Mother Jones has the political story of the day, a profile by Andy Kroll of Susana Martinez, the governor of New Mexico and a potential rising star for the Republican Party. It’s an extensively researched and well-constructed piece that covers Martinez’s strengths and vulnerabilities as a campaigner, a manager, and a policymaker, and also it really nails Martinez and her staff saying a lot of swear words.
During an October 2010 campaign conference call, Martinez said she’d met a woman who worked for the state’s Commission on the Status of Women, a panel created in 1973 to improve health, pay equity, and safety for women.
“What the hell is that?” she asked.
“I don’t know what the fuck they do,” replied her deputy campaign manager, Matt Kennicott.
There are several more such incidents, including an aide saying another political figure “sounds like a retard” and Martinez referring to a campaign opponent as a “little bitch.” Kroll apparently has all of the most sensational material documented via leaked emails and audio recordings. (The piece doesn’t say how Mother Jones got its hands on this stuff— “former close associate of Martinez’s who realllllly doesn’t like her anymore” would seem like the most obvious possibility.)
Martinez didn’t speak to Kroll, but a potential line of defense is perhaps revealed by a comment from BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins that she seems to have re-tweeted, then deleted from her Twitter timeline, this morning:
Politwoops
Also, FYI everyone, the Mother Jones article quotes my uncle Mike, which is cool.
