Keith Gardner is a "cocksucker"

He is, and an "asshole", a "prick", and
"a son of a bitch", if you subscribe to
the theory that

"it takes one to know one."

Joe Monahan reports, link, on the behind the scenes conduct of the third most powerful person in the Governor's Office behind Jay McCleskey and the Governor.

If New Mexicans knew the whole truth about the "gentle (albeit foul-mouthed, vindictive, and seemingly corrupt) giant", they would not approve. They don't know the whole truth of course, unless they read blogs - the establishment's media is ignoring the most damning parts of the Gardner tape.

Monahan goes on to report, link, that the target of Gardner's scorn, State Senator Tim Jennings claims

"... he didn’t like the sentiments or the language Gardner used, but said he wouldn’t hold it against him. 'Hate and destruction have no place in government,'"

We are to believe that Jennings will act as though nothing ever happened. He will treat the Governor's Chief of Staff with the same respect he did before he found out about Gardner's personal and egregious betrayal of their "friendship".

The Governor's spin-meister Scott Darnell needs to downplay the seriousness, and did so by offering,

"... this particular private conversation took place a year ago and the two have talked and worked together since then on multiple occasions."

That it "took place a year ago" doesn't play; not unless you believe Gardner has reversed major character flaws in the last year. Does anyone believe he no longer calls people cocksuckers?

That they have "worked together since then on multiple occasions" could have something to do with the fact that Jennings only just heard about the backstabbing he suffered at his "friend's" hand. That, or Jennings, the "cock-sucking asshole, prick and son of a bitch", is actually a saint.

Darnell continues the effort to end the brouhaha by offering

"... we are moving on and won’t allow that to distract us from doing the work the people of New Mexico expect and deserve.”

How many times have we heard a politician or public servant caught with their pants down, offer that they are ready to move on? Ready to move on, despite the lack of closure and due consequences for their misconduct.

What if the people expect and deserve honest accountability to higher standards of conduct and competence among those, in whom, the people must entrust their control over the wielding of the people's enormous power and somewhere around $5B worth of the people's resources?

The most disturbing aspect of this situation is the establishment's media's unwillingness to tell the whole truth about Gardner's darker side.

Could it be that they're playing a game, a game where they get access to most of the truth in exchange for their complacency and complicity in hiding the rest? Could it be they're afraid of being reduced to "blogger access" to government; you only get in if you're reporting only the not too damning truth?




photos Mark Bralley