I’m not sure the Republican candidate for Governor, Dr. J.R. Damron, is getting the attention he needs to go ahead and really give Governor Bill Richardson a run for his money. Apparently though, the Governor is not willing to take any chances, and strangely Richardson’s first behind the scenes strike is not at the candidate, but at the candidate’s wife, Barbara Damron:
Barbara Damron, wife of Republican gubernatorial candidate Dr. J.R. Damron, says she was “pressured” to resign from the St. Vincent Regional Medical Center’s governing board by hospital officials who feared retribution from Gov. Bill Richardson.
Barbara Damron said in an interview this week that St. Vincent chief executive officer Alex Valdez told her “he had heard comments around the Roundhouse that my being on the hospital board was jeopardizing the hospital’s getting our requested funds.”
This action by the Governor is right up there with those bed taxes the Governor enacted a few years ago before political pressure forced him to rescind them. Oh, and what kind of woman is Mrs. Damron:
Damron, an oncology nurse and Ph.D. psychologist, was the first nurse to be appointed to the board and had previously resigned as Chairwoman of the board when her husband, J.R., began his campaign for governor.
In addition, Damron has received the Roche Distinguished Service Award – the Oncology Nursing Society’s highest honor, was named a “Woman on the Move” by the YWCA of the Middle Rio Grande at a 2004 awards banquet, and has been the recipient of numerous other awards.
Governor Richardson has stooped to a new low.