Thursday, September 08, 2022Big Win For Keller; Council Fails To Override Veto; Homeless Encampments Get Go Ahead, Plus: Feeling The Frustration: Ronchetti Campaign Rips Media; "They're Keeping The Truth From You, Also: Campaign Trail Action The swing vote on the veto override was Republican Councilor Trudy Jones. She joined with three Dems to sustain the veto giving it a 5 to 4 vote in favor, one shy of the number needed to override. We'll have more next week but for now a turning point may have been reached on one of the city's most contentious issues. RONCHETTI VS. MEDIA Trying to jumpstart his lagging campaign and attract financial support, GOP Guv nominee Mark Ronchetti is now using the state's media as a foil and accusing them of failing to hold MLG to account and ignoring his campaign. In a fund-raising pitch this week titled, They're Keeping the Truth From You, he outlined a litany of complaints against the Fourth Estate starting with this: It’s up to us to reach voters directly with the truth, because the media will do everything in their power to help MLG avoid accountability. . .Just the other day, the state quietly released the dismal test results that 75% of students are not proficient in math and two-thirds are not proficient in reading. If you think MLG. . . had to dodge TV cameras camped out in her office demanding answers, think again. The Albuquerque Journal wrote a story that did not even mention the governor. Again, it’s an accountability-free zone for MLG. The Journal story did not quote the Governor but it did quote the NM Secretary of Education reacting to the "dismal" results. Then there is this Ronchetti campaign complaint over the coverage he's getting: Mark released his detailed plan to reform CYFD and protect kids in New Mexico. It’s a huge issue where abused kids are repeatedly left in dangerous situations, oftentimes with tragic results. But not one media outlet even bothered to cover Mark’s plan – the same media who constantly claim they want candidates to lay out substantive policy. . .When was the last time the governor had to answer any questions from the media about these tragic CYFD cases? The media don’t even ask her.
Voters have a right to know the truth. And it’s up to us to inform them. The Los Alamos Daily Post did reprint the Ronchetti release on CYFD reform and this blog covered his plan in detail, although Ronchetti's camp has its own definition of what is media as demonstrated when it drew criticism for denying press credentials to online publication Source NM for its Carlsbad rally with Florida Governor DeSantis. And his multipoint education plan announced at a Tuesday news conference received wide media coverage, including reaction from the MLG camp. There is a bit of irony in Ronchetti and company attacking the media when he made a very healthy living as a member of that same media as the longtime chief meteorologist for KRQE-TV. The federal financial form he filed when running for US Senate in 2020, showed he was paid over $200,000 a year for that gig. But since that ABQ Journal poll hit the streets showing Ronchetti getting beat 47 to 40 percent by MLG his fund-raising has probably tanked so why not take a whip to a group that is not the most popular on the block? Should we mention that all the money or most of it that Ronchetti will raise from his thumping of the media will be going back to that very media to buy TV spots? Nah. No need to mention that. As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. ON THE TRAIL  Outside interest groups are now playing in the southern congressional battle featuring GOP Rep. Yvette Herrell and Democrat Gabe Vasquez. Our media watchers report the GOP Congressional Leadership Fund has put $528,000 to work on ABQ and El Paso TV attacking Vasquez' crime credentials. The League of Conservation Voters is going up with $280,000 for Vasquez in the ABQ market. The race is rated toss-up or slightly favoring Herrell and has national implications for what party controls the US House. . . NEW REP
Linda Garcia Benavides (will) fill the vacant District 17 seat. Rep. Benavides was the only person to submit an application. She spent 24-years with Sandia National Laboratories in accounting areas. She currently serves on the executive board of the New Mexico Hispanic Heritage Committee. The commission approved the appointment of Benavides on a 3 to 0 vote. . . Dem Cynthia Borrego and R Ellis McMath are squaring off for the new District 17 seat now on the westside. THE BOTTOM LINES In a first draft published Wednesday on the legislature's action on a pretrial detention bill at the '22 session we mistakenly said the bill passed the House. It passed a House committee but did not get a full House vote. A similar bill was tabled by a senate committee. And we misidentified the committee that is chaired by Sen. Ivey Soto. He is chair of Senate Rules. He has worked remotely much of this year from California where his mother Clara suffered from brain cancer and who passed away this week at 86. 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 2022 |
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