VENTILATING DENDAHL WOULD ONLY DELIGHT DEMS

Is that the grin of irony, or merely a wishful smile of impending
relief, on Bill Richardson's trail-worn face?

The former congressman/diplomat/cabinet member has yet to announce his
candidacy for governor - but he's high among the Democratic Party's
hopes for recapturing our state's executive branch after eight years
in the wilderness.

On his ride back into New Mexico, however, Richardson risks being
dry-gulched by GOP gunslinger John Dendahl - the deadliest shot his
party has seen in a state chairman.

The mere mention of Dendahl's name sets the opposition quaking in
their boots - and many a Republican in this 3-2 Democratic state owes
his or her election to John D's fast draw.

But what's this? Republican guns drawn on Dendahl? They are indeed -
and that includes the long-barreled .45 of New Mexico politics, packed
by Pete Domenici. Yes, New Mexico's main senator has unholstered on
John. Mebbe we need a new chairman, Domenici suggests through clenched
teeth.

All this over locoweed.

Dendahl for years has shared the belief of Bill Buckley and other
conservo-libertarians that the "war on drugs" is a farce enriching
gangsters at the cost of robbery and burglary victims. Now he's
endorsed Gov. Gary Johnson's call for decriminalizing marijuana - and
in the process he's managed to enrage GOPers who associate the herb
with un-Republican values.

Bad enough, figured Albuquerque's Rep. Ron Godbey, that Dendahl would
support liberalized drug laws; but that he would join Democratic
ex-Gov. Toney Anaya in a press conference declaring drug reform a
bipartisan issue? Godbey drew a bead on Dendahl. From Domenici's
direction came an ominous click.

Shoot the varmint, we can hear the Democrats urging; and that's
precisely why the Republicans should hold their fire. Without Dendahl,
their first election in a reapportioned New Mexico, instead of putting
more of them in public office, could be a disaster.

Instead of going ballistic over narcotics laws, the GOP should consult
the polls. Most New Mexicans are closer to the Dendahl-Johnson-Anaya
point of view than to that of either party's prohibitionists.

At the very least, the Republicans - and the Democrats - should be
talking among themselves about controlled-substance policy. Can some
drugs safely be decriminalized? Would treatment and education make
more sense than today's cops-and-robbers approach? Should we look to
other states, even wait and see what more of them do?

Today's itchy trigger-fingers could cost New Mexico Republicans one of
their finest talents. That might be good news for Democrats, but it
would be a blow to two-party politics.

By Cinco de Mayo, when Republicans hold their state rendezvous, they
should settle their differences over drugs - and Dendahl.