Tuesday, July 24, 2018New Mexico's New Odd Couple: Steve And Maxine, Plus: Hold Your Horses On That Racino And The Passing Of A Prominent Tea Party Activist
Should Ms. Lujan Grisham win the general election, she would end eight years of divided government under Gov. Martinez and deliver New Mexico wholly into Democratic hands — a prospect that Ms. Lujan Grisham said could clear the way for significant expansions on several fronts, clean energy chief among them. “We intend to catch up and then advance beyond all the other states,” she declared. While Lujan Grisham's Journal interview was rocky, the one conducted with GOP Guv nominee Steve Pearce and that ran this past Sunday was subdued and serene. He even tried to score points with the left when he talked about his relationship with controversial Rep. Maxine Waters who MLG dissed in her interview. First, the MLG take: She is troubled by fellow Democrat Maxine Waters’ urging people to confront Trump administration officials in public places. “Talk about a bridge too far. How can she in good conscience say the president is promoting violence and discrimination and then do the very same thing? “I’m not in. I wasn’t raised like that.” Now here's hard right Pearce putting the political moves on hard left Maxine: “We would dust each other up pretty good on the Financial Services Committee, and one day I finally walked over and said, ‘Maxine, this is pretty tough stuff … but this is not personal. …You and me, we’re OK?’ “She loosened up, and we both began to make it a practice. I happened to be behind her on the escalator going to the floor on Inauguration Day and she said all sorts of crazy stuff about Trump and he probably said it back about her and she turned and said to me, ‘It’s not personal. It’s you and me. We’re OK?’ And I said, ‘We’re OK.’ ” New Mexico's new odd couple: Steve and Maxine. Can the state film office do something with that.
STAFFING UP
With the Guv campaign about to enter its intense phase MLG has moved to beef up her communications staff. She has hired James Hallinan as her chief spokesman. He has been working with Attorney General Balderas in the same capacity.
Hallinan is a veteran of a number of Guv and other campaigns in and outside of New Mexico including Diane Denish’s 2010 Guv run. David Carl, former reporter for KOAT TV, recently signed up as a PR spokesman for Balderas and remains in that position.
Lujan Grisham’s campaign communications have encountered a few bumps. That recent interview with the Albuquerque Journal where she threw the progressive wing of the party overboard raised questions as to how well prepared the campaign was in dealing with the media. In addition, she took a hit over her latest campaign commercial dealing with the opioid epidemic and that faltered somewhat under a fact check by the Associated Press.
HOLD YOUR HORSES And we mean that quite literally: Four horse-racing tracks scored a victory in their bid to at least temporarily halt the licensing of a new track. The state Racing Commission ordered its staff to review the possibility of a study that would examine the feasibility of a new track. The commission also lifted the July 30 deadline for applications for the new racing license. Tracks in Albuquerque, Ruidoso, Farmington and Hobbs have requested the study, citing concerns about how a new track would affect the racing industry. . . The suspense is over whether the new racino will be awarded in the final months of the Martinez administration which is politically connected to all the current applicants via campaign contributions or whether the commission will make the decision when a new Governor takes over next year. JOB WATCH How about a full-time job with health insurance, a pension and 13 vacation days and 13 sick leave days a year? Of course, in this economy that would have to be a government job. And it is: – Today (Tuesday) the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) will hold a hiring event (to fill) dozens of vacant positions. It will be held at the South Valley Multipurpose Center, where applicants can take part in on-site interviews for a variety of positions, including corrections officers, corrections techs and social services and food services employees. . . Human Resources staff will also be on-site to start the candidate screening process immediately. Starting pay for a corrections officer is about $32,000 but its the benefits package that is the draw. For more info (505) 839-8999.  Word arrives of the death of Sylvia Bokor, publisher of a popular Tea Party oriented New Mexico newsletter that was widely circulated and quoted, especially among Republicans.Bokor was a disciple of the free market philosopher Ayn Rand and to the delight of her conservative following she showed little patience for liberals, Democrats or anyone who wanted to raise taxes. Bokor was an accomplished artist from New York City who moved West later in life. She wrote her missives on her personal blog for a number of years but it was the 2010 Tea Party movement that brought her into the limelight and she began emailing her writings and updates on GOP events. In a message before her death from lung cancer, Bokor wrote: I greatly hope that all the work that I and other grassroots supporters of Right to Work did will not have been in vain. I encourage all those who want a more prosperous state to continue their work! God Bless the United States of America! God Bless New Mexico! And God Bless each of you! And when I use the word God, I mean the best in man and the best man can be. Sylvia Bokor was 85. She requested that no funeral services be held. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2018 |
  |
