Courtesy photo
Michelle Lujan Grisham
COMMENTARY: The frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, appears nearly unstoppable, with 57 percent of those surveyed in last weekend’s Albuquerque Journal poll saying she’s their choice. That isn’t stopping her primary opponents, Joseph Cervantes and Jeff Apodaca, from trying.
Apodaca called for Lujan Grisham to drop out of the race on Thursday after a Politico article dug into her profiting from a firm that manages New Mexico’s high-risk insurance pool — a program critics say Obamacare was intended to replace but has continued in the Land of Enchantment. The article questions “whether her political clout played a role in keeping it going and thereby prevented customers from obtaining less expensive coverage” through the Affordable Care Act. Lujan Grisham’s response? “Absolutely not.”
Heath Haussamen
But Apodaca was quoted by the Albuquerque Journal as saying New Mexicans are “being robbed,” and Cervantes tweeted that the situation would help Republican Steve Pearce in the general election if Democrats nominate Lujan Grisham for governor.
I’ve written lots of articles over the years about New Mexico politicians — including our last two governors — whose actions sparked charges of corruption. Viki Harrison of Common Cause New Mexico had the right analysis in the Politico article. New Mexico’s system of policing government ethics is weak and relies heavily on those in power holding their peers accountable. That doesn’t work.
“When you police yourselves, there’s always going to be questions about transparency and cronyism,” Politico quoted Harrison as saying.
Lujan Grisham was already being hammered for, like Pearce, refusing to release her tax returns to The Santa Fe New Mexican, while Apodaca and Cervantes did release theirs (though Cervantes did it with some redactions). Lujan Grisham, some pointed out, called for Trump to release his tax returns in 2017, and she’s been accused of hypocrisy this week. Nearing the end of a rough week in the home stretch of the primary election, Lujan Grisham posted five years of tax returns online on Thursday, saying she was “committed to providing transparency for New Mexico voters.”
Transparency that’s a little late is better than none at all, right? If nothing else, the final days of this contest have been interesting.
Heath Haussamen is NMPolitics.net’s editor and publisher. Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary here.