Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham happily plowed through a 50 minute State of the State speech at the Capitol Tuesday, giving New Mexicans their first good look at the public personality that will govern the next four years.

(Full speech here. Major newspaper coverage here and here. AP coverage here. Video here.)

For many, the change was somewhat startling. Here are the takeaways of your blogger and others.

--The most apparent difference she displayed with her predecessor was what the French call joie de vivre, a joy at being there and with herself. This was a happy camper, cracking off the cuff jokes and smiling often and naturally. And there was a professional poise, an ease in delivery that defined the address that was shaped by long years of politicking. Like we said, the contrast with the previous eight years was startling.

--The speech surprised some by going center-left, including former ABQ Dem State Senator Eric Griego: "It was a bold and a pretty progressive speech." He analyzed. Correspondents for the ABQ Journal rightly dubbed it "left-leaning." Griego now heads the progressive NM Working Families Party. The party is considering recruiting 2020 primary challengers for conservative Dem Senators who blockade progressive legislation.

--Rather than move to a post-election centrism she stayed planted near the left of the spectrum. The strain of political centrism--a centerpiece of the last Democratic Governor Bill Richardson and the last one before him, Bruce King, has been largely pushed aside in favor of an urban Democratic progressivism. It is more tempered here than say California but it is a citified coalition (ABQ, Santa Fe, Las Cruces) that gave the state overwhelming Dem dominance in the last election. MLG is not a charter member of that club, but neither does it make her bristle.

At the Session

--The new Governor has long been an advocate for tough gun control, but when was the last time a chief executive mentioned getting meaningful, tough on guns legislation in a State of the State? We wager never but she went there Tuesday, again reinforcing the sweeping political change the state is seeing this century. Now let's see if gun bills get out of the rural dominated Senate.

--She worked to calm alarmists who say she is going to "raid" the $18 billion Land Grant Permanent School Fund to use for early childhood education: "I call on this Legislature to explore every possible viable approach for educational empowerment, including a proposed constitutional amendment that will allow us to take a responsible pinch of additional money from our Permanent School Fund, ensuring we can deliver an education system that works for every child and every family in this state." She said.

Some liberals complained that was less bold than other education passages in her speech, but she faces a potentially epic battle in the Senate and a "pinch" of compromise was offered.

--She briefly left the "left wing" of her party when she failed to call for the legalization of recreational marijuana. A health expert herself, she instead proposed that opioid addiction be included in the state's medical cannabis program. Pretty clever move. And probably the death knell for the time being for legal pot here.

--The money lines came right up front in the speech: "In this moment, on this new day, we stand together on the precipice of immeasurable opportunity. I’m ready to begin the climb — and I know you are too."

--That "immeasurable opportunity" is the historic state surpluses that have been accumulating. There was no handwringing over the surpluses possibly disappearing with a crash in the oil price. It was a mild surprise that she barely tipped her hat to the sky is falling crowd. Again, she has the crowd behind her for "transformative" change in a state that has been beaten to a pulp for so long. An example from Twitter: "Lower podiums, higher hopes. Go @GovMLG. NM is ready for your vision and leadership."

--If her determination to change the course of the state educationally and get credit for it was in doubt, she suspended those doubts when she declared: "A judge in Santa Fe has ordered us, all of us, to adequately provide for our at-risk students. But I didn’t need to read a judge’s order to know we can do more, we can do better, and that, in fact, we must."

Taking the Oath

That reference to the landmark ruling by District Judge Sarah Singleton that found the state in violation of the Constitution for not providing ample education for at-risk students is the spark plug for the reforms now being pursued. So sweeping are they that on our Tuesday blog we called this legislative session the "Singleton Session." But MLG made clear she wants her name on this session and in her legacy. Hey everyone, welcome to the re-election Campaign of 2022.

--As for that podium for the diminutive Governor, her handlers got it right and the TV/streaming picture was an optical score. Cosmetically, she sported a camera-friendly light blue dress similar to--or the same one--she opted for in some of her campaign ads. It was complemented with striking Indian jewelry.

--Negatives? Not many, but one lawmaker felt her talk of collaboration sometimes clashed with her style, which he found more "commanding" than collaborative. And others questioned whether the formal State of the State speech lost some of its gravitas because of too many jokes and wisecracks. (One of her jokes was about the length of the speech but at about 50 minutes it was not unusually lengthy.)

--The number most watched in Santa Fe Tuesday was not how long MLG was talking but what was the price of oil trading at. Fortunately for her and the lawmakers, it was in the $52 a barrel area, right where the bean counters say it needs to average over the next budget year to generate those gaudy surpluses.

THE REPUBLICANS

GOP Rep. Fajardo

What a box the R's are in. They need a new message but their Trump base is content with asserting that MLG will fail because she is overspending, that oil will crash and the state will be left holding the bag.

It was new House GOP Leader James Townsend from oil country in Artesia who pronounced himself "scared to death" of the Dem Guv's proposals. But where are the alternate GOP proposals? Well, few and far between. If you are calling for accountability you need to put out standards of accountability you want the administration to adhere to.

You wonder what vulnerable ABQ GOP Senators Gould, Moores and Rue are thinking as they look ahead to re-election bids in 2020. Well, they need some new thinking to stop the Dem momentum in the ABQ metro. GOP Chairman Steve Pearce, you need to put on your thinking cap or you're going to have even fewer caps to worry about.

THE BOTTOM LINES

Our apologies to Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, who in our first draft Tuesday we called "Tim Wirth,” his well-known political uncle. We seem to make that slip-up every couple of years. It is definitely deserving of ten lashes with the wet noodle as punishment. Best of luck for the session, Peter. . . And we inadvertently ran a photo Tuesday--uncredited from the Santa Fe New Mexican--of Senator John Arthur Smith. The pic was taken by Luis Sánchez Saturno. Nice job, Luis. 

KOAT-TV and the other major network affiliated stations do a pretty good job of providing local news coverage, but you can't fault Channel 7 for dumping their hour long newscast at 10 p.m. and getting Jimmy Kimmel before the still awake audience at 10:35 p.m. Who doesn't like Kimmel? New station general manager Lori Waldon made the call. . .

And for all of you wanting to go to Santa Fe and pocket a piece of that big surplus for your personal causes, we present to you the freshly named members of the powerful state House Appropriations Committee as determined by Speaker Brian Egolf. Happy hunting, Gators:

The first committee announced was the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, Chaired by the honorable Rep. Patricia Lundstrom (D-Gallup) and Vice Chaired by the honorable Rep. Roberto “Bobby” Gonzales (D-Ranchos de Taos). The committee members are: Rep. Anthony Allison (D-Fruitland), Rep. Harry Garcia (D-Grants), Rep. Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque), Rep. Rodolpho “Rudy” Martinez (D-Bayard), Rep. Tomás Salazar (D-Las Vegas), Rep. Joseph Sanchez (D-Alcalde), Rep. Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces), Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-Albuquerque), Rep. Candie Sweetser (D-Deming), Rep. Christine Trujillo (D-Albuquerque), Rep. Phelps Anderson (R-Roswell), Rep. Gail Armstrong (R-Magdalena), Rep. Paul Bandy (R-Aztec), Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R-Carlsbad), Rep. Jackey Chatfield (R-Mosquero), and Rep. Randal Crowder (R-Clovis).

Almost forgot. Here's a short video of the House Speaker's outlook for the session. It's prompting a new game at the Rio Chama and Bull Ring. Every time Egolf and the Governor say "education moonshot" you take a shot of your favorite spirit. Is that what those Dems mean by "Happy Days Are Here Again?"

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019