Councilor Harris

ABQ GOP City Councilor Don Harris is getting pushback after controversial comments on the coronavirus in New Mexico--comments the Governor's office calls "dangerous."

Harris has become one of the first elected officials to publicly question the Governor's stay at home order to combat the coronavirus. Several hours after the first reported NM death from the virus was reported Wednesday, Harris told us:

I am sensing that  the Governor is going lockstep with places that have much different problems than we do, particularly New York. Testing there shows a very high infection rate, while in New Mexico it is two percent. You can't treat the country as a unified entity when New Mexico is a sparsely populated state and has a a different climate than New York.

The longtime councilor, first elected in 2005 from District 9 in the far NE Heights, also brought up the hot button issue of possible increased suicides among the millions of workers laid off because of the shuttering of much of the economy. President Trump brought up the same issue but the AP came with a fact check that disputes that notion.

Harris, an attorney in private practice, urged an "open discussion" about the stay at home order, saying his chief concern is that it could be extended beyond the scheduled April 10 expiration, causing extensive economic harm.

Hopefully we will have some good data by April 10 and be very cautious about extending it and with regard to whom and how long. We should talk about the young people resuming normal life and keep those people away from the elderly. I think we need to have an open discussion about the harm that the economic lockdown is doing to people.

Harris wrote on Facebook that his speaking out was prompted by the state's use of the emergency alert system Wednesday to urge all New Mexicans to stay home:

I received an emergency text from the Governor or her agency ordering me to stay home. At the time I was walking in the foothills. . . Albuquerque ranks number one in the nation in per capita for land devoted to open space and we are the fifth least-densely populated state in the country with 17 people per square mile on average. We have a high-desert climate with lots of sun and virus killing UV radiation. We are not New York City.

Harris also questions ABQ Mayor Keller's order closing city golf courses:

People can stay six feet away from each other. Why not let people go out and golf?

Harris is up for re-election in 2021 but he tells us he is "uncertain" about seeking another term.

DOWNRIGHT DANGEROUS

Gov. MLG

Governor's office spokeswoman Nora Myers Sackett came with this response to the Harris comments:

Councilor Harris' misinformed comments are not only misdirected, they are downright dangerous.

The only way to prevent a spike in the infection rate is with measures exactly like what Governor Lujan Grisham is doing; a statewide stay-at-home instruction, closing of non-essential businesses. That is the only way to flatten the curve and not overwhelm the state's health care facilities, at which point the public health emergency will be disastrous.

If is critically dangerous for the Councilor to imply that only the elderly are affected by COVID-19. That is categorically false. The majority of New Mexico's cases are under the age of 50. Like most viral infections, high-risk individuals are more at risk, but every New Mexican is at risk of contracting COVID-19. That is why it is essential that all New Mexicans stay home. Period. It is the only way to slow the spread of COVID-19.

New Mexico's sunshine will not eradicate COVID-19. I am dismayed that an elected official would suggest something so dangerous. The governor understands the terrible situation that this public health emergency puts our economy in – but the alternative, should the spread of COVID-19 not be stopped, is even greater economic and public health devastation.

The only way to slow the spread of COVID-19 is for New Mexicans to stay home and not interact with each other. Not just older New Mexicans, all ​New Mexicans. Any New Mexican is susceptible to this virus. Want proof? A baby under one was recently announced as having tested positive for COVID-19, with no known exposure to anyone else who had tested positive. This is not a virus of the elderly, and if New Mexicans, including Councilor Harris, do not take this seriously, we will feel the repercussions for months to come.

OIL CRASH COVERAGE

Our ongoing coverage of the oil crash and its impact on New Mexico continues with comment and analysis from Bob Gallagher, a former executive director of the NM Oil and Gas Association:

Joe, It is clear that Saudi Arabia has just won control of the oil market. The price war with Russia which resulted in them adopting a policy to maximize production levels brought oil prices sharply lower. The new policy is long-term. Obviously American shale producers do not like this because it will drastically decrease their revenues and probably result in bankruptcy for several companies. 

The Saudi's continue to export close to 10 million barrels per day and still have spare capacity of approximately 2 million barrels per day. Next month Saudi Arabia will surpass Russia to become the world's second largest producer and I would guess within the next two years they will pass the United States and become, once again, the largest producer in the world. They can produce a barrel of oil for $9 per barrel!

The CEO of Aramco, the Saudi oil and gas company, said, “(We) can sustain the very low price and can sustain it for a long time.” This will allow them to increase their market share. Aramco’s CFO said “we are very comfortable we can meet our shareholders expectations at $30 a barrel or lower."

This is an all out attack on the hydraulic fracturing for shale oil companies in NM and elsewhere and a lethal attack on the finances of New Mexico. Oil at $30 per barrel or lower should frighten the Governor, lawmakers and every New Mexican. It is real and it is here as we speak. 

Oil closed Wednesday at around $24 a barrel.

QUIET OVER CORONAVIRUS

We reported this week that a male employee of KOB-TV has been stricken with the coronavirus. That has been confirmed but the station says it is not going to report the news even though it did report about a PNM employee bring stricken as well as a hospital employee contracting the virus. KOB General Manager Michelle Donaldson wrote this memo to the station's staff:

Since being asked. .  .if we should be reporting this, I have changed my position. . . I asked the question about whether we were reporting the employers of other patients. Someone pointed out to me that we had reported a case at PNM and one health institution. Upon further consideration I realize that PNM employs a HUGE number of people. So does the health institution (the VA). Out of privacy concerns, I am electing that we do NOT report this on our news. . . We may reconsider this later. But once its reported, you can't take it back. And honestly as this virus moves through our community, I believe this will be a nonissue. This is my decision for now.

Our media Alligators who aided with this update wondered what privacy concerns Donaldson is thinking of. The individual's name is not going to be released.

And is it only news if only employees at "HUGE" companies contract the coronavirus, not at one of the most well-known institutions in the state which KOB is? And the presumption that the KOB case will be a "nonissue" because the coronavirus is going to increase dramatically, is not yet operative. There have only been 113 cases thus far in a state of two million.

KOB may want to consider applying the same transparency standards to itself as it demands from the institutions it covers. That way they could really stand for New Mexico.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com)

Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. 

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019