Barber Gets Boost In City Council Bid; Otero Endorsed By Councilor Pat Davis In Crowded ABQ SE Heights Contest, Plus: Scranton Joe Headed Our Way, And: Oppenheimer; A Great Epic Or A History Channel Yawn?

Abel Otero

Can a heavily tattooed barbershop owner with a troubled past become the next city councilor from ABQ's liberal District 6 in the SE Heights? The current occupant of the seat thinks so.

Outgoing Councilor Pat Davis, completing eight years on the panel, has endorsed Otero in a race that features five candidates and is offering the most suspense of the four council races on the November ballot. Opines Davis:

I’ve known Abel from our neighborhood for years and I know that his lived experiences with homelessness, recovery from addiction, and building a successful small business bring new perspectives the council needs. Most important to me, our community has responded, helping to make him the first to organize enough voters to secure a spot on the ballot and the first to qualify for public financing. I stand with Abel because he brings the empathy, compassion, and leadership needed to build a stronger, united community.

Otero writes of his "lived experiences" on his campaign website, saying:

When I was 16 years, I took a turn down a hard path when I tried heroin for the first time. I experienced homelessness, addiction, and incarceration.

The Davis endorsement isn't a be all, end all but it may make Otero the frontrunner in at least securing a top two finish. That's important. With five candidates, achieving an outright victory by securing 50 percent of the vote in the first round November 7 is a steep climb. If no one does, a run-off between the top two finishers determines the winner.

This District 6 race is getting the most attention because the other three contests seem relatively calm. Heavy favorites are already established in District 2 in Downtown and the North Valley and District 8 in the far NE Heights. 

In NE Heights District 4 Republican Brook Bassan is a frontrunner but does have a Dem opponent who promises to make noise.

District 6 is overwhelmingly Democratic and progressive. If Otero doesn't win another Dem is almost certain to. The current breakdown of the council is 5 to 4 with a Democratic majority. The odds currently are strong that the numbers stay the same but we'll keep an eye out for any shifts in the field.  

BIDEN TO NM

Scranton Joe is sure to have his recognizable sunglasses in working order when he heads to sunny and hot NM, Arizona and Utah next week to talk climate change and infrastructure development made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act.

This year's heat wave has been a humdinger in the Southwest, especially in broiling Arizona where Biden also has a special political concern--he was a rare Democrat to carry the state in 2020 but only narrowly and would like to do it again next year. 

Utah is solid red and this will be Biden's first visit to the Beehive State since becoming president. 

As for New Mexico, we're solid blue for the Prez contest so he'll get a friendly reception here. His last visit was last fall when he campaigned for MLG and also had a few good words to say about then southern congressional candidate Gabe Vasquez who gave Biden the brush-off and did not show at the Dem rally in the South Valley. 

Now that Vasquez is freshly elected will he honor us with his presence at this presidential visit? Let's hope so. After Vasquez and the rest of the state's congressional delegation dropped the ball on Cannon Air Force Base, which is now begins parceled out to Arizona, we could use an even friendlier Biden.

Details on this visit have not yet been released.

OPPENHEIMER

Reader and film reviewer Eric Lucero is enticed back to the scene by the blockbuster Oppenheimer. His take:

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, largely filmed where events culminated in New Mexico 78 years ago in July, has no choreographed chase scenes, no death defying stunts or steamy sex, it is a true story of a race to save our world in 1945 from the Axis Powers; Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. 

“Oppenheimer” is a monumental cinematic achievement by Nolan that should win him an Oscar for Best Director and Adapted Screenplay. 

Cillian Murphy, in the titular role as Oppenheimer, portrays the morally and politically challenged first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, dubbed the father of the world’s first atomic bomb. Murphy deserves a Best Actor Oscar for his complex role. 

Robert Downey Jr.’s searing portrayal of Oppenheimer's nemesis--the calculating Lewis Strauss as former chair of the first US Atomic Energy Commission--and a political player in McCarthy era Washington--should easily win for Best Supporting Actor. 

“Oppenheimer” is a panoply of personal ambition, hubris, pathos and power, replete with historic gems.

Throughout his life Oppenheimer insisted that the whole Manhattan Project team was responsible for creating the first atom bomb, and that he merely led these gifted, brilliant and very human men and women to achieve a set goal. Nolan goes to great lengths to demonstrate their contributions via fine performances by some of Hollywood’s greats. The finished product is a time capsule of Oppenheimer’s life and times on a grand scale. ***** Stars out of 5. 

The New Yorker review saw it differently:

“Oppenheimer” Is Ultimately a History Channel Movie with Fancy Editing; Christopher Nolan’s bio-pic is so intent on being a morality tale that it misses its protagonist’s complexity.

There has also been criticism of "Oppenheimer" for not mentioning the plight of the "Downwinders" who suffered radiation exposure from the atomic bomb detonation near Alamogordo. As the movie continues to attract large crowds, the US Senate did this:

New Mexicans still suffering consequences from the detonation of the first atomic bomb  in the state scored a victory. A vote in the Senate last Thursday means– for the first time – people in New Mexico will be included in the “Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.”

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023