A Republican perspective on speaker battle

After talking with many Republicans about who they think should be the next speaker of the House, I’ve found that Mario Burgos’ words this morning capture fairly well the sentiment among many GOP members.

In a posting headlined “The Best Thing They Could Do,” the conservative Burgos warns Democratic House members that a vote to keep Ben Lujan as speaker “will be sending a clear message that the political corruption turned into an art form by Michael Montoya, Robert Vigil and Smiley Gallegos is alive and well in New Mexico.”

That, Burgos writes, would lead to a backlash in two years, when “New Mexicans will send a clear message that they are tired of local politicians that look the other way while corruption flourishes at the expense of hard-working New Mexicans.”

Three Republicans have suggested to me that, if U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert had to give up his leadership position as speaker for not doing enough about concerns over former Rep. Mark Foley’s interaction with Congressional pages, Lujan should not be allowed to keep his job as speaker because of his ties to Gallegos.

The situations aren’t quite the same, but some Democrats have conceded to me that it’s a valid point.

Despite his political leanings, Burgos doesn’t really want Lujan to stay on so there will be a backlash against Democratic legislators in two years. He calls for Lujan to consider resigning from the House.

“The nation sent a clear message on Election Day that it is tired of national politicians that look the other way when corruption runs rampant,” he wrote.