Is MLG a serious prospect for VP under Joe Biden or is her name being pushed out only for Biden to court favor with Hispanic voters? Well, you be the judge. Meantime CNN's VP watchers have moved the NM Governor up to number 5 on their top ten list of potential VP's. Take a look:

5. Michelle Lujan Grisham: Lost amid the flood of news is the fact that Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto removed herself from VP consideration. That move leaves Lujan Grisham, the governor of New Mexico, as the highest-ranking Latina in the VP mix. (Other names like Texas Reps. Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia still seem like something of a long shot to me.) Lujan Grisham has also stepped up her criticism of Trump and his response to Floyd's death. (Previous ranking: 8)

Biden is expected to make his pick by August. Just don't let Lt. Gov. Howie Morales hear about her improving VP chances or he may need a defribillator.

EYEBROW RAISER

As the pandemic continues to rage on the Navajo Reservation a bit of an eyebrow raiser comes from the MLG administration. It is pondering an appeal of a federal Dept. of Education ruling that gives a boost to Native American school districts.

Impact Aid is designed to compensate school districts such as Gallup McKinley for the property tax revenue they lose from tax exempt federal lands and the expenditure to educate Native children. However, the state has been diverting much of that money to the general fund, a practice the Feds have now called out. We get this from a western NM educator:

Native American school districts have opposed the state’s practice of inappropriately taking $60 million per year in Impact Aid from the poorest districts in the state. The federal government agreed with them by ruling NM cannot continue to take the money for FY20. The Governor, who has publicly supported replacing the unfairly taken dollars from these students, is now surprisingly preparing to appeal the Feds decision. The Governor would be using a lot of political capital going against the Tribal communities who overwhelmingly voted for her. The federal government has never reversed a decision on this issue so she should just take the Feds ruling as a win. She is risking this voting block for less than 2% of the educational budget. . .

The deadline for the state to appeal is June 15th.

A PAIR OF BILLS

Sen. O'Neill

ABQ Dem state Senator Bill O'Neill isn't letting any grass grow under his feet. First, he came with a book of poems based on his experiences as a legislator and now he comes with his first book of fiction, the Panoramic Diaries which is described in this promo:

The protagonist moves from a rebellious existence to be more focused in the surrounding adult world. As he heads once more to the freights, after working intensely for seven years with parolees in a halfway house, he brings his old railroad diaries with him. Reading them over as he bounces from railyard to railyard, framed by the scenery of the Southwest, he winces at his own self-absorption back then, the shame he feels about his own privilege. . . 

O'Neill represents District 13 in ABQ's North Valley and is seeking a third term this year. He is opposed by Republican Michaela Chavez in the heavy Dem District.

Former Gov. Bill Richardson is back on the diplomatic beat, with CNN reporting he recently played a role in the release of an American Navy veteran held in Iran:

Michael White, 48, traveled to Iran in July 2018 to visit a woman he said was his girlfriend. In January 2019, the Iranian government confirmed that White had been arrested in the city of Mashhad. The State Department said he had been detained since 2018 and was serving a 13-year sentence. He had been charged with insulting Iran's Supreme Leader and posting private information online. . .Richardson. . . formed an unlikely partnership with the administration and played a key role in securing White's release. Richardson, who was ambassador to the UN under President Clinton, runs the Richardson Center for Diplomacy. . .

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020