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Think we’ve got five Democrats on the state Supreme Court? Think again.
Turns out Chief Justice Charles Daniels changed his voter registration a couple of years ago to “Declined to State.”
“It’s ancient history,” Daniels said when asked about it Thursday.
Daniels, appointed to the court in 2007, said he switched his registration after he ran as a Democrat in 2008 in the partisan election that justices are required to run in once after they’re appointed, and before his retention election in 2010.
“I just tried to detach myself from any political activity… because of the nature of this job,” he said. “We’re supposed to be nonpolitical in our decisions, and we should be. I just thought as a personal matter, I wanted to complete the process.”
Daniels wasn’t on the bench for the recent state House redistricting case; he recused himself and was replaced by Court of Appeals Judge Jonathan Sutin, a Republican.
- Deborah Baker, Journal Capitol Bureau, dbaker@abqjournal.com
Two-pointer: Republican Gov. Susana Martinez is mixing politics and sports.
The governor traveled to Nevada for conference tournament basketball games in Las Vegas involving New Mexico teams.
Martinez political adviser Jay McCleskey said the governor also will attend private fundraising meetings for the Republican Governors Association.
The governor’s political action committee, Susana-PAC, is paying Martinez’s travel expenses.
Martinez watched New Mexico State University play Fresno State in the Western Athletic Conference tournament on Thursday and later was to attend the University of New Mexico’s game against Air Force in the Mountain West Conference tournament.
A spokesman for the governor said Martinez is expected to return to New Mexico Saturday or Sunday.
- The Associated Press
election front: Two Democrats have announced they’ll challenge Sen. Phil Griego of San Jose in the Senate District 39 primary. Griego, first elected in 1996, confirms he’s running again.
Jack Sullivan was a Santa Fe County Commissioner from 2001 through 2008, serving twice as its chairman. A small-business owner, he’s the former president of the New Mexico Society of Professional Engineers.
Nicole Castellano is the daughter of Joe Cruz Castellano Jr., a former state district judge and district attorney in Santa Fe. She has 20 years of business experience and owns the Capitol Grounds Cafe.
Other announcements:
♦ Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, is planning to run for a third term from District 12. Ortiz y Pino, a social worker, has been in the Senate since 2005. He is a member of the Senate Finance Committee.
♦ The GOP’s Gerges Scott is a candidate for Senate District 18 in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights, where Sen. Mark Boitano is leaving. Scott is vice president for the energy unit at public affairs firm DW Turner and heads the company’s media relations unit. He worked as an executive producer and assistant news director at KRQE-TV and was the Corrections Department’s spokesman under Gov. Gary Johnson.
- Deborah Baker, Journal Capitol Bureau, dbaker@abqjournal.comtent>
politics notebook
— This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal
