Gov. Bill Richardson’s staffers have repeatedly insisted that, even though he’s been out of the state most of the time since the Legislature quit working a couple of months ago, he’s still running the government.
That’s why two news releases sent out by the office of Lt. Gov. Diane Denish late Thursday caught my attention.
Acting Gov. Denish appointed Greg Fuller of Jal to the Lea County Board of Commissioners and Fred G. Mobley of
Through Monday,
He was in
Today he plans to take some official action by announcing the appointment of a new higher education secretary at a news conference in
So, I wondered, why didn’t he make the other appointments himself, since he’s here this week? If he’s really as involved as he claims – bombarding his staff and Denish with phone calls, e-mails and notes, as staffers told the Albuquerque Journal – I would think he was the one who really made the decisions to appoint the two men.
So why leave the official acts to Denish?
“The lieutenant governor chairs the Base Planning Commission and was born and raised in
“The governor has stated that he is confident the state is in good hands with the lieutenant governor when he is out of state, and he appreciates their ability to work together as a team,” Henningsen said.
It’s notable that letting Denish put people in influential positions probably helps build support for her 2010 gubernatorial run.