Factoids: Marty, Mary, Pete, Dems

Mayor Marty and Mary Herrera: When you're thinking about who to vote for in the Democratic primary for Secretary of State, think about this fact: Republican-lite Mayor Marty Chavez hosts a downtown luncheon fundraiser for Mary Herrera. Yes, the Mary who battled the adoption of a paper ballot voting system during the last Legislative Session. She even dutifully recited Republican talking points at committee hearings. Now she has the backing of Albuquerque's most Republican-leaning Dem -- the man who scrounged more big donations from real estate, financial and development interests that any Republican in his last mayoral race. Follow the money (and the anti-paper ballot attitude) on this one.

Mayor Marty and Pete Domenici: I also recommend contemplating that Mayor Marty recently revealed that he's backing Republican Senator Pete Domenici when he runs for another term in 2008. Quite a Dem, ain't he? Personally I think the Democratic Party should "encourage" Marty to officially become a Republican instead of allowing him to continue his masquerade as a Dem. I can't imagine any real Democrat endorsing a Republican candidate like Domenici, who has fought tooth and nail to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, among Pete's many other dastardly deeds in direct conflict with the core beliefs of Democrats. Then again, Mary probably gets "campaign contributions" from many of the same big spenders as Domenici. Birds of afeather flock together.

Democratic Party Poopers: Then again, I don't think our weak, underfunded, nonresponsive, dismissive and inactive State Party leaders are capable of doing much these days outside of ignoring emails and phone calls from Dem Party members. And sending out pleas for donations while refusing to provide any degree of transparancy in how they operate, what kind of outreach or other activities they are pursuing or how the money gets spent.

You may recall that the Party's State Central Committee overwhelmingly passed motions at its March meeting to require a regular audit of the Party's books, as well as the appointment of members to a new budget oversight committee and a renewed affirmative action/reachout committee. There have also been many unanswered suggestions for creating a strong platform to replace the jumbled mess that was passed by using parliamentary procedure to stop proposed changes.

Not one peep about any progress on these initiatives has been heard since they were passed this Spring. I hear that messages left for Party Chair John Wertheim from members about matters like the affirmative action - outreach commiteee have been ignored. I can't imagine what would cause a Party leader to refuse to answer calls from members wanting to initiate actions to help build the Party, can you?