Sen. Smith

State Senator John Arthur Smith has held forth in the Senate for thirty years and is preparing to run for another four in 2020. But what if a strong opponent should emerge to run against the conservative Democrat in next June's primary? Could Smith be endangered? Polling conducted this month in his Luna, Hidalgo, Dona Ana and Sierra County southwestern district paints a mixed picture.

Conducted by a political operative, the landline survey of likely Democratic voters--those who have voted in the past two state elections--has Smith getting a 44 percent favorable rating. A high 37 percent are neutral or have no opinion of Smith, arguably the most powerful state legislator due to his chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee. That goes to show that no matter how well-known or how long they have served, legislators simply don't register with a wide swath of voters.

The poll went on to test Smith's opposition to several key bills most Democrats favored in the last legislative session. They included background checks for gun sales, the measure to repeal an outdated law that criminalizes abortion in the state and the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow a portion of the state's $18 billion Land Grant Permanent School Fund to be tapped for early childhood education, a proposal Smith has blocked for years.

After hearing that list, likely Dem voters were not prone to support Smith for re-election, with only 22 percent saying they would get his vote, but 42 percent would oppose him and 36 percent were undecided.

They might have thrown in a question about Luna County's unemployment rate as well. It is by far the highest in the state coming in at 13.7 percent in April. How bad is that? None of the other 32 counties even comes close to a double digit jobless rate. The next highest is Sierra County at 7.2 percent part of which is also in Smith's district.

The poll indicates that an effective negative campaign by a strong opponent could at least get the race in play. So far that opponent has not appeared, giving Smith, who will turn 78 in July, ample breathing room.

Will it last is the question. The stakes are high. The defeat of Smith could be the beginning of the end or indeed the end of the coalition of conservative Democrats and Senate Republicans that have for years ruled the Senate and today are a hurdle any Governor must jump over whenever they stray from the coalition way of thinking.

MARTINEZ MESS

Following up on the Martinez lawsuit mess, maybe some of those who sued the state will spill the gory details. That's because the current Governor says her administration will not enforce a confidentiality agreement reached between disgruntled former public safety employees who sued the state over sex harassment and other charges and the state's Risk Management Division. According to KRQE-TV sources, the employees threatened to disclose salacious and damaging information about Martinez if the suits were not settled. They were--to the tune of $1.7 million.

If those who sued start talking it might make for a good story called "Sex, Lies and Audiotape." The agreement called for keeping the settlement details secret until 2023.

And State Auditor Brian Colon entered the controversy saying he will conduct a "special audit" of the $1.7 million paid. He questions that unusual confidentiality agreement and the speed in which the lawsuits were settled in the final days of the Martinez administration. If he finds anything he suspects is criminal (like a wire job to pay off the plaintiffs with state money) he would send it to the attorney general for further investigation. If Colon doesn't find anything, it will be a real head scratcher. This deal is one of the seamier ones you will ever see in your travels through La Politica.

The attorneys for several of the plaintiffs are in full battle cry, demanding in a long-winded news release that KRQE "cease and desist" from repeating the news story about the settlements and take it down from their web site. They defend their clients complaints of sex discrimination and/or retaliation and claim the story trivializes them, their allegations, is factually in error and adds that no extortion of Martinez occurred.

Cease and desist? You mean like they do in Venezuela?