I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
On Monday, Karen Giannini sent out a call for help. The representative-elect from District 30 sent an e-mail explaining a tough predicament: Her employer had denied a request for a 60-day leave of absence that would allow her to join the state Legislature for it’s two-month-long session in Santa Fe that begins next month.
The e-mail read in part:
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that would happen. The worst I thought would be that (my employer) would only grant me a 30 day leave of absence and I’d work part time for the other 30 days. I can’t afford not to have a job with benefits, so quiting is a little bit out of the picture for me. If any of you have any ideas, I’d sure love to hear them.”
Although Giannini says the e-mail was sent only to a small group of people she thought she could trust, it quickly made its way into several reporters’ inboxes.
When contacted last night by the Independent, Giannini was shocked that the message had made it beyond its intended recipients. She asked that we not publish anything about the situation because she was working hard to negotiate a compromise at work and feared that any attention would hamper those efforts — maybe even get her fired.
But this morning the news got out anyway when blogger Joe Monahan wrote about the situation on his site:
“Insiders inform that State Representative-elect Karen Giannini needs a new job because [her company], where she works in aerospace, won’t give her the needed time off to attend the legislative session. They say she sent out an e-mail to supporters asking for help in finding a new gig so she can serve.”
But in fact the e-mail did not say she needs a new job and did not specifically ask for help in finding another job.
Giannini emphasized that this was an extremely sensitive matter and that she wanted to work out a compromise before it became public. She made it clear that she did not want to leave her company, and that she clearly understood the pressures her employer faced and the reasons why they felt they could not spare her for two months.
Giannini, a former Air Force captain with a degree in physics, is a quality assurance engineer in a highly specialized field. Finding another job in her field in Albuquerque would not be simple.
“I’m not going to let my constituents down or my family,” Giannini said.
“I fully intend to take my seat, but I also have an obligation to my family and my children. It’s the age-old balance thing for women who are single and trying to work and raise a family.”
We’ll have more on this story later…
