This session has largely been a lovefest between House Speaker Ben Luján and everyone else because he’s battling cancer and retiring. But Luján’s shenanigans were on full display Tuesday, providing a stark reminder that change is long overdue.
On Tuesday, senators said lots of nice things about House Speaker Ben Luján, who is retiring at the end of the year because he’s battling cancer.
You can watch senators honoring Luján here, thanks to the governor’s webcasting and archiving:
Though there’s no archive online, the House did the same thing earlier today. In fact, this session has largely been a lovefest between Luján and everyone else since he disclosed on the first day that he’s fighting stage 4 lung cancer. Our society holds up people who fight cancer as heroes, as we should. I’ve been impressed by Luján’s tenacity in this fight, and I’m certainly rooting for him to beat this disease and keeping him and his family in my thoughts and prayers.
But that doesn’t change Luján’s history of bending and breaking rules, twisting arms, and not treating people fairly. On Tuesday, he presented a stark reminder of that.
Ignoring motion, walking off floor
Remember when Luján broke House rules last year to stop an attempt to hear the driver’s license bill sponsored by Rep. Andy Nuñez, I-Hatch? Well, he did the same thing Tuesday night.
There’s no archived video of the incident on the governor’s website, but journalist Milan Simonich witnessed what happened. Here’s what he wrote:
Heath Haussamen
“Luján, D-Santa Fe, abruptly adjourned a floor session as Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces, stood to seek a vote on her bill for mandatory retention of children who do not read proficiently.
“Republicans screamed at the 76-year-old speaker to allow a roll-call vote on whether the hearing should continue. But Luján walked off the floor, ignoring loud criticisms from Republicans that he had been unfair in shutting off discussion on a bill.”
Capitol Report New Mexico’s Rob Nikolewski has more:
“At the end of the House floor session at a little after 8 p.m., Rep. Garcia (D-Las Cruces) took the microphone from her seat and asked to be recognized.
“The reason? Her bill — one of the so-called ‘social promotion’ bills that Gov. Susana Martinez approves of — had not been heard on the House floor and with the 30-day session winding down, Rep. Garcia wanted it debated in the hopes that it can pass the House.
“But as Garcia asked to be recognized, Majority Floor Leader W. Ken Martinez (D-Grants) leaped to his feet and grabbed his own microphone and called for the House to be recessed for the night.
“Garcia still called to be recognized but Speaker Luján (D-Nambé) ignored her, recognized Martinez and closed down the House for the night.”
Luján had announced earlier in the day that Garcia’s bill, one of the governor’s top priorities, would be heard.
A change was needed last year
After last year’s incident, I was harsh in my criticism of Luján, and of House members for keeping him as their speaker:
“Luján has a history of bending and breaking House rules, of twisting arms, and of not treating people fairly. He acts that way in full view of the public without concern for who’s watching. In fact, Wednesday night he broke the rules even though the governor’s office was recording him.
“Luján plays dirty if that’s what it takes to win. He often displays a lack of respect for the process, and for his colleagues. This is apparent to anyone who’s paying close attention.
“…Sadly, many House Democrats voted with the speaker to adjourn on Wednesday and supported his unfair treatment of the other side, just like they voted to keep Luján in the leadership position last year. It’s shameful, really, that they won’t stand up to the speaker and show respect for House rules and their colleagues.
“It’s also shameful that Republicans put politics over fostering an atmosphere of respect and adherence to the rules – an atmosphere in which people might be treated fairly and bills would have a greater chance of being debated on their merits instead of having their fates decided by politics. I wonder if the governor’s office had any role in this decision by the House GOP.
“Regardless of who could have replaced Luján as speaker (Cervantes, Martinez, Minority Leader Tom Taylor, someone else), a change was needed.”
The House needs a culture of fairness and reform
With Nuñez’s 2011 bill and again on Tuesday, Majority Leader Martinez enabled Luján’s shenanigans. Martinez, who once challenged Luján for the speaker position on a platform of reform, apparently fell in line after he lost that battle.
With Luján retiring, Martinez is the heir-apparent. Is this a case of “Meet the new speaker, same as the old speaker?”
I hope not. But I’d like to see Martinez display more of the potential to be a reformer that he did before his unsuccessful 2006 challenge to Luján, instead of his current push to keep public information inaccessible and his involvement in the speaker’s inappropriate actions.
I can’t say I’m sorry to see Luján leave the House. I’ve already called for House members to replace him as speaker, so it would be disingenuous to pretend otherwise just because he’s battling cancer.
But I hate the reason that Luján is forced to retire. I don’t wish cancer on anyone. I’m glad he’s going to focus on fighting it and I hope he’s successful.
I also hope our state representatives seize the opportunity to change the culture in the House from one of intimidation and unfair treatment to one of fairness and reform.