Thursday, August 6, 2009

Road Cleared for Javier

A little follow-up to my column yesterday.

Former Santa Fe County Commissioner Javier Gonzales’ road to becoming state Democratic Party chairman got easier Thursday after the only other active candidate for the post dropped out and endorsed Gonzales for the unpaid job.

David Montoya, chairman of the Sandoval Country Democrats, said in a phone interview, “I really like Javier. I like his family. And I believe it’s important that we get together and work for Lt. Gov. Diane Denish to become governor.

After Montoya agreed to drop out of the chairman’s race, current chairman Brian Colon appointed him to a newly created position of senior adviser to the chairman and director of party strategy.

The chairman’s position will become open Saturday because Colon is resigning to prepare for a campaign for lieutenant governor.

Gonzales, who works as a business consultant and serves on the Board of Regents for New Mexico State University, said earlier this week he intended to begin campaigning for the chairman’s post shortly after Colón steps down.