Tuesday, August 23, 2022Alligators Won't Be Denied: They Get Backstage At Ronchetti/DeSantis Rally Where Reporter Was Ejected For His Political Views; See Their Pics Here
Not even close. Not only did the Gators (our reliable and anonymous sources) manage to get into the Aug. 14 event as the press was kept far away from the action, but there they were backstage mixing it up with former GOP Gov. Susana Martinez and her joined-at-the-hip former political consultant Jay McCleskey who is now calling the shots for Guv nominee Mark Ronchetti.
Martinez, who served from 2011-'19, is seen in this exclusive pic chatting it up with southern GOP Congresswoman Yvette Herrell backstage at the Walter Gerrells Performing Arts Center. Yvette appears to have a hand brace on. Did her Great Dane Reba pull too hard on the leash? Meanwhile, the first term lawmaker who faces a Dem challenge from Gabe Vasquez, is holding a town hall Wednesday afternoon featuring prominent national GOP conservatives that will hit on the immigration and border security crisis. The campaign says the event is open to the public and media-- No ejection of reporters perceived as liberal by the almost always conservative Herrell. Martinez, 62, sports a Ronchetti for Governor t-shirt but she could just as easily be wearing one that says Dump Trump. She's been an anti-Trumper from the start plus she and hasn't had a big time job or appointment since leaving the governorship so in that regard cozying up with DeSantis makes sense. As for DeSantis, why Carlsbad? Well, it happens to be one of the wealthiest patches of land on the planet right now, with the booming Permian Basin worth billions. A potential presidential candidate is more than happy to glad hand with the many monied oil boys in residence in the vicinity--and cash their checks. SHADOWING JAY
He is now calling the shots for Ronchetti, raising the question among Democrats and anti-Martinez Republicans if he would be Shadow Governor II for Ronchetti who has never held public office. Let's put it this way: you would not want to bet against that proposition. For sure, McCleskey is badly in need of a win. He has come up empty since Martinez left, losing with '21 ABQ mayoral contender Manny Gonzales and dropping another big one when Ronchetti lost the US Senate race to Ben Ray Lujan in '20. His foes in the GOP are openly speculating over his future if he should lose a third. Susana and Jay are persona non grata in Trump world and MLG remains favored to take the Guv's race, but if DeSantis turns out to be the new GOP golden boy could some of the gold sprinkle down to them? And maybe Ronchetti, too? That's the backstory from backstage, kids. Reporters can be targeted for removal and blacklisted by a political campaign, but our Alligators go where others sometimes can't and seek out the truth wherever it takes them. ECON DEBATE Both sides are right about the state unemployment rate--the GOP when it notes that at 4.5 percent it remains the lowest in the nation and the Dems when they point out that the rate is the lowest it's been in 14 years. The bottom line? Worker shortages are much more of an issue than job creation. . . The restaurant industry here says some 1,000 restaurants closed because of the pandemic or about 18 percent of all eating establishments. That sounds really high until you check the national picture and find that the restaurant failure rate was about 17 percent due to COVID, according to the National Restaurant Association. However, the numbers both locally and nationally are not easily counted.
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