Hispanic Caucus Gets In On Buttigieg Visit As Vasquez Basks; Cruces Stop Comes Days Before Herrell Announcement, Plus: More On The Gallegos Twitter Flap, A Bad Idea For CYFD and No Brains, No Pay

Barragán, Buttigieg & Vasquez

It was an unexpected twist when the Congressional Hispanic Caucus--not one to miss a political opportunity--hopped on the traveling NM roadshow of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg Wednesday. 

CHC Chair and California Dem Rep. Nanette Barragán popped up at Buttigieg events in Deming and Las Cruces in the southern congressional district. That's where caucus member and freshman Dem Democrat Gabe Vasquez already has his hands full defending his seat against Republican Yvette Herrell who plans on entering the '24 race Monday.

The CHC chair did her best to put a nonpolitical spin on her visit with Buttigieg and Vasquez to a  welcoming NMSU campus in Las Cruces:

(The) NM stop is @NMSU for a townhall & conversation w/ students about the importance of Hispanic representation in STEM programs that play an essential role in transportation & infrastructure designs.

Oh, okay. But it's really Hispanic representation in the US House that the CHC is interested in, if we dare say so.

And if it seems the decision by US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to park in Vasquez's backyard in Cruces Monday and join Herrell for her announcement has Dem heads spinning, it's because it does.

Then-US Rep. Herrell and the GOP previously treated the most populous area in the 2nd CD like a stepchild and it showed in the '22 results where she was routed  by Vasquez. The Buttigieg visit--intended or not--was an effective preemptive strike on the Republican pair. The Dems will not be hometowned in their own town. 

ROLLING IT OUT 

The roll outs of various infrastructure programs by Buttigieg, courtesy of Biden's 2021 legislation, was smooth with "Secretary Pete" his usual glib self which he selflessly shared with the cameras. 

Of course, it's easy to enjoy the blue New Mexico skies when you're away from DC and where you suffer constant jibes over the handing of massive airline delays and freight trains run amok. 

Buttigieg's star power is still here in the hinterlands, though. On this stop it was replete with a critical-free media and the state's US Senators, Governor and Rep. Vasquez eager as schoolchildren to bask in his afterglow. All enjoyed the goodies Uncle Sam was bestowing--as they hoped their constituents would as well. 

That makes it even more important that Mr. Speaker and his favorite New Mexico gal pal show off some new stripes when they launch their opening volleys against Vasquez. If that means not mentioning the T word, so be it. 

GALLEGOS FLAP

A reader writes of the Twitter imbroglio involving APD PIO Gilbert Gallegos that we blogged of Wednesday: 

Joe, how can the culture at APD ever change with Chief Medina in charge, an overpaid PIO, Mayor Keller and Chief Administrative Officer Lawrence Rael who don't see a problem and with stupid comments from Gilbert? This is why credence is given to the defund the police movement. I do not want to defund the police; just defund the salaries of these fools. 

There has been no clear cut condemnation by city administration leaders of the out of line comments made by Gallegos on Twitter who is is paid $120,000 a year and is assigned a police vehicle. 

We erred in reporting that Gallegos, who applied for jobless benefits when his communications gig--a political appointment by Gov. Richardson--ended in 2011. His court appeal to get the benefits was not approved. Reader Chad Thompson did the legwork:

I was surprised to read Gilbert won his unemployment case. I remember a lot of news surrounding highly paid exempt government positions continuing to suck off the public teat after the employment they always knew was going to end had ended. I looked up the case online. You're correct that he did apply for unemployment after the Richardson administration, but he lost his case in district court and the court of appeals, and did not file a further appeal to the Supreme Court. News stories from the time show that human resources officer Sandra Perez, however, appealed to the NM Supreme Court and won. 

Other readers critical of APD and Gallegos commented on Twitter about Councilor Pat Davis' eloquent denunciation of the abuse of social media by Gallegos. They said it would have had more credibility if he had done the same in the cases of extreme overtime pay for APD that were never prosecuted by Attorney General Balderas.

SPEAKING OF. . . 

Speaking of attorneys general, the new one wants MLG to sign legislation that would establish a civil rights division in his office so he could get involved in the too many child abuse cases in the state and act as a check on the troubled Children, Youth and Families Department.

Bad idea. 

Just as it was a bad idea for MLG to effectively kill ombudsman legislation that would have provided truly independent oversight over CYFD and instead promised her own internal shake-up.

CYFD's troubles are not going to be resolved by the political class of which AG Raul Torrez, while an able attorney, is a full-fledged member (even though this nonprofit media profile blindly insists on giving him a love tap over the idea.)

He's not about to be independent of a Democratic Governor as he barely conceals his desire for even higher office. MLG should put her veto pen to use because out here they want the real deal when it comes to protecting the state's abused children--not more political posturing. 

NO BRAINS, NO PAY

Reader John Rey had a strong reaction when we reported that the two legislative sponsors of a bill to raise the tax on liquor by a quarter a drink mistakenly agreed to a bill that raised the tax only a penny and was eventually approved: 

Joe, Our rocket scientists at the Legislature wanted a tax increase for alcohol but they messed up. Still  they now want full-time salaries to be paid for their Brains, yet they can’t read what they write much less research the liquor terminology. No wonder they voted not to curb alcohol consumption during session. Let’s just give them a raise and continue our position as the DUI capital of the USA.

Well, mistakes do happen or stuff is just plain overlooked during the last days of a session. There were over a thousand bills introduced this year and we missed the details on this one--but we have them now:

The governor originally proposed covering 100% of health insurance premiums for teachers. State lawmakers lowered that amount to 80% for educators making less than $50,000 a year, 70% for educators making $50,000-$60,000 a year, and 60% for educators making more than $60,000. “A lot of our bigger districts, or ones that have stronger unions, stronger collective bargaining, already have that or higher,” Holland said. “The feedback we’re hearing is it doesn’t impact them as much as they thought it would back in January."

Thanks for stopping by this week. 

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