GOP Convention Moves Governor’s Speaking Slot

Gov. Susana Martinez has had her speaking slot for next week’s Republican National Convention shifted.

Instead of speaking Tuesday immediately before the convention keynoter, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Martinez will now speak in Wednesday’s prime time, just before presumptive vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan.

Remarks from the nation’s first Hispanic female elected as a state governor were shifted to accommodate a speech from Ann Romney, the wife of presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, according to the Romney campaign.

Missed Martinez: Unlike when President Barack Obama visited New Mexico, there was no picture taken of Gov. Susana Martinez warmly greeting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in New Mexico this week.

That’s because Martinez wasn’t there for Romney’s rally in Hobbs on Thursday.

Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said the governor, who had been touted as a possible vice presidential pick for Romney, previously committed to attending a luncheon in Albuquerque with some of the state’s top privately owned businesses, the New Mexico Private 100, and didn’t want to back out.

“If the schedule would have accommodated it, she would have been there, but she felt it was important to speak to the gathering of the top 100 revenue-producing companies (privately owned) of New Mexico,” Darnell said.

Stimulus Fight: Mitt Romney’s campaign held its Hobbs rally at a company that benefited from at least $450,000 in federal stimulus money despite Romney’s vocal opposition to the stimulus as ineffective and wasteful.

According to the federal government’s stimulus website, Watson Truck and Supply received $400,700 in stimulus money through the city of Hobbs for selling one of its buildings to the city to develop as a transit center. The company also received $50,500 from the stimulus’ “cash for clunkers” program designed to boost car sales during the recession, according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration.

Asked about Romney’s decision to hold the rally at a company that benefited from the stimulus funds the candidate has attacked, Romney’s New Mexico spokesman turned the attention back to stimulus crafted by President Barack Obama.

“President Obama’s stimulus was a complete failure at turning this economy around, that’s why you don’t ever hear him mention it on the campaign trail,” New Mexico Romney spokesman Clay Sutton said. “His campaign’s new strategy of attacking small business owners who are trying to succeed in a tough economy won’t work either.”

Watson Truck and Supply President Finn Smith said his company never sought the federal funds it eventually received.
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal