More Personnel Upheaval Has Guv Feeling Heat; Critics Call For The Head Of Cultural Affairs; Also Decry Pick For Indian Affairs And More; Second Term Shift In Tone Right On Schedule, Plus: Honoring An Icon

If she isn't careful one of the defining legacies of Gov. Lujan Grisham will be the personnel pitfalls that continue to plague her administration. They are now garnering more notice not only because of their high frequency but because of the shift in tone that accompanies the second term of a Governor as the peak of power passes. 

From high profile cabinet posts such as the Public Education Department where she is on her fourth cabinet secretary to the lesser known departments of Cultural Affairs and Game and Fish, the turmoil is now out in the open. 

Her naming of a new Secretary of Indian Affairs with a previous rape charge (but no conviction) brought the boo birds out, and disgruntled Cultural Affairs supporters are up in arms over the personnel upheaval there. This adds to the narrative that the administration is getting consumed by personalities and internal power plays. 

Take a look:

Gov. Lujan Grisham’s appointment of a former San Ildefonso Pueblo governor to lead the state’s Indian Affairs Department could be in peril as members of the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force and a Navajo state senator, say they will fight his nomination. The appointment of James R. Mountain to head an agency tasked with addressing violence against Native American women despite a rape charge against him 15 years ago, later dismissed, provoked outrage and sometimes tearful reactions from members during a task force meeting.

On Feb. 13, Eric Blinman was working on a dig site at the Palace of the Governors when he got a call to meet at the Stewart L. Udall Center for Museum Resources around 4 p.m. Upon arrival, he was told that he was being let go from his position as the director of the NM office of Archaeological Studies--a department he worked for since 1988. Blinman is the latest Department of Cultural Affairs director to be let go under the supervision of Cabinet Secretary Debra Garcia y Griego.

Deanna Archuleta, a lobbyist for ExxonMobil, has joined the New Mexico Game Commission, taking a seat that until now was reserved for environmentalists. Archuleta was quietly appointed last month by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The official announcement of her appointment is expected at a commission meeting March 4. The commission oversees the Department of Game and Fish. (Archuleta has since resigned.)

CULTURAL SHOCK

Garcia y Griego

At Cultural Affairs turnover has been extraordinary under the current secretary, including the directors of the NM Museum of Art, the NM History Museum and the other state museums. 

These are generational and national treasures that supporters point out must have leadership not subjected to personal or political whim, even though the directors do serve at the pleasure of the secretary.

The widespread turnover at the agency led a group of 120 prominent professionals and citizens to pen this letter to MLG asking her to withdraw the current secretary's name from consideration for confirmation by the Senate for a second term. 

Blinman

The Governor's office, asked of the firing of head archaeologist Eric Blinman and the complaints against the Secretary, said:

We are unable to comment on personnel matters. The governor remains fully supportive of and confident in the leadership of Secretary Garcia y Griego and looks forward to her continued work to carry out the mission of the department.

ROUNDHOUSE GRUMBLING

The high turnover in top government posts has caught the attention of legislators who commented in this January piece.

Handling thousands of government employees is a beast of a job for any Governor which is why her Fourth Floor staffing is critical to keeping a lid on things and off her desk. But what happens when a Governor is intent on personally managing human resources? That's the challenge ahead as the personnel pitfalls threaten to become a bottomless pit. 

PRO TEM PREEMPTED

Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart is learning the limits of her power. The former school teacher tried to help her brethren with a bill that would limit the number of state-funded charter schools, saying public schools are losing too many students to them. But the schools, with their specialized curriculums and other flexibilities, are highly popular with the public and that came through as SB 422 was shunned by the Senate Education Committee on a 7 to 1 vote. Stewart's wide loss is notable but she still has plenty of power, continuing to decide who sits on what Senate committees.

GOODBYE TO AN ICON

Funeral services Friday for a Las Cruces icon brought out La Politica old timers in Mesilla, the home of J. Paul Taylor who served in the Legislature from 1987 to 2005 and who died earlier this month at 102. 

Taylor, a Democrat, was often referred to as the "conscience" of the Legislature. His Catholic funeral was attended by Gov. Lujan Grisham as well as the political veterans in our photo.

From left to right: Lt. Gov. Howie Morales of Silver City, former state Rep and Majority Leader Michael Olguin of Socorro, ex-state Sen. Mary Helen Garcia of Las Cruces, former House Speaker Raymond Sanchez of ABQ, former Sen. President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces and state Sen. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces.

More on former Rep. Taylor who is surveyed by his seven children:

Taylor, who was born in Chamberino in southern Doña Ana County, has family roots in New Mexico going back to Francisco Vásquez de Coronado's expedition in 1540. He was a teacher by profession, spending 34 years teaching in Las Cruces schools. 

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