Papen explains votes on conference committee bill

A pair of votes Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, didn’t intend to cast sent the Senate into a bizarre series of events on Tuesday afternoon.

At the end of it all, the Senate had killed, on a vote of 21-20, Senate Bill 322, sponsored by Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, which would have opened legislative conference committees to the public.

Before that, however, the Senate approved the bill on a vote of 19-18, with Papen voting for it. Several minutes later, she made a motion to reconsider the vote, which was approved on a vote of 21-20, but she voted against the motion.

“They were a couple of stupid votes,” Papen told me. “I was working on something else and not paying attention. … It was my mistake. I take full responsibility for voting upside-down.”

Her original vote prompted many to suspect Papen had changed sides in the debate. Papen has long opposed opening conference committees, and voted against another proposal to do it two weeks ago.

But she voted several days ago in a committee hearing to give Carraro’s bill a do-pass. That, combined with the events of Tuesday, had many watchers confused.

“I have always not supported the bill, but I wanted to get it out of committee to give it a chance on the floor,” Papen said about the committee vote.

As to why she opposes the proposal, Papen had this to say:

“I think you have more freedom to work something out if you don’t have someone going out and writing what you’re saying,” Papen said.

She added that opening conference committee meetings would take away that freedom, which would mean lawmakers would deliberate before showing up to conference committees, making them superficial events.

“I don’t think that really gives the public transparency anyway,” she said. “I don’t think that it would give the people what they’re looking for.”

You can read more about Tuesday’s events from the Albuquerque Journal by clicking here or the Las Cruces Sun-News here.

Here’s how each senator voted, courtesy of the Associated Press via the Journal:

Republicans voting for the bill

Rod Adair (Roswell)

Mark Boitano (Albuquerque)

Joseph Carraro (Albuquerque)

Kent Cravens (Albuquerque)

Dianna Duran (Tularosa)

Carroll Leavell (Jal)

Steven Neville (Aztec)

William Payne (Albuquerque)

John Ryan (Albuquerque)

William Sharer (Farmington)

H. Diane Snyder (Albuquerque)

Republicans voting against it

Vernon Asbill (Carlsbad)

Sue Wilson Beffort (Sandia Park)

Clint Harden (Clovis)

Stuart Ingle (Portales)

Gay Kernan (Hobbs)

Steve Komadina (Corrales)

Leonard Lee Rawson (Las Cruces)

Democrats voting for the bill

Pete Campos (Las Vegas)

Dede Feldman (Albuquerque)

Mary Jane Garcia (Doña Ana)

Lynda Lovejoy (Crownpoint)

Richard Martinez (Espanola)

Cisco McSorley (Albuquerque)

Cynthia Nava (Las Cruces)

Gerald Ortiz y Pino (Albuquerque)

Nancy Rodriguez (Santa Fe)

Democrats voting against it

Ben Altamirano (Silver City)

Carlos Cisneros (Questa)

Phil Griego (San Jose)

John Grubesic (Santa Fe)

Tim Jennings (Roswell)

Mary Kay Papen (Las Cruces)

John Pinto (Tohatchi)

Lidio Rainaldi (Gallup)

Shannon Robinson (Albuquerque)

Bernadette Sanchez (Albuquerque)

Michael Sanchez (Belen)

John Arthur Smith (Deming)

James Taylor (Albuquerque)

David Ulibarri (Grants)

Absent

Linda Lopez (D-Albuquerque)