Gov. Bill Richardson has been labeled by the Santa Fe Reporter’s Dave Maass as “hands down the contemporary King of Pocket Vetoes.”
While there were no pocket vetoes of bills in New Mexico between 1976 and 1995 — and Richardson’s predecessor, Gary Johnson, pocket vetoed only a handful of bills during his tenure — Richardson has used the tool to kill dozens of bills each year since he took office in 2003, Maass writes in an article published today.
The pocket veto is the killing of a bill simply by failing to sign it before the deadline to act on legislation. The governor can also kill bills by actively vetoing them and including a message about why he’s doing it.
The first, conservative blogger Mario Burgos told Maass, is the “passive-aggressive approach to government.”
“Historically, one of the reasons the governor uses pocket vetoes is to avoid putting himself in the crosshairs for making unpopular decisions,” Burgos was quoted by Maass as saying. “It’s a way for him to appease legislators or special interests instead of making the hard decision by vetoing it.”
This year, Richardson’s pocket vetoes included three bills that would have stripped the governor’s control of the State Investment Council, required legislative review of the administration’s spending of federal stimulus money and authorized the Legislative Finance Committee to review confidential information, such as patient health documents, from state agencies without making it public.
Richardson Deputy Chief of Staff Gilbert Gallegos told Maass he doesn’t understand why pocket vetoes are a big deal.
“Gov. Johnson prided himself for the gridlock he created with the Legislature. His veto messages, sometimes irrelevant to the bills themselves, were often in-your-face messages meant to solicit a reaction from legislators,” Maass quoted Gallegos as saying. “Gov. Richardson, on the other hand, will write a veto message if he believes it is necessary and practical. If there is no reason for a message, he will use his pocket veto authority.”
“I don’t really understand the criticism that the governor is making unpopular decisions under the radar,” Gallegos said. “The governor either signs or vetoes every bill that reaches his desk… A veto is a veto. Period.”