Republicans finally have something to celebrate but it may be an empty win.

On Monday the four GOP ABQ city councilors joined with Democratic Councilor Klarissa Peña to award her the presidency of the nine member council for the year ahead. That gives rise to hopes that the previous coalition that kept the Republican lawmakers closer to the action would persist in Democratic Mayor Tim Keller's third term. But it won't.

Former Dem Councilor Louis Sanchez routinely voted with the four R's to form a council majority. but that's not going to happen under Peña, as described by a City Hall insider:

Klarissa will continue to vote 90 percent of the time with the four progressive Democrats. Her taking the presidency is a council dynamic but don't expect it to bleed over into conservative voting as it did with Councilor Sanchez.

A consultant to Peña adds: 

There is weird chatter online that she is sided with the MAGA Republicans--that is not true. 

While the GOP had a coalition with Councilor Sanchez to win votes 5 to 4, Keller retained the veto which takes six votes to override. That prevented the conservatives from ultimately making much hay.

Councilor Peña

Peña got crosswise with progressive Dems when she narrowly defeated Teresa Garcia at the December city runoff to hold on to her southwest mesa centered District 3 for a fourth term. Peña has a reputation as a pragmatic Democrat. Progressives were mainly irked with what they felt were her too accommodating views toward development in the district. 

Downtown area Councilor Joaquin Baca opposed her for the presidency but she outran him by gathering the R's to her side.

Council progressives may have given Peña some symbolic payback by not voting for her but the consequences are internal not external. 

One other note. The Peña-Keller relationship remains solid.

DIVISION TO COME? 

There is a policy area that could actually unite the entire council this year. That would be funding for the city's Gateway network to combat homelessness and drug addiction, including the flagship Gateway Center on Gibson Blvd., the under construction Youth Gateway, Gateway West and the Family Gateway.  

That's a lot of activity financed with tens of millions from the city, state and feds. Councilors will now be looking to the administration to demonstrate that these expenditures are working. Back to Downtown: 

In the spring budget talks Councilors are going to want to see that the Gateway on Gibson is fully opened and that we are getting results. What happens to people after they come through the doors? Do they get a job, a place to live, kick an addiction? The administration needs to make a good case for funding what we have and expanding these projects going forward. Everyone is hopeful that we are on the right track but we need proof. 

Despite ongoing cynicism over the latest crime statistics Councilors seem pleased that crime is finally coming down. For example, the decline in murder and auto theft rates can't be doctored. Now there will be additional emphasis on the ubiquitous and complicated homeless problem.

OUR FAUX PAS

We endured the punishment of ten lashes with the wet noodle Tuesday when we came with a piece on the southern congressional race and Rep. Vasquez that was based on Kamala Harris carrying the district over Trump in 2024.The problem? Trump won the district by two points. In this case we failed to heed the warnings to double check any stats AI dispenses.

Jeff Singer of Downballot was one of a number of sharp readers who immediately caught the mistake and cleared things up:

Hi Joe, I'm an avid reader of your daily pieces, and wanted to flag that Donald Trump was the one who carried NM-02 in 2024. Per our calculations at The Downballot, Trump won it 49.9 to 48.1, a margin of just under 5,000 votes. Joe Biden would have carried the 2nd 52-46 if the current lines were in use in 2020. Gabe Vasquez won reelection 52-48 in 2024, which is both a notable overperformance compared to Kamala Harris and makes him one of just 13 House Democrats to win while Trump was carrying their seats.  

Thanks, Jeff. Our erroneous report was taken down early so many readers did not see it, but suffice it to say the evidence of the faux pas is sported on my wet noodle scarred backside. 

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