Sen. Cisco McSorley (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
The Senate Committee on Committees replaced Judiciary Chairman Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, with Richard Martinez, D-Española on Thursday. The move had been rumored for weeks, so it wasn’t a surprise.
What was surprising was the reason Senate President Pro-tem Tim Jennings gave for the move. From The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Steve Terrell:
“Jennings said the main reason for replacing McSorley was complaints about bills bottlenecking in the committee. There was a period during last year’s session when Judiciary didn’t meet at all, Jennings said.”
But many would say the committee most known in the Senate for being a bottleneck is not the Judiciary Committee. It’s the Rules Committee, which is chaired by Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque.
Lopez is a more conservative lawmaker and more closely aligned with Senate leadership than the liberal McSorley. The ethics reform bills her committee has delayed and/or stonewalled in the past are bills Jennings and other leaders have generally opposed.
Lopez remains chair of the Rules Committee.
McSorley told NMPolitics.net that he is “extremely disappointed” by the statement from Jennings, which he said is false.
“I’ve known for a long time, since (Jennings) has come into office as the president, that the conservatives have wanted to remove me,” McSorley said. “I know he has the right and the power to do it.”
“But the fact that he would say things that aren’t true instead of just speaking the truth is very disappointing, and I’m not going to react in kind,” he said. “… I’m going to rise above it.”
Before Thursday, McSorley had served as chair or vice chair of the House or Senate judiciary committees for 24 years.