Marty Again & Alien P.R.

There was a really interesting comment from Marty Chavez in the news today. He made a comment about Congressmen Tom Udall's supporters as being "Santa Fe Trust Fund Elites". I guess he is referring to people who have inherited money and live in Santa Fe, right? This comment brings to mind the worst in politicians as far as I am concerned. It is the Balkanization and hate approach to winning an election. Try and get people to hate another group as being the cause of their problems.

I don't think that until now that I realized what a danger a guy like Marty can really be. This statement is meant to do one thing, engender prejudice. I am surprised he went this far and it denotes "the end justifies the means" kind of campaign that Chavez is willing to conduct.

I can remember when my Mayoral administration was fighting hard to get a new Triple A Baseball team to Albuquerque. The Albuquerque City Council was trying to bring in a Class B team and kill any chance of a new stadium while a group of good folks like Rodger Beimer and Dave Bucholz worked to move the city towards having a great facility and great team.

Once we acquired a team and funding for a facility a new debate arose. That was whether to name the new team as the Albuquerque Dukes, the old long time used moniker, or decide to really jazz things up with a new and unusual name. The debate went on for some time with the traditionalists sticking with the Dukes and the rest of us wanting something that denoted more excitement. As it turned our we really left it open to the new team owners and they came up with the name Albuquerque Isotopes. It was inspired by the Simpsons TV show and a now legend episode where Albuquerque was trying to steal the Springfield baseball team named the Isotopes.

The new name set the stage for a much better baseball experience in the state and it garnered lots of national attention.

I cant figure out why the naysayers are now attacking the State's Tourism Department's Rosebowl parade float and TV advertising campaign which uses the 'Roswell Alien Story" to great advantage. It may not be traditional but I predict that it will be highly successful. Just watch the Rosebowl parade on TV and watch the attention the New Mexico Float will get this year.