They just won't let Greg be Greg. The controversial former ABQ City Councilor looked all set for a free ride to the Roundhouse when he handily defeated an opponent in the June 1st GOP primary for the State House seat being vacated by Joe Thompson. And he was ready to hit the hammock for the summer when he heard the Dem running for the far ABQ NE Heights seat, Carter Bundy, decided to withdraw after winning his primary.

But Payne can get off easy street and get ready to burn some more shoe leather, if Bernalillo County Democratic Party Chair and Sate Senator Linda Lopez has her way. In an e-mail to "NM Politics With Joe Monahan, Linda says Greg's vacation may soon be over: "We are currently working on Carter's replacement. I am meeting with a few folks this week and next. We will have a Democrat to run in HD 31."

It's up to members of the Democratic Party Central Committee who reside in the House district to name a replacement by early August. Judging from the Lopez e-mail, Payne, who is still favored to win easily in the heavy R district, may need to hire a baby sitter for his newborn daughter because the D's plan on keeping him busy. Maybe Payne can write his campaign lit when he's doing those 2 a.m. feedings.

THE COWBOY RIDES AWAY

Old-timers remember the influence John Mershon wielded in the NM Legislature in the 70's and 80's and are taking notice of his passing this week at the age of 95. A lot of praise for the Democrat is coming from Republicans who recall how he joined with the R's to form the famous "Cowboy Coalition" to oust the liberal "Mama Lucy" gang from the House leadership for a while in the early 80's.

Here's an e-mail being shared around the state by these R's: "He served as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee during the early days of the coalition’s rule of the House. He put a meat cleaver out on a piece of wood as a symbol to state bureaucrats and liberals that he was gonna take a meat axe to the state budget. During the early days of his career, the Mama Lucy gang got so incensed at him that they refused to give him an office in the capitol. John didn’t take crap from anybody and lived the western American dream."

The AP reported: "John Mershon, once one of New Mexico's most powerful legislators as head of finance committees, has died. Mershon, who served in the New Mexico House of Representatives for 24 years, died Tuesday. The Democrat from Otero County was a member of the House from 1959 through 1982, and was on the House Appropriations Committee and the powerful Legislative Finance Committee for most of that time, including stints as chairman of both.

His presence in southern New Mexico harkens back to 1938, when the then 29-year-old arrived in Mayhill to work in a lumber mill with this father."

Coalition politics came back in the Legislature in 2000 when Manny Aragon was ousted as Senate Pro Tem and replaced by Richard Romero who got the post with the support of the Republicans. Whether the Senate coalition will survive the departure of Aragon and Romero next year remains to be seen.

NPR: THEY CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS

National Public Radio (NPR) set up its microphones at the famed Frontier restaurant in ABQ in late June, within viewing distance of our famous Sandia Mountains. But that didn't stop the hip East Coast network from calling them the "Sangre De Cristo Mountains" in a report on the Presidential battle being waged here. But besides the geography mistake NPR did just fine, giving valuable insight on this swing state. They interviewed UNM professor Chris Garcia and Dem attorney and party activist Moe Maestas, among others. Here's the full seven minute NPR report

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2004
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