Commissioner Lujan
A group of thirtysomething political gunslingers will be among the first on the frontlines to help Big Bill raise the millions he will pour into his 06' re-election effort. The Generation X'ers, mostly all lawyers, will fete the Big Guy at the fashionable Zinc Bar and Bistro on ABQ's Nob Hill. Among those passing the hat for 50 bucks a pop this Friday at 5 p.m. will be lawyers Brian Colon, State Reps Al Park and Hector Balderas, Geno Zamora and Mo Chavez. Non-lawyer, but chair of the NM Public Regulation Commission, Ben Ray Lujan, son of Dem State House Speaker Ben Lujan, rounds out the gang. This warning for politicos of all ages: Hold on to your wallets. Big Bill is coming to a town near you soon.

OUR SATURDAY NIGHT GUV

Perhaps our Guv is better known around the nation than you think, or maybe he just has some good friends on the staff of the hit comedy show "Saturday Night Live" seen on KOB-TV. Whatever, the Big Guy was actually the subject of one of the SNL team's famous parodies this weekend. Here's a report from one of my TV insiders:

"It was a skit spoofing a Sunday morning talk show. The host was the Bee Gees Barry Gibbs played by actor Jimmy Fallon. They had someone play (House Dem leader)Nancy Pelosi, another woman played conservative commentator Ann Coulter and actor Horatio Sanz played Gov. Bill. They had the bad hair down and everything. He made some comment about loving Gibbs when he played in New Mexico and Gibbs (Fallon) exploded saying, "don't patronize me Bill Richardson."

It was somewhat funny, if I was still drinking, but the Governor did make the big time back East and it can't hurt with the young voters," wrote our TV guru.

AG RACE HAS EM' TALKING

Monday's blog on the AG's race had the email bag bulging. Reliable sources on the ground in Las Cruces report that Dona Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez, mentioned as a possible GOP AG contender next year, is "not at all interested and will not be running." Also from Cruces, several junkies wanted to know why State Rep. Joe Cervantes was not mentioned as a possible Dem AG candidate. "He's also from the south so Gary King saying he would have a monopoly on the south is a off base, if Joe gets in," said one. Good point. But Joe, according to those in the know, is still on the fence on this one and is having the time of his life as new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. And no, ABQ's Mayor Marty is not interested, as some Gators insisted a couple of weeks ago.

Back on the R's, the name of warhorse Bob Schwartz has surfaced as a possible AG aspirant. Bob recently confirmed to the newspapers our report of several weeks ago that he will not seek the ABQ mayors job, as he he did in 2001, after talking it over with his boss, Big Bill. Now, friends say, Schwartz has been mulling over a run for AG, but is concerned that R's would give him the cold shoulder since he's on Big Bill's payroll. Hey, maybe he can switch back to his old party, the D's, and make a run for it. Stranger things have happened.

EXIT....STAGE RIGHT

As you may know, it won't be NM GOP executive director Greg Graves looking for an R candidate for AG or any other offices up next year. As we blogged Monday, he is out. Graves writes in that he felt free to leave his job of less than a year because Allen Weh is on his way to re-election as party chair in May. "I feel secure that my commitment has been fulfilled," writes Graves who adds he will be staying in ABQ and joining onetime Guv Johnson cabinet secretary Robin Dozier Otten and veteran Roswell PR man Jack Swickard in a lobbying and consulting venture. Insiders tell me veteran R and Graves assistant Marta Kramer will replace Graves, at least on an interim basis.

We love politics around here, and we love hearing from our readers from coast-to-coast and beyond the sea. We fall behind on the email sometimes, but we answer it all and print a whole lot of it. So

keep it coming.

That's it for today. Let's meet back here again tomorrow and catch up on the latest.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2005
Not for reproduction without permission of the author

Posted by: Joe Monahan / Wednesday, April 13, 2005