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Gov. Susana Martinez has had only a couple of months to hire a staff that will run the executive branch of state government, build a proposed budget and come up with a legislative agenda before New Mexico lawmakers convene Tuesday. It hasn't left much time to move. "We have boxes everywhere," the former district attorney from Las Cruces told the Journal. "I can find one shoe, but not the other. It's very difficult." Meanwhile, the official Santa Fe digs for the new governor and her husband, former Doña Ana County Undersheriff Chuck Franco, haven't been a quick fit either. They...

Former U.S. Sen. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, a geologist and Apollo astronaut who bucks conventional theory on human-caused global warming, was named Thursday by Gov. Susana Martinez to head the state's Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. Schmitt, a Silver City native who was elected to the Senate in 1976 and defeated after one term by current officeholder Jeff Bingaman, is one of the last people to walk on the moon. His appointment drew immediate fire from environmentalists. "We are disheartened to see the selection of a climate change denier," said Sandy Buffett, executive director of the Santa Fe-based Conservation Voters...

Former astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who walked on the moon and served in the U.S. Senate, was nominated Thursday by Gov. Susana Martinez to run a state agency that oversees energy production in New Mexico. Schmitt was selected as cabinet secretary of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. Schmitt, 75, was one of the last men to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. He won election to the Senate in 1976, but lost his re-election bid in 1982 to Democrat Jeff Bingaman, who remains in the Senate.Martinez said the Schmitt's task is to...

New Mexico, the only state besides California to move forward on comprehensive global warming regulations, is reversing course under a new Republican governor, Susana Martinez. The move threatens to cripple the Western Climate Initiative, a California-driven effort to enact a regional trading program to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Martinez, who replaced Democrat Bill Richardson, announced on Tuesday that she is removing all members of New Mexico's Environmental Improvement Board because of what she said was its "anti-business" policies. After a heated debate, the board last year approved measures to limit the emissions of the state's largest polluters and to join...

Gov. Susana Martinez on Tuesday took aim at the controversial Environmental Improvement Board, announcing that she was removing all members over concerns about the board's approval in recent months of what she considers "anti-business" policies. The board — made up of members appointed by former Gov. Bill Richardson — was at the center of a heated debate last year over whether New Mexico should regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The board ultimately decided to approve two proposals — one from an environmental group that aimed to limit the emissions of the state's largest polluters and another from the state Environment Department that...

Martinez Halts Environmental RulesPOSTED: 1:51 pm MST January 5, 2011 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Gov. Susana Martinez's administration is making good on campaign promises to drop new regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions by canceling their planned publication in the state register. Officials at the state Environment Department made the request to keep the rules from being published. A state records official confirmed Wednesday that he has received the request and the rules will not be published. The move is being criticized by environmental groups and lawyers who spent the past two years debating the merits of the rules before...

Alamogordo, New Mexico (CNN) – When CNN interviewed Susana Martinez, New Mexico's Republican candidate for Governor, we got a surprise. Our cameraman John Torigoe was trying to clip the microphone pack to the candidate's belt when she pulled away and said "Be careful, that's a gun back there." Martinez tells CNN she has a permit to carry a concealed weapon. She was packing heat when she addressed a gathering in Alamogordo, New Mexico on Monday. She warned them not to get too confident because "as Republicans we're outnumbered."

SANTA FE — Hours before she was sworn in as New Mexico's new governor, Susana Martinez was welcomed for New Year's Eve Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Martinez, a Catholic, arrived Friday evening behind dozens of friends and family members who piled out of a bus to fill the pews inside the century-and-a-half-old church. Wrapped up against single-digit temperatures in a long black coat and purple scarf, Martinez walked with her husband, Chuck Franco, up the steps leading to the front of the church as the bells pealed. She paused to wave at a spectators...

Gov.-elect Susana Martinez named certified public accountant and business owner Demesia Padilla as her nominee for the state Taxation and Revenue Department Secretary on Friday. "I selected Ms. Padilla because she is a professional administrator, one who understands how New Mexico tax code affects businesses, families and certainly the parents that live in New Mexico," Martinez told an Albuquerque news conference Friday. Padilla has owned and operated her own tax preparation and consulting business in New Mexico for 18 years, formerly worked as an IRS agent and ran an unsuccessful campaign for state treasurer in 2006. Martinez said Padilla has...

So, the talk has started already: Susana Martinez, Republican vice presidential prospect, 2012. And note the date: Less than a month after she was elected on Nov. 2 to become New Mexico's first female governor and just over a month before she's inaugurated and officially moves into the Roundhouse. The first national speculation registering with me was from columnist Matt Lewis on the Politics Daily website on Nov. 29 (Why the next Republican VP nominee will likely be Hispanic). Lewis cited the growing percentage of Hispanic voters and Republicans having "a new generation of qualified Hispanic leaders." For the 2012...

Chuck Franco will soon be a household name in New Mexico. As the husband of Gov.-elect Susana Martinez, he will become the state's first first gentleman when she takes office in January. He's been there every step of the way, from the long car rides between rallies to the huddles with his wife's campaign managers, to the debates and the news conferences. If Martinez is around, that stocky southern New Mexico lawman with the big black cowboy hat is likely not far behind. And, yes, he plans to be standing right there when his wife gives her historic inauguration speech....

Gov. Bill Richardson took his lumps during New Mexico's gubernatorial campaign and said Thursday he wished he'd had the opportunity to punch back. Two days after Republican Susana Martinez won a decisive victory to become the state's first elected female governor, the two-term Democratic officeholder voiced frustration at having his policies repeatedly -- and forcefully -- targeted by Martinez's campaign. "My only regret is that I wasn't able to defend myself and the accomplishments of my administration in so many areas," Richardson said after a news conference in Santa Fe. Richardson, who cited teacher salary increases, a decrease in DWI...

Susana Martinez is likely to become the very fist female Hispanic governor of New Mexico. Surely, Hispanic, women and Hispanic women’s organizations country wide are supporting her. But there is a problem with Susana Martinez, a big problem—cue evil music—she is a…who dare say it?…a…oh, the horror!…an “R” word!…she is a Republican—oh, the humanity!!!... No question that Clayton Williams managed to concoct one of the most malicious statements in human history when he likened bad weather to rape and stated that in both cases, “'If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it.” The issue, the local issue, the political issue,...

Another great video posted by The Governor. Don't mess with Susana Martinez!

Susana Martinez was a cheerleader and member of the Rangerette drill team at El Paso's Riverside High School. But when a group of seniors running for student council asked her to join their slate of candidates, she took a pass. "I told them I don't want to be (council) secretary," Martinez recalled, noting that it was the only slot still open on the ticket. Martinez studied the job descriptions and decided she'd rather be student body president. So she ran against the candidate whose ticket tried to enlist her. And she won. The Democrat-turned-Republican has already risen to national prominence...

We haven’t heard much from the New Mexico gubernatorial race, but it looks like we’re missing an entertaining election, to say the least. Susana Martinez became the first Hispanic woman nominated for governor in any state by either major party when she won the Republican nomination this year, and is running against the first woman in New Mexico to be Lieutenant Governor, Diane Denish, who was Bill Richardson’s running mate. Despite Denish’s experience with the political master in Richardson, it doesn’t appear that she learned much during her tenure. Denish hit Martinez with an attack ad on education policy featuring...

Republican Susana Martinez picked off the support of one in five Democrats and had strong backing from members of her own party to take an early lead over Diane Denish in New Mexico's race for governor, a Journal Poll found. Sixteen percent of voters were still undecided, but Journal pollster Brian Sanderoff said erosion of the Democratic vote is a problem for Denish, who has served as lieutenant governor [under Bill Richardson] for the past eight years. Martinez drew more votes than her Democratic opponent among men, Anglos and voters over 50 years old — all categories that tend to...

A new Albuquerque Journal poll in New Mexico finds Susana Martinez (R) has taken an early lead over Diane Denish (D) in the race for governor, 45% to 39% with 16% undecided. Denish also is suffering from a successful Martinez strategy to tie her to Gov. Bill Richardson (D), with whom Denish has served since 2003, and now holds a dismal 33% approval rating. Among those who disapprove of Richardson's performance, 62% said they would vote for Martinez compared to 22% who said they would vote for Denish.

Republican Susana Martinez earns her highest support yet against Democrat Diane Denish in the race to be New Mexico’s next governor. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Martinez picking up 48% support, while Denish, the state's current lieutenant governor, earns 43% of the vote. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and six percent (6%) are undecided. The two women were tied in the past two surveys conducted in May and June after Denish led Martinez, a county district attorney, by 19 points in the first Rasmussen Reports survey of the race...

The office of Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez bought more than $60,000 in office supplies from a home-based company owned by one of her top deputies and political ally. There was no contract or competitive bidding process that covered the purchases from 2003 to 2005, and a former state auditor questions whether state law was followed. But Martinez, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, said the arrangement was legal, had approval from two state agencies and saved the taxpayers money. She also said she would do it all over again as governor, "so long as there was transparency in that...