{"id":197,"date":"2006-04-10T23:59:00","date_gmt":"2006-04-11T05:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/04\/macias-denied-return-to-politics-madrid-under-fire-again-and-pearce-web-site-leaves-readers-hanging\/"},"modified":"2006-04-10T23:59:00","modified_gmt":"2006-04-11T05:59:00","slug":"macias-denied-return-to-politics-madrid-under-fire-again-and-pearce-web-site-leaves-readers-hanging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/04\/macias-denied-return-to-politics-madrid-under-fire-again-and-pearce-web-site-leaves-readers-hanging\/","title":{"rendered":"Macias denied return to politics, Madrid under fire again, and Pearce Web site leaves readers hanging"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> Remember Fernando Macias? The Mesilla resident was an influential state senator from 1985-2000 and Do\u00f1a Ana County manager from 1997 to 2000.<\/p>\n

Then he left to take the prestigious job in Ciudad Juarez as general manager of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission, and vanished from public sight in New Mexico for a few years.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been trying to get back into politics lately, but so far it isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n

Democrat Macias pondered a county commission run, a source tells me, but his consideration came at the last minute and Karen Perez had already mapped out a solid plan to run for the office.<\/p>\n

When the two Republican Mesilla trustees unexpectedly quit a month ago, Macias was one of 19 who put their names in the hat to join the board of trustees.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, Mayor Michael Cadena shunned Macias, appointing Les Williamson. He saved the other appointment until last night, when he appointed John Nelson – a selection that was immediately ratified by the board of trustees.<\/p>\n

Why wouldn\u2019t Cadena want someone with Macias\u2019 experience on the board? One source suggested the mayor wouldn\u2019t want anyone more powerful than he is joining the local political game. Another suggested that Macias planned to use the office as a stepping stone and wouldn\u2019t stick around.<\/p>\n

Trustee Nora Barraza expressed her own thoughts at last night\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read each of the letters (of interest in the trustee position) that were submitted. None of them, except for (that of Nelson), addressed the issues Mesilla is facing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Macias still has a governor appointment to the board of the Region VII Housing Authority based in Las Cruces, which is normally a quiet position that attracts no attention. But that quasi state agency is currently mired in scandal over allegations of wrongdoing and mismanagement by the board and former state legislator Vincent \u201cSmiley\u201d Gallegos, who runs the Region III Housing Authority in Albuquerque and the organization that helps all housing authorities in the state build affordable homes.<\/p>\n

The office of Attorney General Patricia Madrid is investigating the allegations against Gallegos. Gallegos is suing Frances Williams, the Region VII board member who is tossing allegations his way. You can read the article I did on the topic by clicking here<\/a>, and a more recent article from the Albuquerque Journal by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Macias is a smart and well-connected man, and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll see him in another elected seat in the future.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Republicans have been bashing Attorney General Patricia Madrid at every turn lately for not investigating the scandal of the day. I blogged yesterday that her office\u2019s investigation of suspended Insurance Superintendent Eric Serna was one situation about which the Republicans wouldn\u2019t have to complain. At the request of the Public Regulation Commission, Democrat Madrid is investigating Serna\u2019s decision to award a lucrative state contract to a bank that has since given lots of money to a non-profit started by Serna.<\/p>\n

I was wrong. Madrid, who is running in one of the most hotly contested congressional races in the nation against Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., won\u2019t likely escape criticism of any decision she makes before the November election.<\/p>\n

Madrid\u2019s fault this time, according to the Republicans, is that she worked with Serna to create Con Alma, the non-profit healthcare foundation in question.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadrid\u2019s previous involvement and interest in the Con Alma Health Foundation constitutes a clear and flagrant conflict of interest,\u201d Republican State Chairman Allen Weh said in a news release.<\/p>\n

He went on to call for the PRC to appoint an independent investigator and said the public will have no confidence in a probe led by Madrid.<\/p>\n

OK, OK. I\u2019m reminded of the old saying, \u201cBe careful what you wish for\u2026\u201d Why do I get the sense this isn\u2019t about the Serna investigation at all, but is about the congressional race? I\u2019m certain we have not heard the end of this.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll leave you today with a final note on the re-election campaign of Congressman Steve Pearce, R-N.M. His campaign Web site<\/a> has a section that is supposed to list his accomplishments, and a blog.<\/p>\n

There is nothing in either section. The accomplishments section contains subsections on tax relief, the war and \u201cmentoring,\u201d but nothing on any of those pages. It\u2019s been that way for weeks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all a bunch of blank Web pages.<\/p>\n

More tomorrow. Have a great day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember Fernando Macias? The Mesilla resident was an influential state senator from 1985-2000 and Do\u00f1a Ana County manager from 1997 to 2000. Then he left to take the prestigious job in Ciudad Juarez as general manager of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission, and vanished from public sight in New Mexico for a few years. He\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197","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=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}