A plain and obvious fact is that the US Border Patrol did not endanger—and never has endangered—any children’s lives on our southern border. On the contrary, the children’s own parents have done so. And with the encouragement—indeed the egging on—of the Democratic Party, irresponsible or uncaring parents are continuing to put their own children at risk. And the Left loves it.

If the Democrats and their mouthpieces in the media were honest they would call the recent events what they actually are: child abuse—by the parents. And they would insist on jailing the guilty parents for actions that would, in fact, result in child abuse charges IF the parents were AMERICANS and the acts were committed IN THIS COUNTRY.

But because both the media and the Democrats support open borders, the deaths of innocent children are used as props—phony stories to buttress their arguments that “policies” or “Trump” or “the immorality of Americans” were the cause of children’s deaths. They weren’t. The kids’ parents acted irresponsibly. If they remain in the US (and they shouldn’t) they should be charged, tried, convicted, jailed, and then repatriated after their parole.

THE LEFT IS VERY CONSISTENT IN THIS

Hundreds of lives and 14,000 homes were destroyed in California because of political machinations and “activism” that prevent forest thinning and other responsible environmental measures from being taken. Never mind the property losses in the billions, the Left doesn’t even care about the human lives that were lost. What matters to them is posturing, making ideological points—whether for the Spotted Owl or for some other supposed cause du jour which they claim, falsely, to be an “environmental” concern.

The same approach was taken with WIPP, the Waste Isolation Pilot Project. The Left, led by such politicians as Richardson, Udall, and other Democrats worked to block the opening of WIPP for more than 20 years. It didn’t matter to any of them that nuclear waste was currently exposed and represented a danger to life and long-term health where it was—or that it would be thousands of times safer to have that waste stored at the WIPP site. No, lives didn’t matter. The Left only cared about making the ideological point that they opposed nuclear energy. Being able to chant “no nukes” thousands of times easily trumped human life.

Bottom Line: The Left, the Open-Border Democrats, and the American media don’t give a hoot in hell about the two children who died recently at the hands of their illegal immigrant parents. What they care about is any event—however tragic—that they can convert to a political talking point, no matter how illogical or counter-factual it may be.

email us (at nmpj@dfn.com) with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas.

On Friday, Governor-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham named Ken Ortiz to be the new Secretary of the New Mexico General Services Department. It is an excellent appointment.

Ortiz, as a career state employee, is likely to be quite different from the routine Grisham appointees, who will most likely be highly partisanly-motivated activistas and progressive "movement" operatives. Ortiz's case, at least as best we have been able to determine, is quite different. He brings solid credentials as a thoroughly competent manager and supervisor.

Though a lifelong Democrat, Ortiz has never, to our knowledge, let partisan politics get in the way of his approach to his duties. On the contrary, he has a reputation for both providing leadership as well as skillful management of state employees—not the easiest task around, and one that most government managers don't really succeed in.

VAST EXPERIENCE

Additionally, Ortiz oversaw the transformation of the system from a stubby pencil to a fully-automated on-line process. The Journal included this quote from Duran:

“Our online filings in November grew to almost 1,100 compared with only 240 a year ago, an increase of 350 percent,” Secretary Dianna Duran said in a statement.

Again, it was Ortiz, together with consultants and specialists hired by Duran, who oversaw this remarkable transformation. 

Loyal and Principled

During his tenure at the Secretary of State's office, Ortiz was heavily recruited by the Public Regulation Commission to become its Chief of Staff. He interviewed and was offered the position. Ultimately, however, he turned it down, even though the position offered a $27,000 per year raise. The Office of the Secretary of State had, in 2013 at his request, made him a classified employee, thus giving him total job security. Whether it was out of loyalty based on the goodwill from the Secretary of State or concern in taking an at-will position, Ortiz elected to stay on at the SOS.

Appointment to a cabinet position makes him once again a Gov-Ex employee. However, with his proven record it is hard to see that as an issue. He will of course also receive a considerable raise in salary.

Ortiz is Popular, Possibly Because he is Not Overtly Political

Ken Ortiz has proved popular with both Republicans and Democrats largely because he is principally focused on administration and competent management rather than political activism. At least this is our best assessment. (Who knows what people do behind the scenes?) 

As a 6' 5" center, Ortiz was a first-team all-state basketball star for the McCurdy Mission Bobcats in the late 80s, and scored 46 points in one game against Santa Fe Prep, along with 40 more in the same week against St. Catherine. He spends a lot of his time coaching his two boys, both of whom are outstanding basketball players themselves. 

We believe Ken Ortiz is an outstanding appointee. We hope selections based on his model will be the norm for Michelle Lujan Grisham, but on that point some may not be that optimistic. 

mail us (at nmpj@dfn.com) with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas.

Can't Get the Story Straight

It may be a brilliant hire: Grisham creates McCamley's first job in many years. Now he can use himself as an excellent example of "workforce solutions." That is to say, he wanted to be part of the workforce, and Grisham made that happen for him. Now he can turn around and make other unemployed New Mexicans part of the workforce as well. (It may not be that easy, statistically, since the state is at its lowest unemployment rate in many years, but that is another story.)

McCamley May have Altered his Reports

We are not sure, but last spring it appeared that all of McCamley's financial disclosures showed no sources of income, now they do appear to do so. Whether they have been "updated" or not, we cannot say. We also note that another story showed that he claimed to have inherited quite a bit of money. But if he is a trust fund baby or has inherited a fortune, well, THAT would be his "source of income."

Not claiming anything is the same as saying you're a pauper, or you support yourself by standing at intersections with cardboard signs—but wait, you'd have to report THAT as your means of support.

ONE POSSIBLE EXPLANATION

The Campaign Finance Report filed last April did not actually say that the bulk of his loans—$40,000—came from his own funds. Instead, it appears to indicate it is from, perhaps, an "alter ego." He lists the source as one "William McCambley," with a "b."

Is that who supports him? A wealthier individual with a slightly different name, but who lives at the same address. Maybe. But the same Campaign Report contains yet another potential alter-ego: page 1 of the report says McCamley's campaign committee was actually known as "Bill McClamley for State Auditor.”  (Yeah, as in "clam.") 

Frankly, we’re just confused.   Did Bill McCamley’s alter-ego William McCambley loan money to the committee to elect Bill McClamley?

BOTTOM LINE: McCamley is Believed by Grisham to be the Best for this Position

In any case, none of this matters now. Michelle Lujan Grisham has looked the state over, reflected on the situation, and has decided that McCamley is the very best person she can find to lead the state to greater job opportunities, greater employment, and a dynamic, ever-expanding workforce.

Email us (at nmpj@dfn.com) with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas.

First, it was a False, yet Breathless, Headline from the Albuquerque Journal

“Herrell’s inspection of absentee ballots completed,” blared the Journal on Wednesday, going on to report that “Republican congressional candidate Yvette Herrell’s legal team completed its inspection of absentee ballot materials in Doña Ana County.”

This is untrue, or at the very best completely misleading. “Inspection” in this context is nothing more than Herrell’s team finally having “access” to tens of thousands of pages of election materials—not just ballots, but the absentee ballot applications (both on paper, as well as the specious electronic ones that we’ve discussed here before) and the absentee ballot envelopes. The completion of the copying (or scanning as the case may be) in no way implies—as the stories do—that Herrell has been able to review those thousands of documents and concluded that everything "looks good," or reach any other conclusion either.

We suspect that having undergone the onerous process—unprecedented in New Mexico history—set out by the courts, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General and the county clerk herself, and having spent a week and a half gathering documents, the Herrell team will take a couple of weeks to review them and draw conclusions. 

The stories have correctly noted that Herrell has until January 6th to contest the election and we would expect to see a report on Herrell’s findings sometime between now and then—and in reality, closer to now than to then, but it may still be quite a while yet. The fact is they are definitely in a time crunch—a time crunch illegally created by Judge Arrieta from Las Cruces.    

UNLAWFUL RULINGS CAUSE PROBLEMS

Voters need to understand that there were a couple of unlawful rulings coming out of the Doña Ana County-based court, both of them egged on by the Secretary of State and the Attorney General.

First, they unlawfully delayed the process by 17 days by insisting that the judge go ahead and explicitly ignore the plainly written state law that required him to impound the election returns on 16 November. As a result, the Herrell team was not even allowed to view anything at all until Monday, December 3. But reporters, ignorant of post-election procedures and the law, have hounded Herrell for asking for nothing more than what the law requires, and what she is plainly entitled to see. 

As a result, they have encouraged both themselves and Democrat activists to unnecessarily and inaccurately label Herrell as a "sore loser," and to call her names. Again, all of this for no reason at all. The reporters just don't know what they're talking about—and it also reveals a markedly different attitude from that exhibited in the North Carolina case, where the apparent winner is a Republican and the apparent loser is a Democrat.) 

(People wonder where all the rancor and vituperative, uncivil political discourse comes from. The answer many times is from inaccurate and sensational "reporting.")

Second, at the urging of the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, the court ordered that the impoundment process be as slow and as time-consuming as possible.  Apparently, the Herrell team didn’t even get to view all of the documents they asked for, since the order provided that the county clerk had to redact information from documents that contained things like full birth dates, even though none of the documents requested required any confidential information at all.

All of this put the Herrell team at the mercy of the county clerk for a significant portion of the documentation.

There's Been No Actual Inspection (Review & Analysis) so Far—the Documents had to be Assembled First

But all the above is only part of the misleading reporting: It has to be understood that all of the scanning and copying had to be completed just in order to provide all the documents needed for an actual inspection to take place. The court-ordered difficulties in obtaining the documents took some seven business days over a nine-day period to complete.

Only at that point could the painstaking process of reviewing some 20,000 pieces of paper and scanned images begin. We don’t know exactly what their approach is, but having taken the time to apparently copy the entire record, we suspect they’ll be looking at the accounting of the ballots, ballot requests, electronic ballot requests, returned ballots, entries on the Absent Voter Register, and many other details.

It is almost a certainty that not one of the reporters, who believe they are “covering” this story, has ever looked at an absentee ballot return envelope, or a ballot application, or any of the other documents involved. Yet, they mislead the public into believing that a process that takes many days to complete should already be over.

HOUNDING HERRELL

The Albuquerque Journal has certainly wanted to let its readers know that they are pestering Herrell at every turn for instant answers about thousands of documents she has just barely received.

"Herrell’s legal team did not respond to repeated requests for an interview and did not offer any comment about the inspection process or any results after reviewing the ballot materials.”

Of course they did not respond. They could not respond.

If the Albuquerque Journal faced a situation in which they just now received 20,000 documents, each of which has to be examined for up to as many as seven or eight component parts and cross-checked in the same manner with several other documents, they would not be ready to “offer any comment” either. Because they would not have “any results,” precisely because the “reviewing” would just be getting under way.

So the kind of reporting done by these New Mexico newspapers is dangerous for the public. It leads to social media and other kinds of attacks on Herrell because the public believes the newspapers must know something, and they must be telling the truth. In some cases this is true, we grant that. But in many subject matter areas it simply is not the case. 

In any case, the public has now been led to believe that Herrell received everything she needed in a timely manner and has had time to look at it all, and therefore she’s now just stalling. But of course this is 180° out from the actual truth.

Newspapers and “journalists” wonder why there is so much anger and “attacking” and “incivility” in social media and political discourse? The answer is that many times it’s because the media mislead average voters into believing nonsense.

It is also interesting that no one questions the actions taken in North Carolina. Is that because the winner there is a Republican? And the apparent winner here is a Democrat? We don’t know. But we note it.

ONE THING WE DO KNOW: THE DOÑA ANA COUNTY CLERK’S OFFICE SAYS IT ISSUED 577 BALLOTS AFTER THE POLLS CLOSED

One thing that any of the misleading newspapers could report on if they weren’t just satisfied to hound, would be something they could find from a review of the public document that anyone can look at: The Absent Voter Register.

When we examined that spreadsheet, it shows that 577 ballots are reported as having been received AFTER 7:00 PM on election night. In fact, the Clerk reports—as shown on her very own register—they came in on Wednesday, November 7. That’s in direct conflict with New Mexico election law.

Equally Ignorant or Equally Misleading Lawyers?

“To our knowledge, they’ve scanned everything and made copies of everything they requested to see,” said Kate Girard, a legal representative for Torres Small. “To date, they haven’t pointed to anything specific,” she said.”

We have to give the benefit of the doubt to Girard: she may not know any better. But if she does, then she deliberately misled the Journal—part of the bad sort of public discourse political activists engage in.

Carlsbad Current-Argus and Las Cruces Sun-News Chime In

The Carlsbad-Current Argus tweeted “No anomalies reported following Doña County absentee ballot inspection..”

They have no idea whether there are any or not. No one does. No one has had a chance to reach such a conclusion.

(Though we have to say there already have been quite a few “anomalies” reported already—by New Mexico Political Journal—many of them in Eddy County. But then the paper would have to have a measure of intellectual curiosity to read about those, understand them, and then pursue the story journalistically. But that takes effort.)

It’s easier just to quote people who also have a stake in not doing anything beyond sitting around and making pronouncements:

“Alex Curtas, spokesman for the New Mexico Secretary of State's Office, told the Sun-News on Wednesday that no issues or additional questions had been raised at that office either.

“The Sun-News, like other news organizations, has reached out to parties to the inspection, but have received no response.”

Bottom Line: Everyone Needs to Chill

There may or may not be a story with regard to the 2nd Congressional District. We don’t know. But one thing we do know is that, given what anyone can see so far—the time required to get the documents, the court-ordered delay, the court-ordered slow-down of the process—Yvette Herrell is just now in possession of the required documents.

It is going to take her quite a bit of time to go through them.

Continuing harassment, by members of the press who know nothing at all about the process, is not going to do anything other than mislead the public. We hope that is not their actual objective. But we have to recognize that it may be.

Email us (at nmpj@dfn.com) with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas.

Prominent Republican Holm O. Bursum, III passed away on Tuesday, December 4, at his home in Socorro. He was a third-generation New Mexican whose grandfather, Holm Olaf Bursum, was an Iowa-born Norwegian-American who had come to New Mexico Territory from the Hawkeye State as a 14-year-old in 1881. His story is in the next paragraph. (The Holm O. Bursum III story is below.)

HOLM OLAF BURSUM, 1867-1953 (Pictured at right)

Holm Olaf Bursum, a 14-year-old with his family from Iowa, settled near Socorro in 1881 and engaged in ranching and other business interests. The pioneer Bursum was elected Socorro County Sheriff, a member of the Territorial Senate, Mayor of Socorro, and Chairman of the Territorial Republican Central Committee. He was also a prominent member of the New Mexico Constitutional Convention of 1910.

Bursum was a four-time delegate to the Republican National Convention, and at the 1908 convention he was largely responsible for the Republican platform plank advocating statehood for New Mexico. He was appointed, then subsequently elected, to the United States Senate, succeeding fellow Republican Albert B. Fall.

Senator Bursum died in 1953, when his grandson, Holm O. Bursum III (shown below) was 19 years old. 

Holm O. Bursum, III, 1934-2018

Holm III was born in Roswell, NM on August 24, 1934, to Holm Jr. and Elizabeth Puckett Bursum. Holm was raised on a ranch 30 miles East of Socorro in an area known as Jornada del Muerto Basin. His father went into banking in the late 1940s, as a co-founder of First State Bank, and Holm III succeeded him as bank president.

Holm graduated from Socorro High School and attended New Mexico State University where he studied agriculture and received a Bachelor of Science degree in animal husbandry. While at NMSU, Holm received a commission in the college's ROTC program which led him to the United States Air Force. He served three years in the Air Force with the Strategic Air Command. 

During his time in the Air Force, on a trip home between transfers, Holm was introduced to his future wife Earle by a cousin. Earle agreed to meet Holm and have a "coffee ONLY" date with him. Fortunately for both, their coffee date turned into 56 years of marriage, four wonderful children, ten beautiful grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Sadly, Earle passed away in November of 2014. In 1959, Holm went to work for Albuquerque National Bank and remained with them until April 1, 1966, when he chose to return to Socorro and go to work for his father at First State Bank. Holm became President and CEO of FSB in December 1987 and remained so until his death.  His son, Holm Bursum IV (Cuatro), proudly served alongside his father as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.  

First State Bank

First State Bank was founded and opened for business on July 1, 1947.  Shortly after that, in the early 1950's, the bank began offering scholarships to Socorro and Catron County students wishing to attend the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

Holm has supported New Mexico Tech through the years, promoting an ongoing and cohesive working relationship between NM Tech and the Socorro Community.  One of Holm's many accomplishments that he is most proud of is being confirmed twice by the New Mexico State Senate as a member of the New Mexico State Highway Commission.

He served over eight years on that prestigious board, from 1995 to 2003, becoming its longest-serving chairman in New Mexico State history. During this 8-year period, the New Mexico State Highway Department constructed a record 653 miles of new four-lane highway mileage, more than in the previous 83-year history of the State Highway Department.  

That achievement, when combined with the upgrades to four lanes of approximately 500 miles of two-lane highway, meant that New Mexico had added a total of over 1,100 miles of four-lane highway by the end of his term as Chairman.  

Looking back on his tenure as Chairman of the Commission, Holm noted:

“When we started the four-lane highway project, every community in New Mexico with a population of 25,000 or more was connected to a four-lane highway. When we finished the 653 miles, every community (with the exception of Silver City) with a population of 8,000 or more was connected to a four-lane highway.  This was true economic development.” 

Holm was preceded in death by his parents; wife Earle Bursum; brother Michael F. Bursum and his beloved dog, Oscar.  

Survivors

Holm is survived by children, Holm O. Bursum IV, Elizabeth Spencer and her husband Ben, Julia J. Bursum, and Michael Bursum and his wife Lori Keleher Bursum. He also is survived by ten grandchildren, Holm O. Bursum V, Bruno Aguilar, Andrea Smith and her husband Harrison, Caroline J. Bernitsky and her husband Alex, Anne E. Spencer, Ben F. Spencer Jr., Matthew S. McNaney, Jack B. McNaney, Katherine Bursum, and Samantha Bursum.

Additionally, he has a great-granddaughter, Maya G. Smith. He also leaves behind his dog, Par.

Funeral Services

Funeral Services will be held on Tuesday, December 11, 2018, at 10:00 AM, at The Garcia Opera House, 110 Abeyta Street, Socorro, NM with Pastor Ted Mattie officiating.  

A private interment will be held at the Socorro Cemetery.  

Pallbearers will be Holm O. "Cuatro" Bursum IV, Michael Bursum, Ben F. Spencer Sr., Ben F. Spencer Jr., Matthew S. McNaney and Joe Estrada.

Honorary Pallbearers are Fred Robinson, Jerry Armijo, Don Tripp and John Howard.  In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given in Holm's honor to the First Presbyterian Church of Socorro or to the Socorro County Fair Board.  Donation accounts have been opened at First State Bank, PO Box Z, Socorro, NM 87801.

To view information or leave a condolence, please visit www.danielsfuneral.com. 

Email us (at nmpj@dfn.com) with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST CLINTON

THE KEY MOMENT for TRUMP, MUELLER, CLINTON, and AMERICA

For Mueller, and for the legitimacy of the US Government itself, the key point came when Hillary Clinton and her staff attorneys—all of whom were and are officers of the court—decided openly and without any thought or consideration of conscience, to violate the law by not only the use of unsecured communications systems, but by also deciding to try to cover up what they had done by destroying over 30,000 emails.

In addition to using a program called BleachBit, they also used hammers to destroy all of their cell phones.

According to FBI documents, 13 devices that they had requested be turned over for investigation were destroyed by the use of a hammer.

In all of these acts, Hillary Clinton and her team violated a fundamental precept of law by destroying evidence under subpoena. Destruction of evidence in this manner is a felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

What did the FBI do? Nothing. They “say” they carried out an “investigation,” but admitted that they did not record any questioning, that they allowed all subjects to refuse to answer, and that in any case none of the questioning was conducted with anyone under oath. The “cost” of such an exercise was probably about $150—if it cost anything. It is, in effect, a joke, and a very bad one.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST TRUMP

IT IS TRUE THAT MUELLER’S INVESTIGATION COMES AFTER THE NON-INVESTIGATION OF CLINTON. BUT HE IS SCARRED AND RESTRICTED NONETHELESS: IT IS A FAILURE TO ADHERE TO PRINCIPLES OF LEGITIMACY

The Mueller appointment as special investigator was for the purpose of looking into allegations that Trump supposedly colluded with “the Russians” to win the 2016 presidential election. Significantly, these claims came from Clinton appointees while they were leaving office in January 2017. Almost all of the accusers have been shown to be among the biggest liars in US government history and among the most biased Trump-haters in the entire country.

Over the course of more than 18 months, the Mueller investigation has spent some $25 million and has changed its focus numerous times. It is fair to say that the entire effort no longer has anything to do with the original charges. Now it has shifted into trying to discover any and all kinds of financial transactions, people lying to the FBI or misleading investigators.  

There could not be a sharper contrast in the conduct of the United States government’s own investigators actions than in comparing the actions of investigators who looked at Clinton and the investigators who are looking at Trump.

There is no comparison at all.

Clinton, whose actions were clearly illegal—and which would have resulted in prosecution and conviction had they been carried out by any other citizen—was not investigated at all.

Trump, on the other hand, has had allegations made against him with no evidence whatsoever. The investigation quickly hit a dead end, and has been changed numerous times to adjust to the ever-changing circumstances involved.

WHAT IS LEGITIMACY? WHY IS IT VITAL TO ANY FUNCTIONING GOVERNMENT?

The essential undergirding foundation of the American Experiment is what political scientists call “legitimacy.” It is a concept thoroughly discussed by John Locke, whose writing was the greatest single influence on our Founders.

Locke analyzed and described legitimacy from many angles in his Second Treatise of Government. But at the heart of the concept is how a people come to an understanding of the acceptance of authority—whether that authority is manifested in a particular law or in an entire system of government.

Government cannot have a right—or any kind of justification at all—to exercise power unless it is seen as something worthy of having the consent of the governed—the acceptance of the people themselves. And that worthiness comes from demonstrable proof that a system of government is justly constituted, its principles are applied over and over again in consistent form, and that a general societal understanding exists that such a government is equitable, just, and fair in all of its functions.

Locke notes that political legitimacy is considered a basic condition for governing, without which a government will suffer deadlock and collapse. The American Experiment has seen its own revisiting and revising in the ongoing efforts to retain and sustain legitimacy.

THE 14th AMENDMENT, TRUMP, CLINTON, and MUELLER

One of the most important milestones in the continuing effort to maintain and sustain legitimacy in government was the Republican Party's passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868. Though opposed at the time by Democrats—who actually continued to oppose it for the next full century—it stands today as a guidepost that announces what we are about as a people.

The 14th Amendment consists of four sections and over 400 words, but Section 1 holds the key section for this discussion, and the key phrases are here—especially the last one which we have capitalized:

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; NOR DENY TO ANY PERSON WITHIN ITS JURISDICTION THE EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAWS."

There absolutely NOTHING in the Clinton and Trump investigations which even remotely attempts to achieve the goal of a uniform and non-discriminatory approach to law enforcement. Trump, as compared to Clinton, has in no way enjoyed “equal protection of the laws.”

All the power of the United States government has been employed to seek out every possible charge that can possibly be conjured up against not only Trump, but to seek out everyone who has ever known Trump and try to get them to admit to any charge possible.

With Clinton—who had committed crimes already known to the government—the US government simply decided they would not do anything.

The contrast in actions violates the entire spirit of the 14th Amendment, and because of that, it simultaneously causes the US government to become illegitimate.

This is why Democratic Party governments in the post-Reconstruction South became illegitimate.

This is exactly the kind of approach that Southern juries used to take with regard to acts of violence or murder committed by the Ku Klux Klan or other Democrat Party operatives, while vigorously prosecuting blacks for “vagrancy” or Republicans for “disturbing the peace,” simply because they were trying to register African-Americans to vote.

Email us (at nmpj@dfn.com) with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas.

New Mexico Republicans meeting in Albuquerque Saturday afternoon, December 8, gave their state chairmanship to congressman Steve Pearce, following his 100,000-vote loss in the gubernatorial election.

That loss carried with it a catastrophic loss of 15 statewide and congressional district races as well as the loss of nine state house seats.

Pottery Barn’s slogan is “You break, you buy.” And by a margin of 276 to 101, the GOP State Central Committee essentially delivered that same message to Pearce. 

So Pearce inherits a job with the party in shambles. Only time will tell if he can put the massive breakage back together again.

Email us (at nmpj@dfn.com) with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas.

We knew absolutely that Joe Monahan would not be able to resist. Exactly as we predicted, anti-Republican blogger Joe Monahan issued a glowing endorsement of Steve Pearce for Republican Party chair this morning.

How did we predict this? How did we know beyond any doubt that this would happen? As we pointed out on several occasions, Monahan wants his SOURCES — the Republicans who are willing to steal emails, publish them (so he can publish them), attack any Republican who is having success (Susana Martinez), and help him in his never-ending quest to continually divide the Republican Party. 

Pearce and his team are not only supportive of Monahan's efforts, Pearce actually HIRES people who steal emails from Republicans. He HIRES people who campaign against Republicans.

NOTE: We are not saying that Pearce is not a conservative. He is. And we objectively admit he may be just as good a choice as anyone to lead the New Mexico Republican Party (he has worked to destroy).

We are simply saying that he adheres to no standards whatsoever when it comes to hiring people who will do his bidding and help him pursue his goals. And Monahan benefits greatly from leaks and gossip from Republicans. It shores up his Democrat base of readers. 

(Though it merits pointing out, regarding Pearce, that he has never won an election outside CD2, a district that is actually one point better than the state of Texas in GOP performance. The two times he has been a statewide Republican nominee, Pearce has not only lost in landslides, he has taken every single other statewide and congressional Republican candidate with him—all 15 statewide contests, all 6 congressional races and a total of 15 losses in legislative seats. That's a total of 36 races lost in the two times he headed the GOP ticket. Pretty sobering stuff.)

What are the Facts that Monahan has Distorted on Behalf of the Pearce-Yates-Billingsley Cabal?

Underlined below are claims made by Monahan in his blog, followed by our corrections of his claims:

References to "The Martinez Machine" in state GOP politics.

“The Martinez machine” hasn’t been involved in state GOP politics since 2013, when Pearce best friend and disciple John Billingsley was elected chair—with the stated mission of running Martinez out of the party. Martinez supporters did oppose Billingsley at that time, and lost.

People wearing Cat-in-the-Hat outfits or walking around with goofy vests festooned with 300 souvenir pins, or moaning about gasoline being 3¢ cheaper in the next town over, all voted for Billingsley in droves. (He and his associates do great among the bitch and moan crowd—that's right in their wheelhouse.) 

Billingsley of course promptly ran the party into the ground. He was the first of what might be called "The Fifteen-hundred Dollar Chairmen," a tradition Ryan Cangiolosi has fought hard to preserve. ($1,503 on hand on November 1. Amazing. But we digress.)

"The machine candidate is ABQ businessman John Rockwell"

This is just plain dumb. Martinez has 25 days left in office. She has no "machine," she has no candidate and is doing nothing, nor his her political team. Her political team does far more work in other states than they do in New Mexico and actually could not care less about who leads the state GOP. (With the Yates-Cangiolosi-Billingsley-Pearce "triumphalism" and "run Martinez out" attitude, the Martinez team was left with no role to play in the state party.) 

It also appears that Rockwell, who is a nice man, is also doing nothing. He seems hardly to be aware of a campaign in general, much less running one himself. It's beyond absurd to claim that Martinez has a candidate. 

"The Martinez faction had former NM GOP House Speaker Don Tripp issue an endorsement of Rockwell over Pearce."

This is sheer chutzpah on the part of Monahan (and presumably his Pearce-Yates-Billingsley associated allies): No one has ever "had" Don Tripp do anything. The wealthy, independent Socorro businessman has always operated on his own.

It has to be remembered that Tripp endorsed Yvette Herrell in the CD2 Republican Primary, while Martinez supported Monty Newman. To claim Martinez told Tripp to do anything is just plain ignorant—or an attempt to deceive uninformed Central Committee members.

It's highly unlikely that pushing this story to Monahan will endear the Pearce crowd to Tripp, but he is also very composed, even aloof in many ways, so we doubt he will react at all. 

NOTE: We just checked with Tripp via text. Here is what he wrote: "John asked me to [endorse him]. Only John."

In addition to his fabrication, Monahan then goes on to try to launch another anti-Tripp narrative that tries to blame Tripp for the Republican situation:

"But Tripp served only one term as speaker during which he did little to advance the GOP's chances of holding on to the majority in the chamber. They promptly lost to the Dems after only one term under Tripp."

That's just stupid. And it certainly appears such a suggestive narrative could only come from a very devious source, very likely one of Monahan's numerous sources in the Pearce camp.

"Pearce has secured the endorsement of incoming state House Minority Leader James Townsend of Artesia and State Rep. Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo"

Why name only those two? We published the names of the numerous politicians who have endorsed Pearce. 

"It will be interesting to see how many votes will go against Pearce."

Not that many, we suspect.

"Another argument against him is that he has not sworn off any 2020 run for the southern congressional seat he gave up to run for Guv."

We are not sure who is making that argument. We have published the fact that Pearce could certainly easily win that seat back from Xochitl Torres Small. But this particular issue may be an important consideration for any thinking Republican activist—is Pearce truly concerned about rebuilding the state GOP, or left without a position as he now is, is he simply seeking a position from which he can concentrate on putting himself back in Congress?

"But Pearce brings to the table money--lots of it--and he has enough of his own so he won't be forced to kneel before the altar of Martinez acolytes like former GOP National Committeeman Pat Rogers who was ousted by much of the same central committee that will pick the new chair."

Again, a dumb comment on many fronts (but if you're wearing a Cat-in-the-hat outfit, you're probably impressed). "Having" money, and "spending" and "raising" it are two entirely different things—or maybe three entirely different things. No one doubts that Pearce is vastly more wealthy than Michelle Lujan Grisham (unless investigations of Delta Consulting reveal even more skimming than has been published already, but we digress). But she certainly raised and spent more. (And she didn't pay her fundraiser $306,000 even as they vastly outraised Pearce's.)

Which, incidentally, highlights more absurdity from Monahan:

Remember all the Monahan posts about how much money the Martinez team was “raking in” from her campaigns and PACs? This line—very suspiciously coincidentally—was precisely the argument John Billingsley and Harvey Yates used starting in 2013 and then repeatedly trotted out in their campaigns for state party positions

So why is it that Monahan has not virtually lost his mind about Andrea Goff being paid an absurd $306,000 to be Pearce's finance director? After all, that's a figure way outside the industry standard for a gubernatorial campaign. Why hasn’t Monahan asserted that Pearce’s media consultant was “paid” $2.6 million from Pearce’s campaign?

Here's why:

Monahan ignores the $306,000 issue because Goff has been a good source for him—leaks and gossip are all good for Monahan.

Monahan ignores the $2.6 million issue because he well knows that the vast majority of the $2.6 million Pearce “paid” his media consultant actually went to pay for airtime at TV stations and that commission for media consultants—in New Mexico and elsewhere—are identical. He knew those same facts were true with Martinez and McCleskey as well. But making the sensational claim that Jay McCleskey “made” millions helped his principal goal: inflaming poorly informed Republicans (who know little of the technical ins and outs of media expenses) and therefore providing fodder for division within the GOP.

"The Machine appears to have flipped one R who has become prominent in recent months--Michelle Garcia Holmes."

Really? Where does he get that? As we have pointed out, there is no machine. So we are sure no one with Martinez "flipped" her. Has Michelle Garcia Holmes even had one word with the “Martinez machine”?  We highly doubt it.

NOTE: We reached out to Garcia Holmes, as we did with Tripp, but received no reply.

In any case, why put down yet another female Hispanic Republican, as Monahan always does (and some in the Pearce-Yates crowd do)? What's with that? She is perfectly capable of making independent decisions. Why attack? 

Answer: It serves the Pearce cause and the cause of all those who leak information to Monahan.

So the putdowns must be inserted, as these are:

"She was an unsuccessful independent ABQ mayoral candidate in 2017 ...She has now turned on Pearce...and announced her support of Rockwell. But she is a newcomer to the party and has little influence with the central committee."

How does he know she "turned on" Pearce? How close were they to start with? Does Monahan even have a clue? We doubt it.

"Ultimately it is that change that most insider Republicans hunger for and which Pearce represents."

Claiming Pearce is somehow "change" is downright laughable. Cangiolosi was his hand-picked candidate. For all intents and purposes, Pearce and his anti-Martinez crowd around him ran everything in the Party throughout the last cycle. The only change anyone will get is from the name "Cangiolosi" to the name "Pearce." No other changes will be made. 

Bottom Line

Monahan knows that every significant allegation in his endorsement today is a fabrication. But he also knows that Pearce and his people will help him with leaks and in his never-ending quest to divide the party. The Democrats love what Monahan does. That's why he does it. They also appear to love the idea of Steve Pearce as GOP State Chair.

The Democrat Party of New Mexico published yet another tweet today along the same lines as Monahan, but bragging that they are "preparing to govern." Republicans may be wise to consider how convenient it is that the Democrats and their mouthpiece (Monahan) are both encouraging the election of Steve Pearce.  

And this should also serve as an important reminder for journalists—Monahan is always pushing an agenda. His posts are not just the latest leaks and gossip of the day. They’re his efforts to push one side or another of his agenda. And he’s willing to be breathtakingly dishonest about it.  

And again, we have never said that Rockwell or Pearce is the better choice. We actually don't believe either of them has a plan or a vision for how to maneuver the party through the difficult waters ahead — difficulties engendered by the Pearce-Yates-Billingsley cabal.

But just because Rockwell played no role in the catastrophe, while his opponents directed the entire thing, doesn't mean he has a plan for how to recover.

And we have always been willing to publish articles or opinions on either side. We do believe that everyone participating in the process needs to have as much relevant information, history, and background as can be provided.

Email us (at nmpj@dfn.com) with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas.

New Mexico Political Journal has now received complaints from members of the New Mexico Republican State Central Committee, citing "irregularities" as Saturday's State Central Committee meeting approaches.

[NOTE: We are not taking sides in this dispute or the election itself, we are merely reporting what has been sent to us.]

Here's what has Happened

Steve Pearce sent out a letter yesterday, Tuesday, December 4, at 1:14 PM, stating that in order to get to vote for State Republican Party Chair, either by being present or by voting by proxy, you had to register by 5:00 PM that very day. In other words, just 3 hours and 46 minutes after his letter went out.

A number of Central Committee members have cried foul, stating that there's no such provision in the by-laws. We checked with the Rockwell campaign and they knew nothing about this alleged deadline. 

Rockwell partisans are claiming that under such an artificial, suddenly-invented "rule," the Pearce forces may have arranged to have all their supporters register by the deadline they themselves are announcing, while leaving the Rockwell backers unawares and perhaps not registering until Wednesday, Thursday, or even Friday. 

We don't know what is or is not true about this, or whether it is in fact a trick, as some Rockwell supporters are claiming.

Editorially, we would question why such an extraordinary early deadline would be necessary. Logistically, with such a small number of voters—there are only about 400 members—there is no reason at all why central committee members (just like convention delegates at much larger state convention gatherings) could not register on the day of the meeting. This is not rocket science. 

However, it would appear that both sides have something of a point, possibly attributable to the incompetence of the Republican Party of New Mexico. In the party's official call for the State Central Committee meeting, emailed on November 19, the instructions contain two separate contradicting dates for the deadline for eligibility. Shown below, one passage says the deadline is Tuesday, December 4, while another inset schedule clearly says the deadline is December 6. 

HERE IS WHAT IT SAYS IN THE RPNM'S CALL for the CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETING

If payment for the State Central Committee Meeting is not paid prior to 5:00 pm on Tuesday, December 4th, 2018, for any State Central Committee members, State Central Committee proxies, self-nominees, and/or guests, you will be considered unregistered and therefore not eligible for participation in the State Central Committee Meeting.

All of this Looks Bad for the RPNM

Republicans are falsely accused of "suppressing the vote," just because they have always favored no-brainer, common sense laws like Voter ID. The Democrats of course want everyone to vote, including non-citizens and other ineligible voters (as their officials in Georgia and Florida recently admitted to). 

But there is no reason, other than sheer incompetence, for Republicans to try to keep their own state central committee members from voting. No legitimate reason that is. Unlike non-citizens and unregistered or other ineligibles that Democrats always want see vote, the SCC members meet all the criteria for voting. 

One central committee member told us:

"The NM GOP secretary said that registration closed yesterday at 5 p.m. because they can't be prepared with too many people coming. They claim that they communicated in every way, but people that I know did not receive any emails with them with the deadline, nor is it on their website."

Nor is anything on their website. Throughout the year, we received scores of complaints about there being "nothing" on the RPNM website. No candidate listings, no events, no updated information. A couple of readers told us "The only thing they have on their website is their employees' names."

So, we have no idea what will happen Saturday, but it looks as though the RPNM is vulnerable to charges of trying to play games with the process. There could be a showdown over credentials. Certainly the Rockwell forces appear to have a case. (But then again, the call for the convention was so incompetently prepared that the Pearce forces could make a case as well.)

Solution? Let all legitimate central committee members vote and let all those who send proxies have those count as well.

Steve Pearce's Letter Claiming that Central Committee Voters Had to be Registered Four Days Prior to the Vote. Also, Here are the Names of a Dozen Republicans Who have Endorsed Steve Pearce

From: Steve Pearce
Date: Tue, Dec 4, 2018 at 1:14 PM
Subject: Standing Together for New Mexico
To: 

Lea County Deep Pocket Republicans Very Unhappy with Pearce

We are hearing a lot of grumbling coming out of Lea County these days, and we heard it almost as strong in the months leading up to the general election. It seems a lot of former Pearce backers were more than a little upset at what they consider to be Pearce's virtual sponsorship (if not invention) of Yvette Herrell as his heir apparent.

His decision to do so came at the expense of popular Hobbs Republican Monty Newman—again, supposedly just because Newman had been a cooperative state chair who worked very effectively with Governor Martinez.

Pearce's hand-picked selection did defeat Newman, but the whole affair left a sour taste in Lea County—not to mention the fact that Herrell turned out to be a very weak candidate. 

Many angry Lea County Republicans believe that Monty Newman was far and away the stronger candidate and a solid conservative.

They believe Monty would have easily defeated the Democrat in the general election and believe that Pearce’s intervention—and specifically the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Pearce Finance Chair Mark Murphy spent against Monty in the primary—ultimately backfired in that it ended up costing the GOP the congressional seat.

After all, Trump carried CD 2 by 10 points—one point better than he did in the entire state of Texas. Does anyone believe the GOP cannot win Texas? The loss of CD2 is devastating, and many Republicans lay it at the feet of Pearce.

Payoff for Pearce Operatives?  

Pearce's run for GOP Chair surprised a lot of people, but many see it as a means of providing a payoff for Pearce operatives. Will Andrea Goff retain her unusually lucrative sinecure as the Pearce machine fundraiser. (See below for how much she cost the campaign, compared to the exact same position in the Martinez organization.) Also, what kind of roles will disastrous administrators like John Billingsley, Harvey Yates, Cangiolosi, and Murphy have? These are just some of the questions being raised.

It is true that the Pearce political machine has established that it can assemble on short notice the usual Pearce supporters, paid and volunteer, to push his personal ambitions to success, at least within the party structure. However, it is also true that Pearce ’s traditional flops in his three efforts at statewide office (he also ran for US Senate in 2000) are also attributable to these same paid and not-paid supporters and his traditional focus on the existing party insiders. 

Pearce’s "inside-baseball" appeal, in large part, has been based on his team’s attack on what may be the last Republican Governor for a generation or more. That kind of stuff has played well with the kinds of easily disgruntled and constantly griping central committee members who wear goofy Cat-in-the-Hat hats, or dress in vests festooned with 350 pins from places they've been or Kiwanis Club chapters they've visited. In some conventions, those kinds of "activists" have actually held a majority.

(We are not picking on the GOP. Democrats tell us their Central Committee has similar kinds of members.)

Pearce's tactics have also played well with some disappointed job seekers and favor merchants, but there are time limits for these kinds of games, and—as Pearce has proven time and again—they are not springboards to actual success where it counts: in general elections against the Democrat Party. 

A Major Difference in Fundraising Between the Pearce Camp and the Martinez Party Operation

It has been pointed out to us that Pearce's long-time fundraiser Andrea Goff made $306,000 off the Pearce campaign this year. That's an awful lot of TV and other media. In sharp contrast, Governor Martinez's fundraiser earned $7,000 per month—but raised more than twice as much money!

It certainly appears that Goff found the proverbial "bird's nest on the ground" when she signed on with Pearce.

Another Interesting Fact to Consider: Pearce has run for Statewide Office Twice 

We are also hearing from soon-to-be former legislators who are thinking about trying to win their seats back. What has disturbed many legislators and those hoping Republicans can make a comeback next cycle is Pearce’s track record when leading the party. 

Pearce has run statewide twice, in 2008 and 2018. In both elections, Republicans got destroyed in key swing counties and in swing legislative districts. Here's what worries them: 

• In 2008, Pearce set the all-time record for votes against a statewide Republican candidate, as his Democrat opponent Tom Udall racked up just over a half million votes (505,128) winning 61.3% to 38.7%.
• With Pearce at the top of the state ticket, Republicans lost three House seats and three Senate seats, for a total of six legislative seats. 
• In Pearce's second run for statewide office, with his team in full control of every aspect of the state party, Republicans lost an astounding nine House seats.
• That's 15 legislative seats lost in just two cycles when Pearce has headed the ticket. Sobering.

Whether meant to be a joke or not, it's not surprising that the Democrat party of New Mexico sent out a tweet endorsing Pearce’s candidacy for state chair. 

What they probably mean they plan to do is to make Pearce the actual symbol of the Republican Party in New Mexico. As someone with such a high profile, Pearce will not be like other party chairs who did work behind the scenes and let various candidates be the face of the Republican Party.

Pearce can't do that: he will be the face of the Party. And unlike lower profile chairs, each time Pearce attempts to critique the Lujan Grisham Administration, the Democrats will simply say "sour grapes." That's the difference between being a chair with a low profile and one with a huge profile.

Former Speaker Don Tripp Endorses John Rockwell

Former Speaker of the House Don Tripp has now weighed in on the New Mexico GOP Chairman's race. Tripp sent out an endorsement letter (shown below) in favor of John Rockwell, rather conspicuously breaking with Steve Pearce, albeit in highly diplomatic language that emphasizes his friendship with all candidates. 

Tripp's opinion is significant, not just because he was the first Republican Speaker of the House in 60 years, but because he was positioned to observe the maneuvering by the "Anti-Martinez" Clique that drove the Governor's team out of its leadership role in Republican campaigns AND cost them the House, and cost Tripp the speakership. (Of course Pearce was and is a central player in that clique.)

Tripp is also married to Rosie Tripp, the Republican National Committeewoman for New Mexico who is probably the most popular Republican in the state among the GOP faithful. With Pearce ally, Harvey Yates, serving as Republican National Committeeman, both Tripps have been able to observe the Pearce-Yates shenanigans up close and personal for years.

They haven't said so of course—and  it's important to point out that Rosie Tripp has said nothing and has taken no position on the upcoming contest—but the couple have certainly seen the Pearce-Yates-Billingsley hands at the levers, and it would certainly appear that they surely have not been impressed, at least not favorably.

Pearce is Probably Very Strong—In the Narrow Universe of the GOP Central Committee

Whether Tripp's endorsement will make a bit of difference we are not sure. It would appear that Pearce — at least within the narrow confines and the limited universe of the 400 people on the state central committee—has as strong a machine as any Republican in the state. In that small group of people we would probably have to guess that he wins the upcoming contest.

In a nutshell, this is the difference: Pearce's letter promises to keep his “experienced”’ team together (without any suggestion the team is 3rd or 4th rate), while Rockwell suggests it’s time to roll out the welcome mat to new and particularly young voters. The problem for Rockwell is that the State Central Committee is not made of “new and particularly young voters.” Advantage Pearce. 

And again, the task before the new chairman is so massive we are not sure anyone can meet the challenge, or that anyone even has an actual plan to do so. 

The Tripp Letter

Email us (at nmpj@dfn.com) with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas.