Lopez
Who is Al Armijo? That question was left unanswered in the media reports on Armijo's failure to keep his candidacy alive against ABQ Dem Valley State Sen. Linda Lopez. Not only did the mysterious Armijo not turn up at the court hearing resulting from Lopez's challenge, he failed to turn in enough petition signatures and the address he gave turned out to be a piece of vacant land!

Obviously, Al failed alligator school. According to my Valley watchers, Armijo is a former employee of the state senate and an acolyte of none other than Senator Majority Leader Many Aragon. Manny has no love for Linda since she was responsible for getting him ousted from his pro-tem post. But Linda's alligators did a better job than Manny's as she is now without primary opposition. Tom Benavidez, who she beat eight years ago, is back as a Republican and she'll face him in November. Was the Armijo candidacy a Manny operation, as my sources report? If so, it was a bungled job. Come on Manny, you're getting sloppy on us.

OFF THEY GO

The NE Heights of ABQ can never match the Valley for raw political power plays, but the intrigue surrounding the GOP Heights race pitting former State Rep. Rob Burpo against current Rep. Larry Larranaga and, until now, Patrick Milligan, comes close. Milligan, a Burpo foe, told me he was joining the race to split the anti-Larry vote with Burpo to insure Larry's re-elect. Then, a couple of years later when Larranaga retired, Milligan would be positioned to take the seat. But now Milligan has had a change of heart and apparently feels its best for him to stay off the ballot to help Larry, so he has quit the race. Patrick, give Manny a call. He could use your talents in the Valley.

Tuesday is the last day for candidates to withdraw their names from the June 1 primary ballot, but some of them are falling off ahead of time. In Roswell it's a free primary ride for State Rep. Pauline Ponce with her opponent thrown off the ballot. Over in Santa Rosa, Rep. Jose Campos was gearing up for a primary battle, but the Dem challenging him is now out. TV news reporter Janet Blair will be the Dem nominee in the race against incumbent GOP Rep Eric Youngberg in Sandoval County. Thomas Nordstrand has dropped out.

RAMSAY OUT

It's over. That's the word on Ramsay Gorham's senate bid. She announced her resignation as state party chair last week and threw the towel in on her ABQ North Valley senate seat as well, but rumors persisted that she might renew the fight. Not to be, according to high GOP sources. That leaves John Ryan as the sole GOP contender for the Gorham seat, which will be contested heavily by the Dems.

PETE & MICKEY

R's were circulating rumors last week that Mickey Barnett, leader of the brain trust of the Dendahl wing of the strife-torn GOP, might pick up the backing of Senator Pete in his race for another four year term as NM Republican National Committeeman at the June state convention. But Pete's camp is striking that talk down saying he will stay neutral in the Barnett-George Buffett contest.

HIS WEH

Alan Weh, the apparent new State GOP chair-to-be ( see my EXCLUSIVE April 2 report) is already drawing some questions from battle-scarred Republicans. Will he be too close to the Congressional delegation and concentrate on their races and the Prez's re-election bid at the expense of state legislative candidates? And, would Weh be a chair who would stand up against Big Bill as Ramsay did when she went against the Guv's constitutional amendment to get more money for education from the State Permanent Fund? Remember, Pete backed Big Bill. And my first and last bad pun on this: We are sure Weh (pronounced Way) will weigh in soon. Happy Monday.

Make our site one of your 'favorites.' Bookmark it now and send a link to interested friends. Want to advertise to NM's large political community? E-mail me or call 505-243-4059 for details.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2004
Not for reproduction without permission of the author