We finished a good school year, a special session. It’s a great moment to say we’ve got incredible leadership across our state, in this department. I’ve got a confidence and a humble place of excitement for our state and where we’re headed. – NM Public Education Department Secretary Hanna Skandera, who announced she will be retiring June 20th.
The Crib Sheet is a collection of stories, events, and ideas that are shaping the conversation in New Mexico and D.C. politics.
[New Mexico]
- Secretary Skandera is the latest cabinet secretary to “have left the Martinez administration in the last year, a trend that is not uncommon for second-term governors.” Her announcement comes days after PED announced reduced testing time for New Mexico students.
- A New Mexico District Attorney “is accused of reckless driving and misusing her government car, along with violating state ethics law.”
- According to New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver most of “the candidates and political committees involved in the last election cycle complied with the state’s campaign finance reporting laws.” The SOS did however refer to Attorney General Hector Balderas “a case involving a group registered as a nonprofit that spent $47,500 in the 2016 election cycle.”
- Fortune Magazine released their yearly list of the top 500 largest public and private businesses in the US and none of them are headquartered in New Mexico, continuing a trend that has lasted “for at least three consecutive decades”.
- New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Judith Nakamura was sworn in as Chief Justice on Wednesday.
- The borrowing maneuver enacted to balance the state’s budget continues to receive criticism.
- With an improving financial outlook for the state, Governor Susana Martinez announced she “is ending the state hiring freeze she put in place during late March, when New Mexico’s cash reserves were dwindling and the two-term Republican threatened furloughs to save money.”
- UNM Athletic Director Paul Krebs is stepping down amid an investigation by AG Hector Balderas.
[D.C.]
- As a member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Martin Heinrich “was one of the senators who questioned former FBI Director James Comey Thursday.” The Senator was also given some national exposure when he was interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered about the Comey hearing. The day before the senator also got some publicity for urging the Senate to support moving F-16 squadrons to Holloman AFB. Is this media push related in any way to his run for reelection next year?
- President Trump finally broke his twitter silence this morning claiming “total and complete vindication” as well as calling Comey a “leaker.”
[Tech & Strategy]
- A Silicon Valley startup I previously mentioned here called “Tech For Campaigns” gets covered in this Forbes article.
- Campaign & Elections writes about a new incubator to help “poli-tech startups” find funding as long as they “operate exclusively on the left.”
[Culture]
- Tom Ford’s ranch in New Mexico is currently on the market for $75 million.
- This past Monday marked the 50th anniversary of the infamous Chicano courthouse raid by Mexican-American activists.
- A McDonald’s in New Mexico (near Colorado) made national news for a billboard that made a joke referencing marijuana.
