09-Jun-2011
The late Jeanette Wallace Receives Spirit of Bipartisanship Award

The late Jeanette Wallace was one of ten New Mexico state lawmakers honored May 25 by New Mexico First for her exceptional leadership and bipartisan contributions to our government.

The awards highlighted the annual First Forum lecture series in Albuquerque, and this year New Mexico First hosted keynote speaker Cokie Roberts discussing “The Politics of Good Government.” Roberts is best known for her work on ABC and National Public radio. She was joined at the event by her ABC colleague Sam Donaldson who served as moderator for the evening.

Donaldson read this tribute to Representative Wallace:

“The passing of State Representative Jeanette Wallace this spring leaves a huge void for the district she served that stretched from Jemez Springs to southern Santa Fe County. She was elected in 1990 and she was sent back eleven times. No wonder. During her tenure she went to every residence in her district. She visited nearly 13-thousand homes!  And she took her constituents concerns to the round house and worked with fellow Republicans and Democrats to improve northern New Mexico. She particularly worked closely with longtime Democratic house speaker Ben Lujan, and together they worked to assure that the Rio Grande Corridor was well represented.”

Kurt Steinhaus of Los Alamos National Laboratory accepted the award on behalf of Ms. Wallace, her family, and her legion of friends.