Working Families Party loses its point man
As the leader of a bunch of underdogs, Eric Griego turned into a giant killer. Griego for the last five years has headed the nascent New Mexico Working Families Party. His organization isn’t wealthy. Until last year, it wasn’t well known.
But then the Working Families Party set out to defeat what it called the state Senate’s six leading DINOs — Democrats in name only. Seldom has a beginner’s campaign been so successful.
Voters ousted five of the incumbents targeted by the Working Families Party. The biggest name was Sen. John Arthur Smith of Deming, powerful chairman of the Finance Committee.
“It was enough of a tipping point to change outcomes, to change the state for the better,” Griego told me Thursday.
Smith and other conservative Democrats opposed using a portion of the state’s $22 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund to expand early childhood education programs. Griego had tangled with them for a decade, since he headed a different advocacy group, New Mexico Voices for Children.
With Smith gone, the proposed constitutional amendment for early childhood education cleared both houses of the Legislature this year. Voters will make the final decision on whether to spend another 1.25 percent of the endowment on education.
“We are 50th in child poverty. We’ve got to make some investments in people,” Griego said. “If we do this right, if we don’t screw it up, it’s going to mean less crime and fewer expenses for remediation and health care.”
At least for the next several months, Griego will be an observer instead of a bulldog organizer trying to elect more liberals.
He is 55 years old and has been pursuing a doctorate in political science at the University of New Mexico while overseeing the Working Families Party.
“Some people can write a dissertation while they’re working. I’m not one of them,” Griego said.
His dissertation, he said, will examine traditional but flawed economic development strategies by cities and counties. Griego hopes to complete it by the year’s end.
After that, he sees himself returning to politics in one way or another. He’s taught political science at UNM, and he’s been in the trenches of government as an Albuquerque city councilor and state senator.
Griego and Smith served together in the Senate, where they were at opposite ends of the Democratic caucus.
“He was a better talker than a listener,” Smith once said of Griego.
Their collegial association ended when Griego ran for Congress in 2012. He was polling well until researchers for a rival candidate, Michelle Lujan Grisham, dug into court records and turned up a political gold mine.
Judges had issued 11 warrants for Griego’s arrest between 2000-07 after he failed to appear for court hearings on speeding tickets. The finding sunk Griego.
Lujan Grisham won the congressional race and now is governor of New Mexico. Griego returned to grassroots organizing, most notably as executive director of the Working Families Party.
Griego’s group offered guidance and small amounts of money to progressives matching up against the conservative Democrats.
The Working Families Party for years had encouraged Carrie Hamblen of Las Cruces to run against Marty Kay Papen, who was president pro tem of the Senate. Hamblen entered the 2020 Democratic primary and defeated Papen, a 20-year senator. Hamblen went on to win the general election.
Griego’s party also helped defeat conservative Democrats Clemente Sanchez of Grants and Gabriel Ramos of Silver City.
In a late-breaking move, the Working Families Party assisted newcomer Leo Jaramillo. He routed 20-year Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Ojo Caliente, in the primary.
“Martinez wasn’t great, but he wasn’t as bad as the others based on his voting record,” Griego said.
In Martinez’s case, his convictions for aggravated drunken driving and reckless driving probably had more to do with his defeat than anything the progressives had to say about him.
The only conservative Democratic senator to win in the face of opposition from Griego’s camp was George Muñoz of Gallup.
“I came into the Senate with George. I’ve always underestimated his ability to cut deals with people,” Griego said.
Muñoz succeeded Smith as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Muñoz was less rigid on the proposed constitutional amendment for early childhood education. He let the proposal out of his committee and then voted for it on the Senate floor.
But Muñoz angered the Working Families Party by voting against a bill that would have drastically reduced the 175 percent interest rate payday lenders can charge in New Mexico.
He was the only Senate Democrat to vote with most Republicans to keep the triple-digit interest rate intact. Muñoz and the Republicans prevailed.
The Working Families Party is about to begin searching for Griego’s successor.
One thing hasn’t changed, though. Muñoz is still a marked man.