Tripp Stelnicki's salary has gone from $85,000 to $107,000. The staffers still fall short of the $150,000 area cabinet secretaries make. MLG 's PR wing tells TV news the staffers deserve the raises because they've been working "24/7" during the COVID crisis. But Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca retorts: I think a lot of New Mexicans are working harder. MLG's current salary is $110,000. MORE DC BEAT  Commerce, Science, and Transportation; the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP); the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; the Committee on Indian Affairs; and the Committee on the Budget.
Lujan also announced that Ane Romero will be his state director. She twice ran for office ('16 and '19) in GOP leaning areas--for state House and ABQ city council. For nine years she oversaw the Congressional Mental Health Caucus and has worked policy for MLG, Sen. Heinrich and Rep. Grace Napolitano. OIL WATCH Many of us in the media reported that President Biden's executive order pausing permits for oil and gas drilling on federal lands--including the many acres in the SE NM Permian Basin--should not have significant financial impact on the state, if the order is not made permanent. But Mark Murphy, chief executive of Strata Production, an oil and gas exploration firm in Roswell, sees it differently: I always enjoy reading your blog but I beg to differ on your analysis of the recent actions regarding oil and gas operations on Federal lands. With respect to the suspension of leasing, it will have an immediate effect on state revenues as NM receives about 1/2 of the lease bonus proceeds. In recent years that had been as much as $400 million in a single sale. While lease prices are currently down, it still will mean losses in the tens of millions. These are dollars that state won’t have to spend on education, health care, unemployment benefits, etc. In addition, the suspension of local regulatory authority isn’t just about drilling permits. It is also about right of ways (ROW) and easements for pipelines, roads and electrical lines. There are many other types of approvals needed from setting certain types of equipment to plugging, abandonment and remediation activities. These are all in limbo and are in many cases preventing existing wells from coming on line. We are involved with a Texas based company who moved in 2 drilling rigs. Each rig was scheduled to drill 4 wells. After drilling the first one, each of the rigs were moved back to Texas because the right of way needed to lay a gas line was in question. Don’t believe for a minute that these actions won’t have real world consequences from folks being laid off to the loss of millions in revenue to our state. NAME GAME Eddy Aragon, Michaela Chavez, Michelle Garica Holmes, Ron Lucero, Peggy Aragon and Jared Vander Dussen. 134 GOP Central Committee members from the ABQ district would choose the nominee for a special election to fill Haaland's seat. There are at least six Dems running and one independent--Aubrey Dunn This is the home of New Mexico politics. Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021 Tuesday, February 02, 2021Keller's Ugly Month: ABQ January Homicides Tie Record, Plus: Pelosi-McGinn Show Postponed But Nancy Gives Video Support That depressing news brings into focus the embryonic campaign for ABQ mayor. The election isn't until November but the sensational crime headlines are impacting the electorate that will decide if Dem Tim Keller is awarded a second four year term. So far, Keller seems in good shape with decent approval numbers and no announced opponents, but the soaring homicide rate has the forces of Dem BernCo Sheriff Manny Gonzales on high alert as he weighs a challenge to Keller. After years of resistance Gonzales recently equipped his deputies with body cameras, essentially removing the cameras as a negative campaign issue. Gonzales' camp expects the mayoral derby to cost about $2 million. About $661,000 is available from public financing, if he chooses to go that route. The remaining $1.3 million would have to be raised by an independent campaign committee which can play outside the city's formal finance system. The unrelenting murders have also put pressure on Keller in his choice for a permanent police chief. Cynics say his latest nationwide search for a chief is "wired" for interim APD Chief Harold Medina, the same way a previous national search by Keller ended with interim Chief Mike Geier getting the permanent posting. There are three finalists and Keller expects to name one of them chief by March. Joseph Sullivan, a recently retired deputy commissioner with the Philadelphia PD, is getting a second look from the insiders and others who see the current fight against violent crime as an obvious failure. They argue that only a competent outsider can change a damaged APD culture that is holding the city back. Does Sullivan have a chance against a longtime insider like Chief Medina? Well, if it was only a 5 percent chance before the January murder mayhem, that's at least doubled. THE PELOSI PLAY  Pelosi did postpone her appearance because, she said, meetings over COVID relief were running late due to a big DC snowstorm, but in the same four minute video she also heaped praise on trial lawyer McGinn, coming up just short of an outright endorsement. Take a look: I hope to be with you sometime soon. Why? Because Randi McGinn is so special. I know you have many good candidates and I respect the decision you make. But I wanted you to know how important I think it would be for Randi to be in the Congress of the United States. Good luck to all of you who are running for central committee. Thank you Randi McGinn for running for Congress. About 200 Dem state central committee members will choose the party nominee for the ABQ congressional seat when it becomes vacant when the US Senate confirms Rep. Deb Haaland as Sec. of Interior. Central committee elections are expected to occur before the vacancy so Pelosi was aiming the pitch at those running. Pelosi's tacit endorsement bolstered McGinn but it also fortified her opposition. The stop McGinn crowd said having her take the congressional seat would be an insult to women of color who have held it since 2012. And the party's left wing--a soft spot for Pelosi--grumbled over the speaker's involvement. Mitchell Freedman of Rio Rancho blasted: Pelosi has been a brake against what the majority of Americans support, starting with single payer medical security, canceling all student debt, free public college, and the Green New Deal. . .Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez and Melanie Stansbury have far more support among central committee members and each is actually a topnotch candidate. About 200 central committee members will name a nominee for the special election to replace Haaland and will have at least six candidates to choose from. The central committee probably won't name a nominee until sometime in March with a special election likely in June. This week McGinn rose to the top of the crowd on Pelosi's wings Now she has to hope that doesn't backfire and she can keep flying. NEW GOP ENTRANT
She describes herself as a proud mother, wife and native New Mexican who graduated from Sandia Prep and whose husband is NM GOP treasurer David Chavez. Shooting for Dem votes if she is the US House nominee, Chavez says: As a former Democrat with friends and family members who are Democrats, I understand that our greatest challenges are not a Democrat vs. Republican issue. I am a leader and will unite diverse groups to find a solution to our greatest challenges. Chavez joins radio talk show host Eddy Aragon and 2020 GOP congressional nominee Michelle Garcia Holmes in officially seeking the GOP nod. Also running, according to a GOP consultant, are Jared Vander Dussen, Peggy Aragon and Ron Lucero. Aubrey Dunn is running as an independent. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021 Monday, February 01, 2021Nancy Teams With Randi And Rocks ABQ Congress Race; Pelosi In Tele-Town Hall For McGinn, Plus: Libertarians To Enter Congress Contest And Guv's Pocket Veto Appraised (McGinn said Monday the townhall has been postponed because meetings Pelosi is having over COVID are going late in DC due to the snowstorm. The Speaker did come with this four minute video in which she praised McGinn, without explicit endorsing her.) Even though Nancy did not officially endorse McGinn, it is a tacit endorsement from the Speaker who R's love to revile but who is highly popular among state Democrats and who has a knack for picking political winners. McGinn, 65, is a prominent trial attorney who has been a major donor for the Democrats, giving hundreds of thousands in contributions that go back to the mid 90's. That includes boatloads of cash for the Dem Congressional Campaign Committee and Emily's List. The Nancy-Randi tag team sent the other five Dem hopefuls in the race reeling. Those who could catch their breath launched a counterattack, saying McGinn's background has not been fully vetted, that she is an amateur who isn't ready for the Congress and that she is trying to buy the congressional seat. But Pelosi had to know all that before she lent her name to the townhall. And they left out something. McGinn was a feminist and fighter long before #MeToo. Her prowess on her chosen field of battle--the courtroom--is unquestioned. She's rich for a reason. And what do MLG and Senator Ben Ray think, both of whom are close to the Speaker? Were they consulted? Well, what do you think? After the riots at the Capitol and Pelosi's unflinching response her political capital within the Democratic Party has never been higher (Sorry, AOC). Her speakership has entered the realm of the historic. Her push for McGinn is going to be hard to ignore by the several hundred members of the state Dem Central Committee who will choose a nominee for the special election once Rep. Haaland is confirmed as Secretary of Interior. The Dem nominee is the near certain winner in the special that is expected to be held in June. No R has been elected to the ABQ seat since 2006. The other candidates in the contest--State Sen. Sedillo Lopez, State Reps Stansbury, Caballero and Louis and polticio Victor Reyes--are no slouches. But that wind they just felt in their faces is McGinn running past them--with Nancy Pelosi pushing. LIBERTARIANS PLAY
Chairman Chris Luchini says the party retained major party status when Stephen Curtis, a Lib candidate for a court of appeals seat last November, received 7 percent of the statewide vote. That's above the 5 percent threshold required for the party to secure major status. Among other things, that achievement gives the Libertarians the right to field a candidate for a vacant US House seat. Luchini tells NM Politics with Joe Monahan: Like the other major parties our central committee members (currently about 3 dozen) will choose a nominee when the vacancy becomes official. We have three or four names being tossed around and there is the possibility that we could get a name in there that is well-known to the public. So who will it be? Luchini says the potential candidates weighing a bid are keeping it low key. He did say the big name he teased is not former NM Gov. Gary Johnson, who ran for president as a Libertarian 2016. The Dems have six announced candidates for the post. The R's have at least two with more looking. Luchini, a physicist, says their candidate will bring the party's traditional message of minimalist government and individual liberty to the congressional race. The Libertarians have only 0.9 percent of the 1.360 million registered voters in the state or about 13,000. But they make up in zeal what they lack in numbers. POCKET VETO  The debate on the pocket veto misses an important point. If the Legislature did not wait until the last minute to get bills up to the Governor, she would not have the power to pocket veto them. The law states: "Every bill presented to the governor during the last three days of the session shall be approved by him within twenty days after the adjournment. . . Unless so approved and signed by him such bill shall not become a law." I've wondered why our Legislature, which is already significantly weak in our Constitutional structure, would cede so much power to the Governor (any Governor) by waiting to get bills to her or him at the last minute. The Legislature could avoid pocket vetos by getting bills up to the Fourth Floor before the three-day window at the end of the session. This is the Home of New Mexico Politics. Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021 |
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