And away she goes.
After three town halls concentrating on the crime crisis MLG was out of here fast. And off to India of all places.
The sudden change in optics from a crime-ridden state to a Governor again in the international fast lane may have been jarring to the public and also poor political form, according to those expert Senior Alligators:
She stirs up the natives, admonishes them and then takes off. Incredible. Horrible politics and messaging.
And here is that messaging:
Gov. Lujan Grisham is traveling to India until Aug. 10 to discuss partnerships with higher education, business and government officials. The governor’s itinerary includes stops in New Delhi and Chennai. She will travel with first gentleman Manny Cordova, and a delegation that includes Governor Deputy Chief of Operations, Caroline Buerkle; Director of the Office of Strategy, Science, & Technology Nora Sackett; and Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department Secretary-Designate, Melanie Kenderdine. The New Mexico Partnership is paying for the delegation’s travel. Lt. Gov. Howie Morales will assume the role of governor during her time overseas.
That's how you leave that pesky crime problem behind in style, and it's not as though the Guv is going to pick the mess back up when she gets stateside again.
Soon after she will jet off to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Next, Air MLG is expected to sojourn through the battleground states and others touting the candidacy of VP Harris.
Then it will be time to await the election results. If Harris wins there could be another call to the airport gate for MLG with a job awaiting her at the other end in DC.
If Trump wins? Well, let's say the executive staff on the Fourth Floor are going to be the first to know the good times have stopped rolling.
Meanwhile, in India, MLG can brush up on that nation's culture and history in preparation for any interview she has with Harris who is of Indian and Jamaican descent.
Uh, hold on. Does that mean the Guv is headed to the Caribbean next?
ABQ ELECTIONS
The amendment, if it survives a final test at tonight's Council meeting, will go to voters for approval at the November election.
If approved there it would still mean next year's mayoral election winner would shave to secure a majority of the vote and it would likely take a run off to get there. The race traditionally attracts more than two candidates.
Keller plans to seek a third term in 2025 and it has been widely assumed that the amendment--approved by Council in June on a on a 6 to 3 vote--would take effect for that election.
Beware of assumptions. That is not correct, says this newspaper report, while the initial reporting gave no date for when the amendment would take effect.
Council staff reports that the Council amended the amendment soon after original passage to make it apply to elections starting in 2026. The next city election after the 2025 balloting won't be until 2027.
Mayor Keller vetoed the amendment and at today's City Council meeting there could be an override attempt. But if the six councilors who originally supported the proposal do so again the override would fail and voters would get the final say.
Such Charter amendments are routinely approved by the electorate unless a well-financed opposition campaign is launched.
The argument that the amendment is an anti-Keller move by the Council has now lost steam with the effective date of 2027. But it's still bad public policy because it paves the way for electing a mayor with less than 50 percent of the vote and depriving the city of the one office that is forced to look at the needs of the entire community not just the sliver of the electorate that elected them.
Approval of the amendment would appear to make the election of minority Republicans more likely in Democratic-dominated ABQ although Councilor Klarissa Pena believes eliminating run-offs could also boost Hispanic representation.
A compromise could be to eliminate the run-off elections for the nine city council districts that are designed to represent certain neighborhoods, but keep the run-off elections for mayor. That would continue to give the ABQ mayor a majority mandate which is standard for major American cities.
THE BOTTOM LINES
Jerry Pacheco, the executive director of the International Business Accelerator, a
nonprofit trade counseling program of the New Mexico Small Business
Development Centers Network, writes:
Joe: You referenced the Feds arresting drug lord Ismael Zambada in El Paso, Texas. He was not arrested in El Paso, he was arrested in Santa Teresa, New Mexico where I live.
Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of "El Chapo" Guzman, were taken into custody the night of Thursday, July 25, by U.S. Marshals at a Dona Ana County private airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Santa Teresa borders El Paso.
By the way, Pacheco is listed as a member of the the staff of the NM Partnership that is paying for MLG's trip to India.
This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.
