{"id":10534,"date":"2009-12-21T13:21:11","date_gmt":"2009-12-21T20:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=10534"},"modified":"2009-12-21T14:59:53","modified_gmt":"2009-12-21T21:59:53","slug":"abq-journal-examines-legislatures%e2%80%99-progressives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/12\/abq-journal-examines-legislatures%e2%80%99-progressives\/","title":{"rendered":"ABQ Journal examines Legislatures\u2019 progressives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by Peter St. Cyr)<\/p><\/div>\n

With progressives gaining seats and influence in the New Mexico Legislature in recent years, the Albuquerque Journal takes a look today at what this group of lawmakers is all about:<\/p>\n

\u201cThese Democratic lawmakers have defined themselves as a new breed in New Mexico. Most are young, all are dedicated and idealistic. They tend to ignore the tiptoeing tendencies of newly elected officials, recently speaking out boldly \u2014 often in direct opposition to the wishes of party leadership \u2014 in favor of tax increases to protect spending for public schools and social programs,\u201d the article<\/a> states.<\/p>\n

The article is definitely worth a read if you\u2019re seeking to understand the shifting dynamics in Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

One point, however. The article quotes prominent pollster Brian Sanderoff as saying that progressives have increased their influence in Santa Fe with a new model that focuses mostly on challenging other Democrats instead of Republicans.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s largely true of the progressives who have unseated incumbent lawmakers in Albuquerque, but it isn\u2019t true in Las Cruces at all.<\/p>\n

Three Democratic lawmakers have been elected in recent years in Las Cruces with the help of progressive activists \u2013 state Reps. Nate Cote<\/a> and Jeff Steinborn<\/a> and state Sen. Steve Fischmann<\/a>. Fischmann unseated then-Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson<\/a>, R-Las Cruces, in 2008. Cote unseated then-House Minority Whip Terry Marquardt<\/a>, R-Alamogordo, in 2006. And Steinborn won an open seat in 2006 that was being vacated by Republican William \u201cEd\u201d Boykin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Seems to me that this idealistic group of activists in New Mexico is targeting any lawmaker they think doesn\u2019t share their values and is vulnerable, regardless of party affiliation.<\/p>\n

Update, 3 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sanderoff wrote this in an e-mail:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe exactness of my comments in the Journal article was lost in the paraphrasing. I agree with you\u00a0that many of the Progressive seats were gained in General Elections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: With progressives gaining seats and influence in the New Mexico Legislature in recent years, the Albuquerque Journal takes a look today at what this group of lawmakers is all about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[107],"class_list":["post-10534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10534","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=10534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}