Rumbles about getting a write-in candidate from the NM GOP to run against one of their own are getting louder. Insiders report NM GOP Chair Allen Weh has told friends that he has a candidate in mind. "It would be a woman and they hope to have $10,000 to start out with," said one of those deep on the inside.

Ogle has told associates that he will not resign unless he is charged with a felony as a result of the wife-beating charges leveled against him in July. The deadline for Ogle to get out in time for the the R's to name a ballot replacement is the end of the month. After that Ogle stays on no matter what he does.

Weh is obviously outraged at Ogle who he called on to resign only to be met with a stiff arm from the ABQ NE Heights freshman lawmaker. If Weh does find a credible write-in to run against Ogle it could take the heat off of the GOP in the crucial final stretch of Campaign 04.' The last thing the R's want is to be associated with a position that does not roundly condemn domestic violence.

Some experts tell me an officially backed write-in candidate could win against Ogle because of the explosive nature of the charges against him. Also, the district is not unfamiliar with such efforts. A couple of years ago ABQ City Councilor Michael Brasher launched a write-in campaign after he forget to file the proper papers to secure a ballot position. Brasher lost that bid but his education campaign about write-in voting took place in Ogle's district and he did manage to garner over 40% of the vote.

TURNING UP THE HEAT

Meantime, the media heat continues to be applied to Ogle. KKOB-AM ABQ radio talk-show hosts Larry Ahrens and Jim Villanucci are renewing their calls for Ogle to call it quits, and the ABQ Trib's Shea Andersen wonders how Ogle can dare to show up at the Roundhouse in January. But Ogle, in court again Monday dealing with the restraining order slapped on him by his wife who plans on divorcing him, awaits a decision on whether he will be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony in the wife-beating case. A felony he goes, a misdemeanor he stays, at least according to those who say they have talked to the embattled Ogle.

PAYNE'S PAST

ABQ GOP NE Heights legislative contender Greg Payne, responding to being called a "punisher of women" (see August 16 report) by his new Dem opponent, Michael Corwin, fires off a fax from the district attorney in Oregon who handled his 1991 domestic violence case. The 1996 letter clears Payne, now married and the father of two young children, of the assault allegations saying the woman who complained "was not being truthful."

Even though this case is 15 years old, the Ogle incident has provided Dems with some fodder and the longer Ogle stays the more the issue can expected to be highlighted.

READY OR NOT, HERE COMES PASEO

Last night's meeting of the ABQ City Council ensured the passage of a $50 million plus bond package that includes funding for the hyper-controversial westside road, Paseo Del Norte. Some councilors who opposed the road, maintained the entire bond package would be defeated again, as it was last October, unless nearly $9 million for the road was voted on separately by voters. Their cries fell on deaf ears as the council went 5-4 not to separate Paseo from the rest of the road bonds.

And no wonder. The turnout for last year's election was miniscule compared to the turnout we'll have in November. A grassroots campaign conducted by professionals, like the one against Paseo last time, is not going to work when you have a broad cross-section of ABQ voting. Seems from this corner the Paseo opponents better look in the Yellow Pages for lawyers because thousands of voters are not going to defeat millions in road projects in their back yard a second time for the sake of Paseo. Don't say we didn't tell you.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2004
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