Governor Lujan Grisham and Lieutenant Governor Howie Morales announced their 2023 Inauguration will be held on New Year’s Day, following tradition. Their inauguration will include an inaugural ceremony and an inaugural ball to launch their second term serving the people of New Mexico. Former Representative Deborah Armstrong and senior political advisor Victor Reyes will serve as the Co-Chairs of the 2023 inaugural committee. John Wertheim will be the committee’s treasurer.
MLG raised nearly $900,000 for her inauguration four years ago and spent over $720,000. With inflation the first $1 million inaugural fund-raising is in sight. Organizations and corporations like Presbyterian and Coca Cola traditionally donate the lion's share of the funds. The media will need extra trackers to monitor how all the money is spent and they need to.
The Governor took the oath and gave her inaugural address in 2019 at the Santa Fe Convention Center. There were two inaugural balls--one at the Center and the other at the Eldorado Hotel. The sites for this year's events have not been announced. Those wanting to follow the latest inaugural activities can do so here--even Republicans.
TV NEWS
Here's something we haven't come across in a very long time--the ratings for the news broadcasts for the ABQ TV market, the 48th largest in the nation. With all that political ad money this year going to the stations we were curious who was leading the pack:
DMA No. 48 is a rare Nielsen market that covers its entire state. Salt Lake City is another. Large, powerful owners make for strong stations and good competition, but KOAT is a ratings powerhouse. The station won the 6 a.m. news battle, in both households and viewers 25-54, in September, and won the 5 and 6 p.m. derbies too, with KOB the runner-up. At 10 p.m., KRQE had the top household score, at 3.7, ahead of KOB’s 3.1 and KOAT’s 2.9, while KASA and KLUZ both had a 0.4. KOAT had the top demo score at 10, its 1.2 just ahead of KRQE at 1.1. KOB scored a 0.8, KLUZ a 0.3 and KASA a 0.1.
ABQ Media strategist Susan Bradley points out that the article being quoted errs when it says the ABQ DMA covers the entire state. She says: "It does not include the following counties: Dona Ana, Curry, Lea, Union, Quay, or Roosevelt. Our fellow New Mexicans in these counties are included in a variety of Texas DMAs (El Paso, Lubbock, Amarillo) and tend to get their local news from Texas TV stations."
KRQE's rating at 10 p.m. translates into 3.7 percent of all homes with a TV set are watching. There are 678,000 TV homes in the ABQ market so about 25,000 homes with TV were watching the station's 10 p.m. news. The "demo score" measures views in the coveted 25 to 54 year old age group.
AN EXCLAMATION POINT
He was the most powerful opponent of the constitutional amendment to tap the state's over $21 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund for early childhood education, but in the end his now former constituents disagreed with ex-state Sen. John Arthur Smith. In Luna County, the main one in Smith's district, the amendment passed by a hefty 65 percent. Statewide the amendment won 70 percent approval. Conservative Democrat Smith was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and for years used his position to thwart the amendment from getting to the voters. The Luna County win put an exclamation point on the night for amendment backers who now await final approval for the measure from the US Congress which is expected in early 2023.
THE BOTTOM LINES
We botched the details on our Tuesday blog of how Hector Balderas became state auditor in 2006. He was not appointed to the position. What happened is that the Dem candidate for auditor was consumed by scandal and Balderas was chosen by the Democrats to replace him--with a big push from Gov. Big Bill. He went on to win the general election in November of that year.
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| Domingo Martinez |
We covered those events extensively right here on the blog that year but our memory did not serve us. Here's our report from August 30, 2006:
New Mexico Democrats let out a sigh of relief that rivaled the force of Hurricane Katrina Tuesday as embattled Dem state auditor candidate Jeff Armijo bowed to the will of Big Bill and ended his candidacy. The mid-afternoon announcement immediately set off a contest to replace him, with ambitious politicos grabbing their phones to lobby members of the Democratic Party Central Committee which will name the new auditor candidate September 9th.
That new Auditor candidate would be Hector Balderas.
The State Auditor prior to Hector taking the job was Domingo Martinez who "was not consumed in scandal" as our mistaken blog left the impression. And we heard from him about it:
Your comment that Hector Balderas’ predecessor resigned due to scandals is not correct.
I, Domingo P. Martinez, never resigned but did stand up to corruption and bad accounting practices by government entities.
Domingo served two terms from 1999-2006 and was (and is) a well-respected public official.
And on that note we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2022
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2022