Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM

Dude is seriously unhinged

Seriously. State Senator Shannon Robinson has gone 'round the bend. And why is Attorney General Gary King propping up this poster boy for the Manny Aragon era?

I heard Robinson’s 35 minute senate floor “speech” Friday. Here's the story in the Albuquerque Journal, “Senator’s Tirade Targets Nonprofits.”

The harangue contained some real doozies - like how he lost his primary election in June because of George Soros swooping in with over a million dollars to fund a “campaign of hate” targeted against him along with two other members of our little old New Mexico legislature.

Oh, and he went on to declare that George Soros is an “international economic terrorist”. And Soros is a god renouncer too! (Could he be … Satan?)

Or then there’s the one about the “conspiracy of silence” to hide the nefarious Soros plot – led by Senators Jerry Ortiz y Pino and Cisco McSorley. Yes, and he likened them both to “Pontius Pilate.” So that makes Shannon…OMG?!

Robinson is pinning his hopes for political resurrection on a lawsuit he filed last week to overturn the 67% to 33% defeat voters handed him in the June primary. Shannon even conned two other losers from the June primary, Senator James Taylor and Representative Dan Silva, to join him in the sour grapes suit.

Speaking of Taylor, here’s his doozy of a quote in the NM Independent:

"I hope we shed some light on these so-called not-for-profits and ultra left wing groups that are coming in and trying to change the face of New Mexico under the guise of good government… I would consider myself, Sen. Robinson, Rep. Silva as old fashioned New Mexico Democrats," Taylor said.

Yikes! He got that right if you equate “pay to play” and “sleaze factor” with “old fashioned New Mexico Democrats.”

About those Ducks

The cone of silence lifted at the the AG’s office last week when Gary King told Haussamen that he had a new legal opinion on the status of the non-profits – but he wouldn’t be releasing it until Friday. Then the release got postponed until Monday (tomorrow). King also claimed that he had no knowledge of the non-profits documented attempts to contact him.

But he did tell Haussamen that that NMYO “walked like a duck and quacked like a duck.” Deep.

Note that King’s new opinion is a do-over of an earlier opinion his office hastily released back at the end May, just days before the election in response to a complaint from, you guessed it, Senator Robinson. King’s chief deputy, Al Lama, actually signed the letter, ruling in favor of Robinson.

What’s odd about the whole matter is that this first letter in May was released immediately to the media. Despite the letter, Robinson still lost the election. But the real problem with that rush to judgment was that the stated reasons for dinging New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO) – a long defunct website and an unsubstantiated allegation of campaign phone calls into his district – didn’t hold up. Yet, what NMYO readily did admit to doing – production of non-campaign issue mailers well in advance of the election – wasn’t even mentioned.

So Gary’s staff has now had to go back and do it over again.

Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time that SENATOR Robinson received “professional courtesy” – an "old fashioned" New Mexico political tradition. Indeed, back in May, the Albuquerque Journal ran this story, “Veteran Lawmaker Fails to Disclose Violations” (5/13/08).

It seems that Robinson didn’t disclose a total of at least 38 misdemeanors or other violations since 1988 on his candidate questionnaire that had appeared in the May 6 Journal. The Journal later reported that Robinson, an attorney, had…

-Nine parking violations, all of them dismissed.

-Four failures to pay fines charges.

-Five failures to appear in court charges, including one for not appearing on behalf of a client.

-Two charges for not attending classes as part of sentencing for traffic violations.

-At least 27 of the charges were dismissed, court records showed.

Just ducky. I'll have an Old Fashioned garnished with sour grapes.

Comment by jeff on August 17, 2008 at 12:35pm: he actually released that photo?

how long before politicians start wearing uniforms emblazoned with 'sponsors' like racing drivers?

Comment by ABQSkippy on August 17, 2008 at 12:46pm: Great post!! A friend of mine who is a state legislator had told me about the rant before it hit the paper on Saturday. Wow, what a guy Shannon is.
I am a long-time constituent of Shannon Robinson's and have been VERY disappointed in him the last few years. He has always had a little bit of a icky factor, but he used to somewhat care about SD # 17. However, his focus on the UNM Rugby club and the NM film industry was just over the top. He totally forgot about serving his district and funneled lots of pork to those two pet projects. One could argue that the film "pork" has brought money to the state. It just seems to me that Shannon was more interested in hanging out with the movie folk.
The non-profit organizations that participated in the primary did a great job of informing people about Shannon and his particular votes. The flyers never mentioned his opponent, Tim Keller by name. They stopped the mailings well before the politicking started. Most of the mailers came out right after the legislative session ended.
The ABQ Journal also ran several articles on Shannon's antics. It seemed like there was a new story on Senator Robinson every couple of weeks. Voters got a clear picture of his ethical problems.
Tim Keller ran a terrific campaign. That's it, bottom line. He thumped the Senator good. I was a volunteer with the Keller campaign and I know first-hand how well organized it was. Shannon was caught flat-footed. I went by his home on election day and NOTHING was happening.
Look at the margin of victory. If it was only about the non-profits, you would think that the race would have been much closer.
And why would George Soros care about a Senate race in NM??

Comment by jeff on August 17, 2008 at 12:53pm: something was bugging me, but i've got it - chief inspector dreyfus.

Comment by ABQSkippy on August 17, 2008 at 1:17pm: I am excited about Tim, as well. This part of town has been long-neglected. Tim is a really grass roots and public servant kinda guy. Smart, too.

Comment by magoo on August 17, 2008 at 5:03pm: these fine, upstanding gentlemen are hard at work shaping the future of our great state......

Comment by ABQSkippy on August 17, 2008 at 9:10pm: Yeah, the good doctor is a doozy. I don't know how he keeps getting re-elected.

Comment by JMG on August 17, 2008 at 9:39pm: Speaking of unhinged Senators, get a load of Steve Komadina. I managed to catch his talk at a conference on "Alternative Medicine" a couple of years ago and wondered how this snake oil salesman could get away with passing himself off as a State Senator as well as a Medical Doctor. He peddles Herbalife, along with other miracle cures, while slamming liberals along the way. Yowee.
And a Mormon bishop in his spare time.

Comment by Steve on August 17, 2008 at 9:47pm: JMG above just like the power of the Republican President Bush Dr Komadina has more knowledge and integrity in his little finger than 10 doctors Herbalife
and Dr Steve Komadina
Two True professional people and company. Komadina's picture is on display Please display your picture because your last appearance looks like you have been on the fat gain plan. Bottom line the proof is in the results.