Fresh Face Brian Colon to Challenge Long-Time Insider Michael Olguin for Dem Party State Chair

Now that current Democratic State Party Chair John Wertheim is calling it quits after four years (phew), talk is all over the New Mexico Dem circuit about who will replace him. NM blogger Joe Monahan is first out of the gate with today's post, describing the pending battle between "new blood" Brian Colon, an Albuquerque attorney and Party activist, and "old blood" Michael Olguin, who owns a Socorro insurance agency and has chaired the Socorro County Dem Party the last four years. Olguin is a former State Representative and House Majority Leader long aligned with former Speaker of the House, Raymond Sanchez.

Olguin is currently a lobbyist for the payday loan industry and others, and has refused to state he will resign those roles if he's elected to chair the Party. He was previously a paid lobbyist for the for-profit corrections industry, a job that reportedly forced him to stop down as a DPNM Vice Chair a few years back over perceptions of a conflict of interest. In 1998, Olguin lost his House seat to Repub Don Tripp, and two years later Raymond Sanchez was ousted as well, bringing in a new era of leadership in the NM House.

Brian Colon is supportive of the newer and generally progressive faces on the statehouse scene, like State Reps Al Park and Moe Maestas, and helped Hector Balderas of Wagon Mound get elected as state auditor. He graduated from UNM Law School in 2001 and was previously active in the Young Democrats of NM, as well as serving on the Executive Committee of the NM Hispanic Bar Association. He is generally free of the kinds of political and ethical baggage that can accummulate on the record of long-time political power players like Olguin, a member of the NM House from 1984-98. Colon was sympathetic to Rep. Ken Martinez's challenge of Rep. Ben Lujan for Speaker of the House this year. Olguin, on the other hand, has long been an ally of Rep. Lujan.

If elected, Olguin is expected to hire Albuquerque South Valley Dem operative Sisto Abeyta to replace the current State Party executive director, Matt Farrauto. Abeyta cites NM Sen. James Taylor as a mentor. No word yet on who Colon would be interested in hiring.

Colon will no doubt get strong support from grassroots Party activists and others tired of business as usual. There has been an ongoing battle within the NM Dem Party between those who want a stronger, more active, transparent Party structure and Party officials and veterans who seem more interested in preserving the status quo than in strengthening the Party's clout and outreach and modernizing its operations. One faction clearly seems to prefer things as they are, with a weak Party structure and most of the power concentrated within the Party's elite and top elected officials. The other faction wants to work for a reinvigorated Party that's more responsive to it members and voters, and eager to try innovative methods to make the Party all it can be at the state and county levels.

I'll be writing much more on Party matters and this race in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, what do you think about the matchup between Brian Colon and Michael Olguin?

How You Can Get Involved
Dem ward and precinct elections will occur on March 22 in Albuquerque this year, and will help determine who gets to vote for this year's crop of State Central Committee members. Democratic Party of New Mexico State Central Committee members from all over the state will choose the new Dem Chair at its April 28th meeting in Las Cruces. If you'd like to get more information on running for a ward or precinct office in your area, contact the DPNM headquarters at 505-830-3650. We need enthusiastic Dems to fill these important posts and have a chance at participating in the election of the Party's new officers.