Cervantes doesn’t believe reason speaker gave for removing him from judiciary chairmanship

Rep. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces doesn’t believe the reason Speaker of the House Ben Lujan gave for removing him from the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee.

Cervantes said he met with Lujan for 20-30 minutes earlier today, and Lujan told him he was replacing him as chair of the committee with Al Park of Albuquerque because Cervantes had sought the position of majority leader.

When Majority Leader Ken Martinez announced he would challenge Lujan for speaker, Cervantes said he would seek majority leader if Martinez did not. Cervantes later withdrew when Martinez’s speaker bid failed and he was nominated to continue as majority leader.

In today’s meeting, Cervantes said, Lujan “was generous with praise. He thanked me for my service, but he was disappointed that I had run for majority leader.”

However, the other two representatives who sought the majority leader position – Mimi Stewart and Gail Chasey of Albuquerque – both retained committee chair positions, Stewart as chair of the Government and Urban Affairs Committee and Chasey as chair of the Consumer and Public Affairs Committee.

“The reason the speaker gave me doesn’t make sense, since the other people who ran for majority leader didn’t lose their positions as well, so there has to be another reason,” Cervantes said.

Cervantes said those in power in the House tend to be from the Santa Fe/Albuquerque area, and he suspects fear of losing that power was what motivated Lujan to remove him as chair of judiciary.

“I can’t help but reach that conclusion,” Cervantes said. “Those from Santa Fe want to keep their power and, I think, fear the thought of anyone outside the Santa Fe/Albuquerque corridor challenging the status quo. I’m unsatisfied with the status quo.”

Cervantes said he isn’t interested in power and influence for the sake of having it, and said his constituents didn’t elect him so he could have a big office, as he did as chair of judiciary.

“They asked me to correct the fact that, for example, the state was just ranked the worst place in the nation to raise a child, which as a father bothers me,” Cervantes said. “I want to actually move New Mexico forward, not just create the appearance that New Mexico is moving forward.”

Lujan has not returned a call I placed earlier today.