{"id":1863,"date":"2007-06-20T07:58:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-20T13:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/abq-recall-effort-has-gubernatorial-race-undertones\/"},"modified":"2007-06-20T07:58:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-20T13:58:00","slug":"abq-recall-effort-has-gubernatorial-race-undertones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/abq-recall-effort-has-gubernatorial-race-undertones\/","title":{"rendered":"ABQ recall effort has gubernatorial race undertones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Whitney Cheshire<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Take two Albuquerque City Council<\/a> races, stir in a measure finance committee, add a dash of \u201crecall,\u201d and voila! Marty\u2019s Party specialty\u2026 ABQ Takeover Soup!<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Good Wednesday morning to you here in the Land<\/st1:placetype> of Enchantment<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>!<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We\u2019re still laughing at the New Mexico GOP\u2019s<\/a> most recent Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> baseball card, released yesterday. Click here<\/a> to check it out. For those of you who want us to write about some \u201cstatewide\u201d stuff, it\u2019s proof that we can multi-task over here at the WMQB.<\/p>\n

But we really don\u2019t need to do that, because Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> politics, this year, have statewide ramifications, given Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s<\/a> intention to run for governor in 2010.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We really want to talk about the ongoing recall campaign now underway against Albuquerque City Councilor Don Harris<\/a>, a Republican mid-way through his first term.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Why the recall? What did he do that was so bad, and in such a short time?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Leaders of the ousting effort say he didn\u2019t keep his campaign promises and he isn\u2019t the fiscal conservative they wanted, that he cast votes they didn\u2019t like. To a certain extent, they have legitimate gripes. Harris isn\u2019t exactly the poster child for perfect conservatism.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But he did vote against Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s streetcar tax hike last year \u2013 the one Ch\u00e1vez wanted to slip past the voters without a referendum, the one that took every vote possible to kill.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Given the fact that Ch\u00e1vez helped the newly-elected Harris retire some campaign debt last year, the \u201cno\u201d vote must have been a stab in the heart for the mayor, to say the least.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

So Harris has found himself in the no-man\u2019s land of \u201cmoderation.\u201d He\u2019s no Democrat, to be sure, he\u2019s made himself a target for Marty\u2019s Party, and he\u2019s not getting much love from the GOP.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But a recall?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Our question of the day: Is this born of a conservative desire for lower taxes, as they claim? Or is it a strategic campaign move for the mayor and 2010 gubernatorial candidate?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

After all, Ch\u00e1vez needs a veto-proof majority on the council to push through things like panda bears, scuba tanks, ornamental parks, streetcar tax hikes and budgets that are light on public safety and heavy on the silly stuff. He doesn\u2019t have it right now.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If the recall were successful, who would replace Harris? A special appointment by Ch\u00e1vez, another team member for Marty\u2019s Party.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And one only has to look to the \u201cevery-close-call-goes-to-Marty\u2019s-team\u201d umpire of city elections, Clerk Millie Santillanes<\/a>, to know how perfectly Marty\u2019s appointments usually perform for him.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

So for all those well-meaning conservatives who are happily signing the Harris recall petitions floating around Four Hills, keep in mind that if he\u2019s removed, you can plan on riding that little trolley car around downtown by 2015 or so, and you can visit the ornamental park while you\u2019re there.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Of course, you\u2019ll be paying higher taxes for it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But it was lower taxes that you wanted when you supported the recall, no?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Anyway, we may be wrong on the year of the trolley. Maybe Transportation Director and Ch\u00e1vez appointee Greg Payne could set us right on the finish date. We assume Payne is interested in the subject, since he coincidentally showed up to a Bernalillo County Republican volunteer meeting Friday, for the first time in a long time, to hear the head of the Harris ouster effort speak.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Interesting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Where is Bernalillo County GOP Chair Fernando C De Baca<\/a> in all of this?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We think that\u2019s a good question. He never took a public position when a \u201cmeasure finance committee\u201d falsely attacked GOP Councilor Brad Winter<\/a> a few weeks ago. He offered no assistance. And now, we\u2019ve heard all kinds of things over here at the WMQB about C De Baca\u2019s position on the recall. We\u2019ve heard he\u2019s supportive of it, and we\u2019ve heard that he\u2019s opposed to it. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what staying silent is getting him \u2013 lots of speculation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But he, more than anybody, will feel the heat of leadership as the recall effort moves forward. What\u2019s a GOP chairman to do in such a situation?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

On the one hand, defending a Republican elected official against claims that he isn\u2019t conservative enough is an icky, sticky place to be, kind of like a contested primary.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But \u2013 if he sees this recall campaign for what we think it is \u2013 the effort of a Democratic mayor to solidify his \u201cyes\u201d votes by restructuring the city council, to override the voters who elected Harris, to surgically remove the quickly-growing lame-duck tumor (even Jim Villanucci<\/a> spent hours bashing him on the radio this week) that\u2019s taking over his office because of his refusal to deal with anybody outside his own party, all with an eye on victory in the hot Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2010 and an even hotter general election contest against a Republican opponent \u2013 a victory plan that will more-than-likely include higher taxes and a trolley car \u2013 then Harris\u2019s voting record on other issues should be secondary, and C De Baca should take a public position of support for his Republican councilor.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He should do that at least until Harris is legitimately up for re-election in 2009, when any and all takers \u2013 those from the Marty Party and those from the Republican Party \u2013 can have a discussion about Harris\u2019s voting record, especially since the streetcar tax is expected to re-emerge next year.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

OK, we\u2019ll see you back here next week. Same time, same place.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Cheshire<\/st1:city>, AKA the Wednesday Morning Quarterback, is a media relations and campaign consultant in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Her column runs every Wednesday. You can learn more about her by clicking here<\/a>. Contact her at wednesdaymorningqb@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Whitney Cheshire Take two Albuquerque City Council races, stir in a measure finance committee, add a dash of \u201crecall,\u201d and voila! Marty\u2019s Party specialty\u2026 ABQ Takeover Soup! Good Wednesday morning to you here in the Land of Enchantment! We\u2019re still laughing at the New Mexico GOP\u2019s most recent Richardson baseball card, released yesterday. Click […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cheshire-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}