{"id":1109,"date":"2007-01-16T17:25:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-16T23:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/breaking-news-reps-cervantes-garcia-lose-influential-committee-positions-nunez-gains\/"},"modified":"2007-01-16T17:25:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-16T23:25:00","slug":"breaking-news-reps-cervantes-garcia-lose-influential-committee-positions-nunez-gains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/breaking-news-reps-cervantes-garcia-lose-influential-committee-positions-nunez-gains\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS: Reps. Cervantes, Garcia lose influential committee positions, Nu\u00f1ez gains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>After supporting House Majority Leader Ken Martinez\u2019s failed bid for speaker last month, reps. Joseph Cervantes and Mary Helen Garcia of Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> have lost influential committee positions. <\/p>\n

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

Garcia learned late today that Speaker of the House Ben Lujan had replaced her with Rep. Joni Gutierrez of Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> on the Appropriations and Finance Committee. Cervantes, who had been chair of the Judiciary Committee, will now serve as vice chair. Al Park of Albuquerque, the previous vice chair, will now be chair, Lujan decided.<\/p>\n

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

On the flip side, Lujan made Rep. Andy Nu\u00f1ez of Hatch, who supported him in the speaker race, chair of the Agriculture and Water Resources Committee.<\/p>\n

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

I could not reach Lujan for comment. When I asked in December if Garcia might lose her committee position for being one of the leaders of the effort to oust him, Lujan said my question \u201cdoesn\u2019t even deserve an answer. I have the prerogative and I\u2019ll discuss it with the majority leader\u2026 and make a decision like I have the power to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Garcia blasted Lujan today for taking her off appropriations, saying she met with him Monday and he promised he would not do that.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>\u201cHe lied to me,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cHe told me he was going to keep me on appropriations and finance and he reneged on that today.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

She also complained about those who supported Lujan in the speaker race, \u201cespecially those from Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. They have paid to play. They have considered power over principle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

When asked to be specific, Garcia only named Gutierrez. Gutierrez was a strong supporter of Lujan and it was rumored that she would replace Garcia on appropriations.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis is pay to play. It\u2019s not about knowledge. It\u2019s not about experience,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cJoni has never had any kind of financial background. I have been working with school districts for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Garcia had also been on the appropriations committee for 10 years.<\/p>\n

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

An obviously angry Garcia said Gutierrez\u2019s predecessor, Rep. J. Paul Taylor, was a consensus builder who worked well with others, and complained that Gutierrez, instead, \u201cstarts to divide our delegation from Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Gutierrez could not be reached for comment. Neither could Cervantes.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Nu\u00f1ez, who agreed in November to support Lujan in exchange for the chairmanship he now holds, said he had ethical concerns before last month\u2019s vote and kept an eye on allegations that Lujan might be tied to the state housing authority scandal. Nothing ever came out that meant he could not support Lujan with a clean conscience, Nu\u00f1ez said.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cYou\u2019re innocent until you\u2019re proven guilty, and they never did find anything on him,\u201d Nu\u00f1ez said.<\/p>\n

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

He said he has hoped for years that when former Rep. Joe Stell retired and the committee chairmanship was up for grabs, it would be his.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to this,\u201d Nu\u00f1ez said.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 5:45 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

Gutierrez said she did not want to respond at this time to Garcia\u2019s attack, but did have these comments about being appointed by Lujan to the appropriations committee:<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019m really proud to be on appropriations. It\u2019ll be so beneficial for Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> that I\u2019m on appropriations and I\u2019m honored to serve. I\u2019ll do a good job and I\u2019ll be fair,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had to have someone on appropriations (from Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>) and I feel really fortunate that it\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Among Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename>\u2019s delegation, Gutierrez is joined by Rep. Antonio Lujan of Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> on the committee. Antonio Lujan, who is also a supporter of Ben Lujan, has been on the committee for several years.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After supporting House Majority Leader Ken Martinez\u2019s failed bid for speaker last month, reps. Joseph Cervantes and Mary Helen Garcia of Las Cruces have lost influential committee positions. Garcia learned late today that Speaker of the House Ben Lujan had replaced her with Rep. Joni Gutierrez of Las Cruces on the Appropriations and Finance Committee. […]<\/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-1109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109","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=1109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}