In Which Robert Lucero Gets "Slapped in the Face" and Seems to Like It

Any bettor will tell you there's no such thing as a "lock". Nothing is certain. But there is one thing darn stinkin' close to it: if one sees APS School Board member Robert Lucero talking on the evening news, the viewer stands an almost certain chance of hearing something stupid being said.

Last night Mr. Lucero, that Lone Ranger (for now) of the Westside, was spouting off to the cameras that his supposedly maltreated part of town was getting a "slap in the face" just because the School Board didn't immediately sign off on increasing the APS board to nine members, give the Westside the addition two members and provide the petulant Mr. Lucero an impromptu party with cake, pointy hats, confetti and little slide whistles.

This is of course all the result of that bizarrely worded Constitutional amendment ballot issue that eeked by in the election earlier this month. More mature members of the School Board, such as Marty Esquivel, pointed out, at least indirectly, that this was the most poorly worded Constitutional amendment ballot issue in the history of New Mexico, and that nobody knew what the Hell to do with it.

Or maybe that's actually just my interpretation of what Mr. Esquivel said.

Perhaps you recall this ballot item...it was the one that said something like:

The proposed amendment would increase the size of certain school boards to nine members and conduct the election by mail-in ballot or as otherwise provided by law.

You don't have to be any sort of constitutional law scholar to notice that this is one poorly worded amendment.

I did some checking and found that Westside legislator Bernadette Sanchez was chief-sponsor of this amendment proposal back in the 2007 Legislative session. Interestingly enough, if you go through the history of the amendment proposal you don't find the red herring second part of the amendment (the "mail-in" part) until the final version. Who put that second part in...the part that many of us voted for ("hey, mail-in ballots sound like a good idea...what the Hell is the is 'certain districts get increased board members crap?'")?

Meanwhile, back on the evening news, Lucero is pouting as he loudly disclaims that he's gonna get his Westside legislators to "break up the District". And presumably mysteriously tack something like re-legalizing drive-through liquor stores into the bill somehow.

But I noticed something in that Lucero pout last evening. If you look closely enough, and no that's not something I would normally recommend, you couldn't help but notice a wide-eyed grin just behind the pout. When he says "split up the District" that goofy grin gets a little too close to the surface to remain invisible.

Methinks not only that Robert Lucero protesteth too much, but that he enjoys both the cameras and the "slap in the face" a bit muchly as well. There something very Shakespearean about all of this, right down to the mysterious person who inserted the "mail-in" ballot provision. Mystery, pathos, mistaken identities, farcically contrived situations...all very Shakespeare and very APS School Board.

With Lucero as either Falstaff or Puck. I can't decide which. I am more certain that all the world is but a stage, a fact that makes Robert Lucero very, very happy.