{"id":1007,"date":"2006-12-18T09:10:00","date_gmt":"2006-12-18T15:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/12\/quiet-weekend-leaves-speaker-race-unpredictable\/"},"modified":"2006-12-18T09:10:00","modified_gmt":"2006-12-18T15:10:00","slug":"quiet-weekend-leaves-speaker-race-unpredictable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/12\/quiet-weekend-leaves-speaker-race-unpredictable\/","title":{"rendered":"Quiet weekend leaves speaker race unpredictable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Two weekend newspaper articles painted an interesting picture of Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, but neither had the power to change the minds of a significant number of caucus members, and the outcome of today\u2019s vote on who will be the next speaker is still impossible to predict. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In addition, Gov. Bill Richardson didn\u2019t fill the House District 68 vacancy, raising questions about whether 41 or 42 members will vote today.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Albuquerque Journal\u2019s<\/a> Sunday article explored Lujan\u2019s relationship with his friend Vincent \u201cSmiley\u201d Gallegos, a lobbyist, former legislator and the man who ran the state\u2019s housing authorities when they crumbled in scandal earlier this year.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Much of the information had already been disclosed publicly, but there were a couple of new revelations. One was that, just three months before the housing authority system collapsed earlier this year, Lujan sponsored legislation that would have created a statewide regional housing council with a $5 million appropriation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The system fell apart after Region III defaulted in $5 million in bonds it owed the state, but Lujan told the Journal that, \u201cunder no circumstances, unequivocally\u201d was his proposal an attempt to stop that from happening and bail out his friend.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The bill, which would have appropriated the money for housing authority projects, died in a committee.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In an interview with the Journal, Lujan at first said he sponsored the bill at the request of Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s administration. He later said it was proposed by a coalition that included the state\u2019s Mortgage Finance Authority and housing authority officials that \u201cprobably\u201d included Gallegos.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office and MFA said they had no involvement in the legislation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

One legislator told me that caught his attention.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a member carries a bill, they remember who was there to support it and who asked for it to be carried,\u201d the legislator told me.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Another interesting point in the Journal\u2019s article: Lujan never denounced Gallegos.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to me we all agree that there was mismanagement that was done,\u201d Lujan told the Journal while noting that Gallegos hadn\u2019t been charged with a crime. \u201cI\u2019ve always been the type of individual that when a person stumbles\u2026 I\u2019m not the type that\u2019s going to step over him.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He had this to say about the attacks on his character:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cMy opponents are trying to destroy my reputation by these innuendos,\u201d the Journal quoted him as saying. \u201cThere was never any intention for me to do anything unethical whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Santa Fe New Mexican\u2019s<\/a> article was a look at Lujan\u2019s career at a time when he faces what is likely his most serious political challenge yet. The article included a sidebar<\/a> that profiled Lujan\u2019s rise to power. Like the Journal article, these are worth a read.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In the article, some House Democrats praised Lujan but others \u2013 who were not named because of fear of retribution \u2013 criticized him.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done a very good job passing important legislation. There\u2019s lots of bills the governor wouldn\u2019t have been able to pass without Ben Lujan,\u201d Rep. Jim Trujillo of Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> told the New Mexican.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Another refused to speak on the record because of Lujan\u2019s heavy-handedness.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cNot only could I get screwed on committee assignments, but my bills and my capital outlay would suffer too, and in the end, it\u2019s my constituents who would pay,\u201d the anonymous House Democrat told the newspaper.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rep. Luciano \u201cLucky\u201d Varela of Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> told the newspaper he is supporting Lujan but that he \u201cplaced some conditions on my support. I told him that I would be emphatic about restoring the integrity of the Legislature and emphatic about the separation of powers of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ethics is a common theme among Democratic legislators. Though some have asserted that this afternoon\u2019s vote on keeping Lujan as speaker or replacing him with Ken Martinez is about power, not ethics, it\u2019s really about both. Some House Democrats have spent the last few weeks playing both sides to see who offers the best committee assignments or other deals. Others are supporting Martinez<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> simply because they are concerned about Lujan\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Many are torn. More than one legislator has told me he is concerned about Lujan\u2019s leadership but also aware that Lujan and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee gave him a lot of money during the election cycle.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Some Republicans are waiting for the Democrats to keep Lujan so they can pounce on the ethical questions to secure more financing and weaken House Democrats before the 2008 elections.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

Many House Democrats and other sources were surprised that Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> didn\u2019t fill the District 68 vacancy over the weekend, but still expect the governor to appoint Thomas Garcia this morning so he can vote this afternoon. The meeting starts about 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

One thing is certain: With the amount of power the speaker wields, today\u2019s vote of 42 (or 41, if the appointment isn\u2019t filled) members could change the political landscape in New Mexico, as could the majority leader race between Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces and Mimi Stewart of Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Even if Lujan wins, many caucus members have made it clear that they want the House to exercise more independence from the governor, and Lujan will face a lot of pressure to oblige. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two weekend newspaper articles painted an interesting picture of Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, but neither had the power to change the minds of a significant number of caucus members, and the outcome of today\u2019s vote on who will be the next speaker is still impossible to predict. In addition, Gov. Bill Richardson didn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}