Friday Political Misc.

According to State Auditor Hector Balderas, the mysterious lengthy and secret court battle between his office and that of Attorney General Gary King is over. But the records still are sealed.

In a news release, Balderas called for the seal to be broken and the records released to the public.

"Now that this matter is resolved, I hope that the case will be made public in the interest of transparency. I also look forward to strengthening my relationship with the Attorney General in order to ensure greater government accountability in New Mexico.”

King, reportedly, was asked about unsealing those records at a news conference in Albuquerque. His reply was non-committal, I'm told.

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Former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish basically has been quiet about Gov. Susana Martinez, who defeated her in last year's awful bitter gubernatorial contest.

Until now.

In an op-ed published on Heath Haussamen's site, the former Lt. Gov roars.

Early into her term, Governor Martinez has continued her tough talk and law enforcement focus and released a variety of executive orders to grab power as governors are prone to do. And we can all rest easy now that we have the notary publics under a watchful eye, dogs on restaurant patios legally, and a lieutenant governor with no responsibility.

 She didn't mention me,  but Denish made it clear that she disagrees with the idea I floated in my column a few weeks ago that the office of lieutenant governor be abolished to save money.

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Republican U.S. Senate candidate got some national attention she probably didn't want in an ABC interview with U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, a Tea Party bigwig.

DeMint said he plans to get involved, once again, in Republican primaries for the 2012 elections. One race he has his eye on is the open Senate seat in New Mexico, which is being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman. Republican leaders have recruited former Rep. Heather Wilson to run, but she faces a challenge against the more conservative John Sanchez, New Mexico's lieutenant governor.


"She's a friend, but we've talked to her and I don't think Heather's going to be thought of as a conservative, and she's got a good opponent," DeMint said. "We may get involved with that race, but we haven't made a final decision. I won't commit, at this point, but I think we're going to have a strong conservative there."