President Trump has pulled the chair out from under New Mexico and other blue states counting on federal aid to plug huge budget gaps because of the coronavirus. After first expressing support for a federal bailout package for states and cities Trump suddenly took a turn and recast the relief as a partisan issue:

Trump on Monday questioned why the federal government should provide financial relief to states facing budgetary strains due to the coronavirus pandemic, portraying it as a partisan issue in states and cities with Democratic leaders. "Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help?" Trump tweeted. "I am open to discussing anything, but just asking?"

That Tweet sent New Mexico lawmakers reeling as they are counting on up to $2 billion or more to come into the state treasury courtesy of the feds and essentially resolve the crisis they are facing for the budget year that begins July 1. That budget is set at $7.6 billion but revenues could plunge as much as $2 billion because of corona and the oil market crash.

If the state were left to shoulder the burden alone it would have to rely solely on its reserves of $1.9 billion and/or raise new revenue. Trump is nothing if not mercurial so a switch back to his original position is not out of the question. Santa Fe is hopping that comes by the time the special session starts in mid-June

That suggestion heard here that lawmakers should cancel the new $325 million early childhood trust fund ran into an early speed bump. The plan would put that money in the reserves to help resolve the budget deficit. Then more permeant early childhood funding would be pursued by placing on the November ballot the long proposed constitutional amendment that would tap the $19 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund for early childhood.

The bump? Article XIX; Section 1 of the state Constitution which says constitutional amendments can be introduced at regular session of the legislature but does not mention such introductions at a special session:

An amendment or amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either house of the legislature at a regular session;

That would appear to prohibit the introduction of the early childhood amendment at the upcoming special. but it would be interesting if a legislator asked Attorney General Balderas for a formal opinion.

LOVIN' TRUMP (OR NOT)

Who loves Trump more is the overarching theme in the two major GOP congressional primaries this season. The latest is the surfacing of  this 15 second video clip of former meteorologist and GOP US Senate candidate Mark Ronchetti from a climate change symposium in March 2019 in which he tells the audience:

I'm a Christian conservative who used to be a Republican until the orange one> I'm afraid that has taken part of my soul and that's not coming back.

The video circulating ends with a grapihc calling Ronchetti "A Never Trumper."

The video came to light from the campaign of Ronchetti rival Gavin Clarkson who used it in a fund-raising pitch as did candidate Elisa Martinez who unloaded this verbal barrage:

This kind of hateful, far-left attack on President Trump has no place in our party. Which is why I called on Ronchetti to drop out of the GOP Primary for U.S. Senate. New Mexico Republicans deserve a nominee who will fight for conservative ideals, stand with President Trump and support economic and personal freedoms.

Ronchetti is the money leader in the race, reporting over $564,000 in cash at the end of March. Martinez reported $34,000 and Clarkson $173,000.

And Lovin' Trump (or not) continues to be the mainstay of the two major candidates seeking the GOP southern congressional nomination.

As expected, Yvette Herrell has turned nasty Facebook posts made about Trump by rival candidate Clarie Chase into a TV spot that mocks Chase for her trash talk in the '16 campaign. That included calling Trump an "asshole."

The TV spot put that word on the screen with asterisks and a narrator also uses it, although it is bleeped.

The ad also quotes Chase as saying Trump is "unworthy of the office of the president” and “beyond offensive" and that she only changed her mind about Trump after she decided to seek the congressional seat. “It’s an act. She’s never Trump, so we’re never Claire,” blasts the ad.  Chase has apologized for the Trump attacks and says she voted for him in '16.

And Chase goes after Herrell in this ad invoking Trump. The AP:

(Chases's) ad cites a March 11 story by The Associated Press about Herrell making comments on a podcast about the Republican-controlled Congress and the Trump administration’s “lack of leadership” during Trump’s first two years in office. It then goes on the refer to Chase as the true “pro-Trump conservative” who supports building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Pretty uninspiring stuff and unless there is a major break in the narrative Herrell, who landslided Chase at the GOP  March preprimary convention, appears to be positioned to become the GOP nominee as she was in '18, only to lose to Dem Xochitl Torres Small.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020