Tourism secretary named mother of the year
SANTA FE — Rebecca Latham, the state Cabinet secretary for tourism, won national recognition this week as mother of the year — the first New Mexican in 41 years to win the award. The nonprofit group American Mothers, based in Washington, D.C., honored Latham as someone who’s an inspirational mom and community leader. She will serve as an ambassador for charitable efforts to help mothers and children.
The last New Mexican to win the award was M. Garnett Grindstaff, in 1976.
Nominations for next year’s award will be accepted starting on Mother’s Day this weekend. Visit AmericanMothers.org.
Among the group’s founders are former first ladies Eleanor Roosevelt and Mamie Eisenhower.
“Being National Mother of the Year provides the opportunity to highlight New Mexico as the best destination in the country for family travel,” Latham said in a written statement. “This is also a wonderful platform to work toward making New Mexico the best place to be a kid.”
Rebecca is the mother of Joshua, 6, and Alana, 4.
Gov. Susana Martinez appointed Latham tourism secretary in 2015.
HAT IN THE RING: A physicist with expertise in supercomputers has announced a campaign to represent Albuquerque in Congress.
Dennis Dinge, who describes himself as a progressive Democrat, said he would take a scientific approach to evaluating problems and how to address them. He said that as someone who grew up in rural South Carolina, he has experience selling progressive ideas to people who don’t consider themselves progressive.
“Government should be about solving problems, not winning arguments,” Dinge says on his campaign website, dingeforcongress.org.
He joins a crowded race to win the Democratic nomination in the 1st Congressional District.
The seat will be open next year because U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, is running for governor, not re-election. The candidates include:
Pat Davis, an Albuquerque city councilor and executive director of Progress Now New Mexico, a liberal advocacy group.
Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, executive director of Enlace Comunitario, an antidomestic violence group, and a former associate dean at the University of New Mexico Law School.
Debra Haaland, former chairwoman of the state Democratic Party and former San Felipe Pueblo tribal administrator.