That said, lets take our broom and sweep up clippings left behind from a hectic day. . .
It's not just the R's with leadership changes in store. On the Dem side of the aisle in the state House Majority Leader Gail Chasey ends her tenure this year so the race is on to replace her in the #2 leadership spot. Santa Fe Rep. Linda Serrato and ABQ Rep. Day Hochman-Vigil are the two major contenders. The post will be filled following the November election.
Meanwhile in ABQ SE Heights District 18, where for decades Chasey held forth, four Dem candidates have filed for the seat, including progressive lobbyist Marianne Anaya whose claim to fame is her accusations of sex harassment by ABQ Dem state Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto. Yet after nearly two years there still has been no complete resolution of the charges, other than Dems kicking Ivey-Soto out of his Rules Committee chairmanship.
The other Dem hopefuls for the Chasey seat in the June 4 primary are Anjali Taneja, Juan Larranaga and Gloria Doherty. No R filed for this all Dem all the time district.
In ABQ NE Heights House District 31, which is solidly Republican, Nicole Chavez, who announced earlier she would seek the GOP nomination to replace outgoing Rep. Bill Rehm, has company.
Leadership trainer and NRA advocate Patrick Huested and Sarah Jane Allen, who once sought the state GOP chairmanship, have also filed for the seat. Winning the primary there is tantamount to winning th election in this district, the only remaining one in the city with a GOP rep. But Dem Vicky Estrada-Bustillo filed her candidacy and will give it a shot.
House Minority Leader Ryan Lane will shed that title today. After announcing he will not seek re-election to his Farmington are state House seat, Lane Wednesday said he will resign the seat effective today. That means the San Juan County Commission will recommend a replacement to fill out the remainder of his term which runs until the end of the year retired FBI agent William Hall filed for the seat this week. We'll watch to see if that's the name the Commission sends to MLG who ultimately makes the appointment.
THE MEDIA BEAT
(As owners) Richard Meeker and Mark Zusman. . . embark on a new project in Oregon, they are actively seeking a New Mexico buyer to become the fourth generation of SFR stewards. . . the Santa Fe Reporter is in good health, both journalistically and financially,” Meeker says. . . Today local, independent ownership is the real key to success in the newspaper business. We are making this public announcement in the hopes it will attract interest from residents of Santa Fe.”
The first hint that the Reporter, founded in 1974, was reassessing its model was when they began soliciting financial support from readers even as the paper continued to attract a stable of advertisers. That the Reporter is publicly seeking a buyer suggests private efforts to sell it have not been successful.
That's not to say the product has diminished but public interest has waned in local news and when it is in demand, readers are on the internet. Publishing in ink is expensive and nearly an anachronism.
Last year a group of conservative NM investors including former NM GOP chairman Harvey Yates, Jr. purchased the Rio Grande Sun and the Artesia Daily Press. Perhaps the Reporter will follow the same path, although not with conservative ownership. There are still things in Santa Fe that don't change.
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