Gloves are Off in the NM Gov's Race

McCleskey, Kennicott, Gardner
from the Webber email

I think the campaign for governor officially turned nasty Wednesday when Democrat Alan Webber's campaign released an email fundraising letter calling Gov. Susana Martinez's advisors a "fraternity of misogynistic thugs," bringing up old criminal cases involving Martinez's top political consultant Jay McCleskey from the 1990s.

The email, signed by Webber's campaign Neri Holguin, also took aim at Martinez's chief of staff Keith Gardner and Human Services Department spokesman Matt Kennicott.

"Let me repeat: this is her inner circle—the people she chooses to surround herself with each and every day, who guide her policy and her communications. And of course, her political spin," Holguin wrote. "She and her band of criminals must be stopped."

Meanwhile, the Martinez campaign called the email "unhinged" and said Webber is "an unapologetic extremist who is better-suited to run a hate-filled blog than serve as the state’s chief executive.”

UPDATE: 11:45 a.m.: Here's the story in The New Mexican.