The reasoning is obvious. Folks are worn out by the two year long pandemic and anxious to leave it fully behind. Also, while there has been a bump in virus cases in recent weeks, they are now waning and vaccination rates are high. 

Republicans hoping to mount a strong challenge to MLG's re-election bid savored California's Monday decision ending the Golden State's mask mandate Feb. 15. New Mexico is one of the last states to require masking in indoor locations, including schools, noted state Senate GOP Leader Greg Baca:

And on Twitter one of the R's had this stinger:

We don't know if the Guv will end the mask mandate in March but we'll bet a robust plate of enchiladas at the Barelas Coffee House that it won't make it until Easter. If we lose, the winner brings the masks.

DA Torrez

This news was greeted with bulletins, but talk about the handwriting being on the wall.  

A Senate Committee Monday effectively killed MLG's signature piece of crime legislation, giving her an election year body blow as well as BernCo DA Raul Torrez and ABQ Mayor Tim Keller who also ardently backed the pretrial detention measure, arguing it would keep violent criminals off the street. 

They didn't have much of a chance. Like a number of bills she has backed this session, the Governor and her team showed no indication of winning, leaving the impression that simply introducing the bill was the point. 

Torrez was gutted by the Legislative Finance Committee when it essentially said he has been a weak prosecutor and the problem in ABQ is more "accountability" for the criminals. In other words more arrests and prosecutions. 

As they say payback is a bitch. In 2018 Torrez, with the help of a willing ABQ media, publicly humiliated the Senate Finance Committee into giving his office an extra $4 million a year that he said would help him bring down crime. They caved. But the LFC played the long game and now have their revenge. He tried the public pressure game again this time but there was a new set of progressive linebackers in the game who tackled hard. 

The bill was voted down in the Senate health committee, not at the home of its archenemy--Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Cervantes. However his arguments laid the ground work for the defeat. 

Not to dump on Raul, but he was caught in a back street alley attack wielding a rubber hose against razor sharp knives. From the Alligator pond: 

Uh, did someone say "Alligator Strike?"

Will Torrez sustain damage from this in his battle for the Dem nomination for attorney general against Brian Colón? The DA's camp is hoping they can count on "nice Brian" showing up on the trail and he will not attack. But if they used the same counting method they used at the legislature they better get a new abacus. . .or something. 

Rep. Herrell

And how about GOP US Rep. Yvette Herrell making a foray into the ABQ crime debate, calling on the Dept. of Justice to lift the consent decree that the APD has operated under since 2014. She says it's preventing the cops from doing their jobs. 

Funny, Dem Mayor Keller says the same thing and Herrell's politically savvy move put him on the spot. He said she "echoed" what he has been preaching. Okay, but where has Dem Senator Martin Heinrich been in aiding Mayor Tim to get rid of the decree while Herrell dashes off a strongly worded letter to the DOJ?

Uber-conservative Herrell is dancing around ABQ in Westside and South Valley precincts that were added to her southern district and it is mortifying to the Dems. They are thinking it will only last until November when they expect Dem contender Gabe Vasquez to knock her off in a district that is now more D. But before she came with the DOJ letter Herrell was romancing Dem BernCo Sheriff Manny Gonzales seeking conservative Dem Hispanic votes. Now this. 

A candidate doesn't necessarily win when they do everything right but neither do they get punished for it. So far, the state's right-wing darling is making all the right moves on the state's biggest dance floor but won't she have to dip just a little bit to the center come November?

It appears the Guv and SOS Toulouse Oliver overreached on that voting rights bill. It contained a number of hot button issues and has now been placed on Death Row by getting another Senate committee referral. Anytime you have to testify to a committee for nearly eight hours in one day to explain a bill (as the SOS and others did), you've got a problem. Next time Maggie and MLG will have to do more legwork before the session. 

Ditto for the hydrogen hub legislation, a pet project of MLG's that has been in trouble from the beginning. She and her allies tried to revive it with a new bill. No luck. Speaker Egolf, siding with the enviros, has basically said there is no hope for hydrogen and is bottling the bill up for the rest of the session which ends Feb. 17. 

While the fossil fuel crowd likes the hydrogen proposal because it depends on burning natural gas, they are hitting the ceiling over HB6, a measure to limit greenhouse gases backed by MLG, the House Speaker and enviros.

They are so upset over the plan that the NM Oil and Gas Association PAC is spending $256,000 on digital and TV ads to make it go away. The 30 second TV ad (here) warns of an economic apocalypse of rising energy prices and crashing state revenues from the oil fields if the bill wins approval. The bill says:

The NMOGA claims the bill. . . 

The plan had passed one House committee and is expected to be heard by a second this week. 

You may have noticed the Guv is playing good cop, bad cop in the enviro debate. She proposes the industry friendly hydrogen plan but then backs the clean fuel standards and this emissions bill. Yes, it is an election year. Everybody gets a little something.