The special legislative session is still a bust and the Governor continues to insist on having one starting July 18. One may be the key number.
Our veteran sources report that in the wake of the crumbling of a consensus over MLG's crime bills, legislative leadership is of a mind to have a simple one day session next Thursday, declare victory and get out of town. Said one:
Joe, it's the Vietnam strategy. The war is lost but declare it won and leave as smoothly as you can.
Of course the withdrawal from Vietnam (as well as Afghanistan) was anything but pretty. But these are not enemy forces MLG faces, they are fellow Democrats who are trying now to arrange an exit that saves face for everyone and embarrassment for the Governor.
But another senior source, commenting on the state House Democratic caucus meeting that took place late Wednesday, warned:
If the Governor doesn’t send legislators a package they can all agree on Speaker Martinez promised to gavel the session to order than abruptly adjourn it--sine die. He doesn’t want the Republicans to out message the Democrats on the House floor and make a spectacle.
Maybe the best they can do at this point is the aforementioned--pass a variety of milquetoast bills next Thursday and tell the innkeepers and restaurant owners counting on extra business:
"Sorry. We'll see you next time."
WHY?
--She called the special because it's MLG being MLG--shoot from the hip and look for the target later.
--She wanted to make a splash before the Democratic National Convention and speak there as as a freshly credentialed crime-fighting Governor because her hope for a DC gig have not evaporated.
--She is thinking of her post-gubernatorial years and is proposing behavioral health bills to address crime so she can emerge as a leader in the field when she leaves office.
--She thinks a special session will be helpful to Dem prospects in the November election.
--She would not have called the special if former Governor Richardson were still alive and who often acted as a Governor on the Governor.
Whatever the reasoning Santa Fe needs to come together and try to act like a serious government because right now they look weak, in disarray and of no comfort to a citizenry wondering when the crime-fighting starts.
Word arrives of the death of longtime conservative radio talk show host Pat Frisch. He held forth on ABQ's KKOB radio for 20 years as both a talk host and program director. He moved to Montana in 2019 and continued his radio career there. Frisch died of colon cancer last month. He was 63. . .
Paul Douglas Ware, another veteran radio personality known on air as Paul Douglas, has also died of cancer. Douglas was another KKOB alumni and more recently was broadcasting in Las Vegas, NM. Douglas died July 2. He was 73.
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2024