John Grubesic
The Democratic Party race for the congressional seat Martin Heinrich is vacating may get a bit more crowded soon … and if it does, it will certainly become much more unpredictable.
That’s because Capitol Report New Mexico has learned that former state senator John Grubesic is considering a run for the First Congressional District, which makes up Albuquerque and other parts of central New Mexico.
Grubesic says he’s been approached by political activists who think Grubesic could pull more conservative Democrats, independents and libertarian-leaning voters than the current field of announced candidates in the CD-1 race.
“I am not sure how interested folks will be and I haven’t made a decision,” Grubesic said in an e-mail. “It was nice to be approached, but I am not sure how viable my candidacy is right now.”
Grubesic had an unpredictable and controversial tenure as a member of the state senate after he was elected in District 25 in 2004.
In 2007, he backed a joint resolutoin in the Roundhouse calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, which angered conservatives but Grubesic also infuriated the Democratic establishment as perhaps the harshest critic of then-Gov. Bill Richardson. His dislike for Richardson is best rembered by a brief, almost stream-of-consciousness article Grubesic wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican in 2006, skewering politicos in the state for groveling before Richardson, whom Grubesic described as “the flabby king.”
Grubesic, who is now a defense attorney in Albuquerque, also made headlines in 2005 when he overturned his SUV about 40 yards from his home early one morning.
In the past year, Grubesic wrote a number of op-ed pieces for Capitol Report New Mexico in which he continued his verbal assault on Richardson (“the most successful hood … New Mexico has ever produced”), Spaceport (“this steaming pile of expensive runway”) and political life in Santa Fe in general (“where your hopes and dreams are sold down the river“).
Speaking about his possible entrance in the congressional race in 2012, Grubesic said:
The race would be interesting to say the least. I wouldn’t hold back and my campaign would be anything but traditional. I won’t do it if isn’t going to be fun. I would want to see if I could reinvent the political process. If I do decide to run, I know going in that I would have a tough time. The machine of the Democratic party would probably blow a gasket or two, but the idea of running as a wild card that owes nothing to anyone, well that makes it tempting and at the very least there would be some really good quotes.
Doubtless.
So far, three Democrats have announced their candidacy for Heinrich’s seat: State Sen. Eric Griego, who is known as a liberal firebrand; former Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez; and Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Bernalillo County Commissioner who announced her candidacy earlier this month by saying, “A band of right-wing radicals have hijacked this country, putting the interests of their corporate masters ahead of the middle class, seniors and our New Mexico families.”
On the Republican side, former state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones and current Albuquerque city councilor Dan Lewis have announced their candidacies.
