Summer '22 arrives today so let's dive into the pool as well as a good book as we soak up the languid days under the New Mexico sun. 

Former Gallup Mayor Bob Rosebrough comes with a page turner that chronicles his life in the city that he so accurately describes as "disproportionately wonderful and terrible." 

In A Place of Thin Veil: Life And Death In Gallup New Mexico, Rosebrough ponders his personal and political journey. His wonder for the eccentric Navajo reservation bordertown and its unique culture is evident throughout. So is his dread of the terrible, symbolized by an alcohol epidemic that came to define Gallup and dominated his struggles as mayor of the city that originated as a rail and coal town in the early 20th century. 

Rosebrough, an attorney and native of Farmington, settled in Gallup after college, a move he notes was reminiscent of another NM politico--former NM Governor Arthur Hannett of New York who disembarked in Gallup over a hundred years ago and like Rosebrough found himself dumbfounded and delighted and hung up his legal shingle. 

Rosebrough was doing fine as an attorney but the old ways of Gallup--chiefly the denial of its alcoholic personality by the old guard--gnawed at him and he eventually responded to the calls of his neighbors to run for mayor. He was elected to a four year term in 2003. It was an opportunity that he would come to both honor and regret. 

Mayor Rosebrough's efforts to change much of what turned out to be unchangeable left him intellectually and spiritually exhausted, but he seems too quick to point to his defeats rather than his accomplishments.

Mayor Rosebrough

They included a ban on sales to intoxicated individuals that saw two of the worst drunk bars sell out after being cited multiple times; he met with success when he pushed bars to voluntarily ban early morning sales; he persuaded the state legislature to extend the period for detox holds from 12 to 72 hours and as an avid outdoorsman he advanced Gallup's opportunities in that area. 

Gallup's alcohol obsession demanded (and continues to demand) a 12 step program. Rosebrough got the city to swallow several steps but at the end of his term it was clear, he writes, that the "old guard" had waited him out. He gladly returned to private life. 

Readers will enjoy the many characters Rosebrough introduces as well as a look at his somewhat icy relationship with fellow Democrat and Gov. Bill Richardson. But it is his candidness describing his own inner demons as he wrestles with the challenges of the day that will especially resonate with a political audience.  

When his term ended Rosebrough recalls a constituent thanking him for ridding Gallup of its reputation as "Drunk City." He didn't eradicate that moniker entirely but looking back he was a man ahead of his time in a place where inscrutability conquers even the most ardent agents of change.

You can buy the book here. 

ABQ GOP City Councilor Brook Bassan found out the hard way that the city is not ready for homeless encampments in each of the nine council districts. A big crowd faced off with her as she shopped the idea to her mostly conservative NE Heights district. 

Clearly Bassan and Mayor Keller and company have much groundwork to do before this idea gets off the ground, even if the City Council has already approved the concept on a 5 to 4 vote. 

The legislation is called "Safe Outdoor Space" for the homeless but it's Bassan who now needs a safe harbor as her district turns on her. She has time to find one. She's not up for re-election until 2023. (Bassan has now introduced legislation to repeal the proposed homeless encampments).

This is the home of New Mexico politics.