Taos: Queen of El Norte

Ah, it feels good to be a Taoseno today. Almost 71% of my fellow voters and citizens supported Diane Denish, the democratic candidate for Governor. While little more than 3000 voters supported the statewide winner, about 8400 supported Denish. Trudy the Bruja, Juma, the Disappeared Barber, Commissioner Dan Barrone, the BBQ man, and the Demo voters did their job. Of all the northern counties in upstate New Mexico, Taos is the “Bluest of the Blue.” Let La Tejana rule from the fourth floor; the galleries in the Roundhouse still belong to Demos. Let Erminio, Arsenio, and their 3000 plus votes fight their way up to the fourth floor.

And congrats to Ben Ray Lujan, who bucked the trends and retained his seat in the House of Representatives i.e. Congressional District No. 3.

SAN FRANCISCO - NOVEMBER 03: San Francisco Giants Fans wave signs as they wait for the start of the Giants' victory parade on November 3, 2010 in San Francisco, California.

For me personally, there’s more good news. I was born in San Francisco, and as a long-suffering Giants fan since 1958, Monday’s victory over the Red State Rangers in the World Series was sweet. Led by “The Freak,” the Giants aerodynamic pitcher, Tim Lincecum and Colombian-born MVP Edgar Renteria, Manager Bruce Bochy’s ragtag roster of magnificent misfits beat the pants off the George W. Bush—Nolan Ryan Rangers. “Let Tim Smoke” will be the mantra of the mad mobs on Market St. today as the aroma of mota curls up and over Baghdad by the Bay during today’s victory parade. Meanwhile, San Franciscans voted 80% for Nancy Pelosi, the happy Harridan of the House. Mr. Cool, Jerry Brown, Linda Ronstadt’s old boyfriend, won the Governor’s race in California. He returns to Sacramento just as Ms. Liberal, Barbara Boxer beat another Republican, Carly Fiorina, and returns to D.C. Brown’s opponent, Meg Whitman spent almost $150 million to buy a seat at the table. But Californians said, “NO,” we want experience not another “Terminator” like our last celebrity.

But best of all, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, where I grew up, overcame the Tea-Party radical, Sara Angle, a Palin protégé. Reid, a onetime boxer and gritty Nevadan, thanks to Union Supporters, controlled the ground game and won another term. According to Flavio, “Reid replaced precinct judges with Pit Bosses” and threw down against the well-funded out-of-state radicals. My hometown in Carson Valley, as usual, voted for the Republican but Reno and Las Vegas came through. (I’ve seen the Republican up close and personal.)

All politics is local as Tip O’Neil’s father said. We will be regrouping here in Taos as we defend our borders and watersheds against the onslaught of the privateers, led by local vendidos. Now, we can get back to fighting with each other. The only sour note, locally, is that Secretary of State, Mary Herrera lost, probably a good thing for New Mexico but bad for Taos. If her Deputy Don Francisco Trujillo comes back to the Town of Taos, I suppose the council can put him in charge of negotiating leases for parking lots—after the fact. Or perhaps they can put him in charge of keeping track of Jeff Northrup.

One thing’s for sure, though Chairman Dan and Nick the Nitpicker at the County may agree on little else but they will agree not to hire “The Don” at the County. Perhaps the trustees and their CEO, Lucky Luis, can hire Trujillo as their P.R. Chief at the Coop. How could the Coop’s rep get any worse what with rate increases and irresponsible Broadband expansion?

Caveat: According to Flavio, local Republican stalwart Arsenio Cordova will likely be named to La Martinez’s transition team for education at PED. Chief Demo supporter Erminio Martinez may be nominated for a seat on the judicial ethics advisory council. Here’s a question Demos are asking: Whatever happened to (erstwhile?) Taos County Democratic Party Chair Thomas “Chuby” Tafoya? The street-wise charmer was MIA at all the major Denish events.

If Susana takes away drivers’ licenses from illegals, will she also make native Taosenos, who forego the DMV process, get drivers’ licenses? Surely, she will prevent the spread of medical marijuana but smoking mota as a practice has been a local custom for lo these many years. Locally, it appears, as if little or nothing will change except for this: “Watchalo for los agua vendidos!”