Some House Democrats want to oust Ben Lujan as their speaker.
Though an organized effort has not begun, the push will start soon after the June primary, two longtime Santa Fe insiders who would know about such things told me.
“He’s just upset too many Democrats,” one of the insiders told me.
Apparently, many are outraged that Lujan quietly slipped a $75 million appropriation into this years’ capital outlay bill without the knowledge of most of his colleagues. Lujan told me last month he wasn’t trying to hide it from anyone, but the fact remains that legislators from around the state say they didn’t know about appropriation, which would have funded the state’s share of future water rights settlements with American Indian tribes, until Richardson vetoed it.
The final days of the session were so frantic that it wasn’t until Lujan shared the story of what happened last month that many legislators learned how it went down.
Lujan sponsored a bill that would have appropriated $20 million for the state’s share of one of three outstanding water rights cases. The bill passed the House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee, but moved no further.
Sometime in the last 2-3 days of the session, Lujan bypassed his fellow House members and their committees by sticking that settlement money and money for two additional settlements into the capital outlay bill.
Lujan also sidestepped the secret legislative conference committee, something he has apparently done for years with the capital outlay bill. And he bypassed the Senate Finance Committee, though in the past the capital outlay bill has gone there so the Senate can add in its share of the money.
Lujan and a few others, it appears, put together the 440-page bill, pushed it through a House committee, then sent it to the floors of the House and Senate for a final vote when there was almost no time left for legislators to scrutinize it.
A few legislators and the governor’s office noticed the $75 million appropriation hours before the floor votes when they were trying to figure out why the capital outlay bill was much bigger than it should have been. Gov. Bill Richardson would later end up slashing more than $200 million.
When legislators realized the capital outlay bill was far too large, most were so worried about helping their own projects survive the governor’s veto pen that they failed to notice the $75 million, though it was the largest expense in the bill.
Politics at its best, folks.
Lujan defended himself by saying he didn’t intend to fool anyone, and House members made him their leader because he works well with them.
He may not have intended to fool anyone, but why did he change the process this year and skip the Senate committee?
Legislators are so busy in the last few days of the session that they rely on the assumption that their leaders are following procedure. There is no other check on the legislative system. This event has revealed that Lujan was not following precedent and procedure.
But the blame for this doesn’t fall only on Lujan. It’s evident that the legislature is so overworked in the last few days of the session that members play loose and hope someone else is keeping track of what’s happening. The legislators and the governor are to blame for that.
Keep in mind that Lujan’s district includes one of the pueblos that would benefit from the water rights settlement money. I’m not saying the money shouldn’t be spent. In fact, these longstanding lawsuits need to be settled for the benefit of all involved.
To be fair, it is possible Lujan was bypassing normal procedures in an attempt to keep the House on pace with the unattainable agenda set by Richardson.
So who stands to gain if Lujan is removed? Majority Floor Leader Ken Martinez of Grants is in line to become the speaker. If he’s successful, who would replace him?
Possibly Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces. He chairs the House Judiciary Committee, but made a bid for majority leader two years ago, when Martinez won the position. Cervantes backed off his bid in exchange for Martinez’s support of his bid for judiciary chair.
My two sources told me Martinez and Cervantes will certainly face opposition from others, should they seek to move into new positions. Many Democrats are positioning themselves for 2010, when the governor’s office is again available.
Two other representatives being named as potential speakers are Luciano “Lucky” Varela and Kiki Saavedra, a third source told me.
Two things are certain: Lujan has a battle ahead of him, but he still has many friends in high places.
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Doña Ana County’s internal audit advisory committee has expanded its investigation into the activities of Treasurer Jim Schoonover.
Schoonover, a Republican, spent about $700 in public money last year to buy 2,300 pencils that advertise his name but not other information about his office. The county attorney says he has committed the felony crime of misusing public money because the pencils have no public value, and wants to report Schoonover to police. The audit advisory committee voted recently to recommend that the board of commissioners do just that.
But the recommendation to the commission won’t be made at Tuesday’s meeting because the internal investigation is ongoing, County Attorney John Caldwell told the Sun-News last week.
Caldwell would not elaborate, but a source told me that the investigation has expanded to include allegations that Schoonover used county equipment, resources and staffers “to create documents on behalf of the Las Cruces Elks Lodge” last year, when Schoonover was the leader of the lodge.
Schoonover was the “exalted ruler,” as they call it, from April 1, 2005 until March 30 of this year.
Keep in mind this is merely an allegation at this point. I have seen no documentation or other evidence to back it up.
Schoonover, on the advice of his attorney, is no longer speaking publicly about the situation. He told me when the allegations first came out that he is the victim of a political attack by those who want to silence him because he’s pushing for more action to be taken in relation to the recently released special audit of county government. The audit found widespread problems as recently as 2004 that the state auditor says have largely been fixed.
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Thanks for reading today. I announced last week that I’m leaving my job as a reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News, effective Friday. If you missed it, keep scrolling down to read that announcement. Come back tomorrow for more!