New Mexico Groper ..errr.. GOVERNOR Bill Richardson

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish on Monday seemed to back away from statements she made in an Albuquerque newspaper article about Gov. Bill Richardson touching her.

“She thinks the quotes were out of context,” Denish chief of staff Chris Cervini said Monday, saying the story in Saturday’s Albuquerque Journal made the governor’s behavior sound “more nefarious than the way she wanted to bring it across.”

However, Cervini did not dispute the accuracy of Denish’s quotes used in the story. Cervini said Denish said the issue is “a nonstory” and “a distraction.” “She says she has a great working relationship with the governor,” he said. “They’ve been allies for 20 years.” The controversy, Cervini said, won’t affect that relationship. The article, headlined “Hands-On Governor,” quotes Denish describing Richardson touching her at public events. It also notes how the governor has greeted people with bear hugs or head butts — or in the case of a DeVargas Middle School student in 2003, a headlock. For his part, Richardson said he’s just being playful. “I tease Diane. I touch guys. It’s my way of lessening tension,” Richardson said in the story.

“He pokes me,” Denish said when confronted about photos taken of Richardson and her at an appearance in Bernalillo in late October. “He pinches my neck. He touches my hip, my thigh, sort of the side of my leg.”

Denish told The Journal, “I try not to put myself in that situation, trying not to stand or sit next to him.”

Denish and Richardson sat by each other Monday at a meeting of the state Board of Finance in the governor’s Cabinet Room.

Dealing with Richardson’s touching and poking “is one of the challenges of this governor,” Denish told The Journal . “He has a lot of good qualities and this is one of the challenges.”

The article said, “When he’s doing it in these public environments, I have chosen not to embarrass him by not doing anything blatant about it publicly … I don’t think I should embarrass him.”

She used words like “joking” and “joshing” in the article. But, according to the article, she spoke about the problem with Billy Sparks, Richardson’s deputy chief of staff about the matter.

Sparks on Monday referred questions about the matter to another spokesman for the governor, who couldn’t be reached for comment.

Asked for examples of quotes being used out of context, Cervini said when Denish described Richardson’s behavior as “annoying,” her full description was “annoying like a little brother or a classmate.”

Richardson and Denish won as part of the Democratic ticket in 2002. In New Mexico, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately in primaries but part of a party ticket in the general election.

Both Richardson and Denish are seeking re-election.

To read more articles from The Santa Fe New Mexican about Governor Richardson, visit FreeNewMexican.com's The Richardson File.