The Best Letter Written by a State Senator I've Read Lately

When I first began reading this letter from state Sen. Lisa Curtis, D-Albuquerque, concerning the embattled Bernalillo County Commissioner Michael Wiener, my first thought was that Curtis was leaving the legal profession and becoming a noir novelist.


The fat guy smoking Pall Malls, he says he almost married one of those girls. Honest. He met her in a bar one of the last times he was in the Philippines and fell in love, almost bought her a ring and took her home.

I also thought, "Weiner's not that fat ..."

The letter goes on like that for four paragraphs, before a reader realizes that Curtis is quoting from an article about sex clubs in the Philippines by writer Sean Flynn, published in 2007 in GQ.

If you haven't been following the Wiener controversy, the commissioner caused a stir when this and other photos of him in a red light district in the Philippines emerged.

Curtis joins a long list of officials including Gov. Susana Martinez and Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry in calling for Wiener to go. The commissioner has refused, leaving it up to voters this year.

Curtis Letter