{"id":1307,"date":"2007-02-23T18:22:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-24T00:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/speaker-chastised-for-playing-politics-with-capital-outlay-house-members-work-out-compromise\/"},"modified":"2007-02-23T18:22:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-24T00:22:00","slug":"speaker-chastised-for-playing-politics-with-capital-outlay-house-members-work-out-compromise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/speaker-chastised-for-playing-politics-with-capital-outlay-house-members-work-out-compromise\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker chastised for playing politics with capital outlay; House members work out compromise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>What began with an apparent broken promise by Speaker of the House Ben Lujan<\/a> ended during a debate Thursday with a productive deal that might set a precedent that takes some of the politics out of capital outlay disbursement. <\/p>\n

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

Several weeks ago Senate Bill 710<\/a>, sponsored by Michael Sanchez<\/a>, D-Belen, was approved on a vote of 38-2 in the Senate. It would restore many of the capital outlay projects approved by the Legislature in 2006 but vetoed by Gov. Bill Richardson. Since then, the politically hot potato \u2013 which is essentially an act of standing up to the governor \u2013 has sat untouched in the House.<\/p>\n

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

After a threat from the Senate that it wouldn\u2019t hear any House legislation until that bill began moving, Lujan had Senate Bill 710 make its way through two House committees and to the House floor on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Though the Senate\u2019s money in the bill is identical to what was vetoed last year, Lujan decided to redistribute the money in the House, several representatives told me. He apparently made a pledge to Minority Leader Tom Taylor<\/a> of Farmington<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> that each of the 70 House members would have an approximately equal share of the money.<\/p>\n

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

By the time the $82-million bill reached the House floor Thursday evening, it was clear that was not the case. The projects funded by the bill added up to approximately $367,000 per Republican member and $373,000 for each Democratic member of the House.<\/p>\n

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

It was Lujan who made the decision to do that. Most House Democrats didn\u2019t know about the disparity until it was revealed on the House floor.<\/p>\n

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

That\u2019s when the protests began. Minority Whip Dan Foley<\/a> of Roswell<\/st1:city> and Taylor<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> accused Lujan of reneging on his promise that the amounts would be equal. Republicans talked about how using taxpayer money in such a political way was unfair to the state\u2019s citizens. They spoke about how the Senate divided capital outlay money in a non-partisan manner.<\/p>\n

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

One member, who did not want to be identified, told me that, essentially, \u201cthe speaker was openly shamed and rebuked for his partisanship.\u201d But there was a lot more going on than was seen by those watching the hearing, a number of knowledgeable sources tell me.<\/p>\n

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

During the House debate, senators learned about what had happened to their bill and threatened a \u201ctotal meltdown of House bills in the Senate,\u201d one source told me. Between that and the anger among House Republicans that would linger if the situation wasn\u2019t fixed, some said that, without a positive resolution, the session might have been effectively over with three weeks remaining.<\/p>\n

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

A simple gesture marks the turning point<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Then came the turning point: Rep. Andy Nu\u00f1ez<\/a>, D-Hatch, stood and offered his share of the capital outlay money to Republicans to even out the amounts.<\/p>\n

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

It was a simple gesture and an expression of a belief in fairness, and it paved the road for a compromise. While discussion continued, Majority Leader Ken Martinez<\/a> of Grants approached Taylor<\/st1:city> and the two worked out an amendment, which was proposed by Martinez<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, to raise the amount given to each Republican to equal that given to Democrats.<\/p>\n

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

That was done by agreeing to fund a Republican proposal to renovate National Guard armories around the state.<\/p>\n

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

With even Lujan approving it, the amendment was adopted unanimously. The bill then passed 59-9. Since it\u2019s different than the Senate version, it now goes back to the Senate for approval.<\/p>\n

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

Martinez<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> said the amendment \u201cwas the right thing to do,\u201d and said Republicans actually drafted it.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI just visited to see if we could find a solution and Tom (Taylor<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>) told me of the amendment. I thought it was fair, and the speaker agreed, so we were able to fix it,\u201d Martinez<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> told me.<\/p>\n

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

Lujan doesn\u2019t return my phone calls.<\/p>\n

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

Several Republican and Democratic members I spoke with said reaching the compromise was a proud moment for the House \u2013 one that might help ensure that capital outlay is distributed more fairly in the future, regardless of who holds the position of speaker.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis was not about money. This was about fairness and keeping our word within the House of Representatives,\u201d Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a>, R-Albuquerque, told me.<\/p>\n

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

She said the way the situation was handled once the disparity was revealed, and the compromise that was reached, made her \u201cremarkably proud of this body.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What began with an apparent broken promise by Speaker of the House Ben Lujan ended during a debate Thursday with a productive deal that might set a precedent that takes some of the politics out of capital outlay disbursement. Several weeks ago Senate Bill 710, sponsored by Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, was approved on a vote […]<\/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-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","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=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}