It sort of blows my mind that in 2007, the Speaker of the House of the New Mexico State Legislature has enough power to get candidate after candidate to step aside in an effort to clear a path for his son to run for Congress.
But Solano — who is serving his second term as sheriff and prohibited from seeking a third term — said he’s concerned that a small group of Democratic Party officials could effectively choose the next Northern New Mexico congressman before any votes are cast.
And that candidate, he said, likely would be State Public Regulation Commissioner Ben Ray Luján, mainly because of the influence of his father, state House Speaker Ben Luján.
Now, I guess I could understand if Ben Ray Luján was an impressive candidate in his own right with a long list of accomplishments, but that sure doesn’t seem to be the case:
Please get your facts straight: Ben Ray was appointed to be the chief financial administrator for the state cultural affairs department without a college degree and after previously being employed as a casino dealer. Then the full weight of the governor and the legislature went to promoting him and discouraging other qualified candidates for the PRC. I’m sure he is a fine young man, but the point is that government should not work that way.
From casino dealer to Congressional front runner… only in New Mexico.