Cummings to oversee PNM re-election bid

FORMER Government Senator Foster Cummings, who has been moved from the Senate to make room for Donna Cox, said he needs to devote more time to his role as PNM general secretary ahead of the pending local and general elections.

“That requires some additional time, and so we are making some adjustments,” he told reporters at Cox’s swearing-in at President’s House yesterday.

Asked if he would be put into the House of Representatives, he laughed and said, “I don’t know that it happens that way. There’s a screening process. Let’s see what the future holds.”

Asked if he would offer himself as a candidate, for local or general elections, he replied, “I have not considered that as yet. Stay tuned.”

He said the PNM works as a team.

“The level I function at in the party, there are certain decisions that are strategic and this is one of them.”

He congratulated Cox on her appointment. She is now a senator and Minister of Communications, taking over that portfolio from Stuart Young.

Cummings said, “The focus right now is on the two elections, and that is what we are doing.

"The role of general secretary requires a lot of effort and a lot of time. As we have these elections back to back, it puts some additional responsibility on the position of general secretary. That’s what my focus will be right now.”

The general secretary, he explained, "is the chief administrator of the party and therefore all these responsibilities, including screening and the day-to-day administration of the party, fall to the general secretary.”