Milan Simonich

2 weeks ago | santafenewmexican.com | Milan Simonich

Confidence in Santa Fe's city government can only decline after a peculiar police report on a man's death as he sat on a bench, waiting for a bus. A city employee, Robert Armijo, told police officers he intended to put his city-owned Honda Civic in reverse but mistakenly placed it in drive. Armijo drove over a curb, then struck and killed 75-year-old Glen Smith on the bench outside Santa Fe Place mall.

3 weeks ago | santafenewmexican.com | Milan Simonich

This time of year reminds me how desperate state legislators are and how much time and paper they waste. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has one week remaining to sign, veto or otherwise kill legislation by ignoring it. Her life is complicated because the Legislature has 112 members, and all of them are determined to pass a bill. Many don't care if their proposals are inconsequential, unnecessary or counterproductive. One of the more dangerous bills of the 60-day session was sponsored by Democratic Reps.

3 weeks ago | santafenewmexican.com | Milan Simonich

Not many characters are left in New Mexico politics. The short list shrunk this week with the death of former state Sen. Bill O'Neill. He graduated from Cornell University, but no one ever accused O'Neill of being an elitist from the Ivy League. A Democrat from Albuquerque, O'Neill persisted until legislators and the governor approved a law giving judges the discretion to expunge certain criminals records. Defendants convicted of low-level drug possession are the most likely to benefit.

3 weeks ago | santafenewmexican.com | Milan Simonich

These are tough times for the United States, a nation divided by politics. Life was harder still in the spring of 1945, even though the country was more united as it fought for survival. Ernie Pyle was aboard an aircraft carrier in the Western Pacific. A columnist for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain, he had preferred covering infantry soldiers in Europe, where the pace of war was faster and he had been able to write with more freedom. Pyle believed Navy censors were strangling his copy.

4 weeks ago | santafenewmexican.com | Milan Simonich

My column about Sam Bregman, the Bernalillo County district attorney who plans to spend at least 14 months campaigning for governor, led many readers to salute him. Bregman, they said, would defeat any Republican in 2026. Yes, and the Philadelphia Eagles would declaw the Capital High School Jaguars. Republicans are a regional party in New Mexico. They haven't won a statewide election in nine years. And their shining star has never been elected to public office.