Thursday, September 09, 2021MLG Gets Nod From State's "First Endorser," Stansbury And Herrell Surprise As They Get Chummy And Some Positive Thoughts For Beleaguered ABQ
Heinrich is carving out a reputation as the "first endorser," issuing dozens of then in recent cycles and true to form he is the first big name endorser for fellow Dem Lujan Grisham. She has work to do nailing down and exciting the Democratic base as her approval rating in recent polling has sunk below 50 percent She hopes Heinrich's strong appeal with environmentalists will help and also discourage any out of the blue Dem primary challenge. From Heinrich: . . .Lujan Grisham has set bold statewide renewable energy standards -- putting New Mexico at the forefront of the clean energy industry that will produce good jobs. . .She has aggressively pursued polluters and established nation-leading rules that will reduce harmful emissions and create even more jobs through detecting and capping gas leaks that harm our air. Governor Lujan Grisham has made New Mexico a national leader in the fight against climate change. I am pleased to endorse Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham so she can continue delivering for. . .New Mexico.” And there you have it direct from the First Endorser. Other titles held by New Mexico politicos include State Auditor Brian Colón as "Most Photographed Man in New Mexico" (just check out Facebook) and "Most Recognizable Politician" held by AG Hector Balderas. Yes, it has something to do with not having to go to the barber. Nominations are always open to fill additional categories. SOUTHERN STRATEGY Will this race be the next to get a Heinrich endorsement? Some Alligator follow-up to our blog this week pointing out that state Senator Siah Correa Hemphill and Las Cruces City Councilor Gabe Vasquez are two prominent Dems taking a look at running for Rep. Yvette's southern congressional seat next year. We get this: Siah is the one who has had real discussions with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Gabe is just toying with it and even though he's a former Senator Heinrich staffer, she is also close to him. Neither of the possible candidates has made an official announcement. Herrell will be seeking her second term. OLD SCHOOL
The visit was not open so there are no smiling photos of the pair happily working away. Don't expect Melanie and Yvette to become besties but publicly breaking the ice is a good start to bringing some longed for civility to the scene. Meanwhile, there has been an outpouring of support for the refugees from the Alamogordo area. So many essential goods have been donated for the 5,000 refugees who will eventually arrive at the Base that officials had to stop accepting more. Good stuff. . . POSITIVITY CORNER The ABQ mayoral election is about to hit full stride (if Manny Gonzales can get out of the courts and get campaigning) and with it will come a storm of criticism of how things are going around here and what's wrong with the place. Fair enough. But before that deluge of damnation begins let's pause for a note of appreciation for our town courtesy of Melanie Meleski Trujillo writing on the ABQ Memories Facebook page: I love the mountains to the mesa skies. I love the city’s sense of community. I love that we can still see some stars at night. I love our undying loyalty to the UNM Lobos and our AAA baseball and newer United. I love being the balloon capital of the world with our unusual box winds. Of course I love the Sandias turning purple, pink, red, and gold in the course of a ten minute sunset. I love a full moon rise. I love that you can travel through history as easily as a drive through various neighborhoods. I love our devotion to luminarias. I love it when I explain to someone not from here that it does snow. I love it when the cotton flies and everyone is complaining about it. I love it when the Bosque cottonwoods show that faint green in early Spring and then give us their bright yellow show in the Fall. Geez, I could keep going, but I am late to a breakfast meeting at Duran’s. Thanks, Melanie. We're going to need some more of that positivity before this campaign is over (and those comforting enchiladas from Duran's). 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 Wednesday, September 08, 2021Readers Ask: Who is Brent Eastwood? Man Who Scorched Ex-Gov. Martinez Over Board Appointment To Daniels Fund Explained, Plus: Inside The Fund: Diane Denish Throws Some Light Brent Eastwood is not a Democrat, but a conservative Republican who ran afoul of the Martinez administration while supervising international trade in Martinez's Economic Development Department. He joined with another employee to file this whistleblower lawsuit in 2014: A whistleblower lawsuit filed in state court makes a series of explosive allegations against appointees of Gov. Martinez, accusing high-ranking officials in her administration of public corruption, mismanagement, and intimidation. It claims that officials at the state’s economic development agency engaged in extramarital affairs that could expose the state to sexual harassment charges and that officials tried to silence employees who reported contracting violations and other wrongdoing. . . Eastwood says the lawsuit was settled for an "undisclosed" amount of money, Eastwood is a former Army infantry officer, RAND Corporation analyst and book author with a Ph.D in political science who now lives out of state. Eastwood’s wife, Melanie Sanchez-Eastwood, worked as a scheduler on Martinez’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. INSIDE THE FUND  Bill Daniels was a Republican (not a conservative Dem as we labeled him in our initial blog) but as Diane Denish explains he never meant for the fund to veer to the right: Joe, It is an independent and not a family foundation. The original Board members were all designated by Bill--my dad and I were two of them and my dad was chairman until shortly before his death. I left in 2010 as I began my run for Governor. Today, there are only 4 of the original Board members on the 13 member Board that knew Bill. (One of those is Jim Nicholson who is former national RNC Chair). The fund has been steering away from Bill's mission for at least 10 years with some Board members steering to the far right and frankly not caring about or adhering to best practices for philanthropy. Highly paid Board members in philanthropy are a glaring example. (I got board fees too and donated all of them to non-profits in NM). Bill intentionally created a balance of his Republican and Democratic friends (and relatives) in the original board. In my conversations with him the day before his death in March 2000, he said he didn't intend it to be "political" in nature. At the same time he told me he didn't plan for the money to be used to buy "any damn symphony tickets." Linda Childears who preceded Skandera as CEO for 15 years left abruptly in March of 2020 after high profile criticism in Colorado and New Mexico of a politically slanted Scholarship Application. Skandera, then a board member, appeared to be waiting in the wings to grab the CEO spot. I wrote about the debacle in the New Mexican. The bottom line is not about Martinez -- the bottom line is about continued drift from Bill's original intent and legacy. He was generous, he was kind, he was the epitome of drive by giving. He was a Republican in the sense of the old GOP. Some past and current Board members have steered grants to multiple Catholic causes (Bill was not a Catholic) and the Boy Scouts -- their pet projects along with others. One member had even suggested they partner with (far right radio host) Glen Beck. You get the drift.
Diane Daniels Denish Denish was Lt. Governor from 2003-2011. CANDELARIA RESPONDS ABQ Dem Senator Jacob Candelaria, who came under criticism on the Tuesday blog, came with this response to the reference that he received profanity-laced phone calls at his home and criticism of his job performance by Dem Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino: . .The state police were called to my home for a death threat. . .You have published. . . that my family received "profanity laden" phone calls with respect to this incident, or other factual allegations to that effect. This factual allegation is demonstrably false. I attach for your reference a copy of the District Court order granting a three year injunction against the white supremicist that made one of the death threats against my husband and I in October/November of last year. . .You have a right to have your own opinions which lead you to dismiss and mimimize a death threat, motivated by racial and homophobic hate, against my family. You do not however have the right to publish false or deliberately misleading factual allegations about the events of that evening. It sounds like the senator’s problem is with the New Mexico Human Rights Act which prohibits Senator Stewart from taking any retaliatory action against me or anyone else who has demanded that she be held accountable for her mismanagement of the Rachel Gudgel situation. If Senator Ortiz y Pino does not think that Senator Stewart’s actions to further institutionalize racism and homophobia at the Legislature in that case are acceptable that is fine, but they are not acceptable to me. Way to be a progressive champion, Jerry. The ABQ Journal reported that Candelaria received "profanity-laced threatening" phone calls. A link to the court order Candelaria mentions is here. This is the home of New Mexico politics.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021 Tuesday, September 07, 2021Potential Herrell Foes Emerge As Redistricting Draws Near; Two Dems Eye Southern Challenge, Plus: Questioning Candelaria; State Senate's Elder Statesman Goes Public Over Colleague’s Repeated Disruptions
Two progressive Dems are emerging as possible candidates as the Dems prepare for another battle with first term Rep. Herrell in a race that will have significant national consequences. The Dems US House majority is a mere 8 seats so keeping the southern NM district--one of the few swing seats--is a major priority for both parties. Two years ago when freshman Dem Rep. Xochitl Torres Small lost to Herrell the fight for the district was the most expensive battle in the nation. Really. An incredible $37.3 million was spent when the district flipped back to the R's, much of that in "dark money" going to both sides. The 2022 battle probably won't see quite that tsunami of cash pouring in but it certainly won't be cheap and the purveyors of 30 second TV spots won't have to worry about going broke. As for what D's might challenge Herrell, insiders watching the action point to state Senator Siah Correa Hemphill, a special education teacher and psychologist from Silver City who was only elected to the Senate in 2020 but is said to be busy gathering data on the congressional seat. Another possible is Las Cruces City Councilor Gabe Vasquez, a communications specialist and a former aide to Sen. Martin Heinrich, who after one term on the council decided not to seek reelection, signaling that he may be eyeing a congressional run. Herrell is taking the threats seriously and had nearly $700,000 in her campaign account at the end of June. That has now probably hit $1 million. She can count on more as her support of former President Trump pays off on the fundraising circuit. A primary between Hemphill and Vasquez is difficult to handicap until the new district is approved but both are seen as strong contenders. (Herrell is not expected to draw a primary challenge.)
Hemphill's defeat of Ramos was a major score for state progressives and she was rewarded with a seat on the powerful Senate Finance Committee. Dem women have led the charge in reshaping the state’s politics to a more progressive bent and Hemphill fits the mold for the congressional seat. Vazquez, 36, is an ardent environmentalist like his patron, Senator Heinrich. An El Paso native, who is a Spanish speaker, Vazsquez used his council term to reach out to his district's sizable low income and Hispanic population. He finishes his term popular and with a base in Las Cruces from which he can launch a congressional candidacy. The redistricting session is expected in early December. With two solid possible nominees the pressure on the majority Dems in the legislature to make the district more favorable for them can only grow. QUESTIONING CANDELARIA  OMG! This young man has lost all perspective. He has filed a formal charge of discrimination because Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart changed his seat in the Senate chamber! And he refuses mediation. His sense of entitlement knows no bounds. In context, Mimi isn't retaliating, she is simply recognizing that because he voluntarily resigned from the Democratic caucus, it makes no sense to be sitting in the very middle of that caucus. He needs to realize his actions have consequences.
And ABQ attorney Jeff Baker comes with this: Candelaria apologized for his behavior when state police were sent to his ABQ westside home to investigate his complaint that he had been receiving profanity laced phone calls. In addition to the Senate leadership Candelaria has also turned on MLG who he now regularly criticizes after having a warm relationship with her. And he called Sen. Joe Cervantes a liar on social media over a legislative disagreement between the pair. A Princeton graduate and ABQ attorney, Candelaria has intellectual firepower but his aim is off. La Politica has a way of straightening out such misfires. Candelaria came with this response Tuesday: CANDELARIA RESPONDS Candelaria Tuesday came with this response to the reference that he received profanity laced phone calls at his home: The state police were called to my home for a death threat. . .You have published. . . that my family received "profanity laden" phone calls with respect to this incident, or other factual allegations to that effect. This factual allegation is demonstrably false. I attach for your reference a copy of the District Court order granting a three year injunction against the white supremicist that made one of the death threats against my husband and I in October/November of last year. . .You have a right to have your own opinions which lead you to dismiss and mimimize a death threat, motivated by racial and homophobic hate, against my family. You do not however have the right to publish false or deliberately misleading factual allegations about the events of that evening. The ABQ Journal reported that Candelaria received "profanity laced threatening" phone calls. A link to the court order Candelaria mentions is here. 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 |
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