{"id":1439,"date":"2007-03-20T09:04:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-20T15:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/senate-might-derail-richardsons-special-session\/"},"modified":"2007-03-20T09:04:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-20T15:04:00","slug":"senate-might-derail-richardsons-special-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/senate-might-derail-richardsons-special-session\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate might derail Richardson’s special session"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There\u2019s a chance that the New Mexico Senate will only convene today long enough to adjourn. <\/p>\n

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

The reasons for Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s<\/a> call for a special session can be summed up easily: The Senate didn\u2019t do what he wanted. A number of senators, however, say there\u2019s good reason for that.<\/p>\n

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

\n

What\u2019s not clear is how many Senate Democrats will opt to try to derail the special session when it begins at noon today.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe\u2019ll see what happens,\u201d said Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson<\/a>, R-Las Cruces and the minority whip. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised if we just meet and turn around and adjourn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

House Minority Whip Dan Foley<\/a>, R-Roswell, thinks that\u2019s a strong possibility.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019ve been called by multiple Democratic senators to say they\u2019re going to be sine die (adjourning without setting a time to return) today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Sen. Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, D-Do\u00f1a Ana and the majority whip, sounded like she might agree in comments made Saturday to the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t understand that the votes are not there, but he\u2019s going to spend the taxpayers\u2019 money to bring us back here,\u201d she told the newspaper about Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

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

By Monday, Garcia sounded more conciliatory, telling me she came home for the two-day break to repack, and was heading back to Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> at 6 a.m. today.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019ll be there,\u201d she said, but added that she believes at least two senators won\u2019t show up because they\u2019re out of the state.<\/p>\n

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

Rawson said he doesn\u2019t know of any who won\u2019t show up, since Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has the authority to call them back. But he said Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s decision to give lawmakers only a two-day break was \u201cextremely inconsiderate.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe put our businesses and families on hold for two months,\u201d Rawson said, adding that his son returns to Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> today after three months away.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cBut where will I be? I\u2019ll be in Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson has a number of items he wants approved during the special session, including public financing of judicial campaigns, campaign contribution limits, a state ethics commission, a registry for methamphetamine laboratories, tougher penalties for domestic violence, $208 million for road projects, and domestic partner benefits.<\/p>\n

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

They\u2019re proposals that all passed easily in the House, but had a rougher time in the Senate. Many weren\u2019t approved; those that passed were amended to the dissatisfaction of the House and governor.<\/p>\n

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

Putting the House in the middle<\/span><\/p>\n

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

In the final hour of the regular session, Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez<\/a>, D-Belen, took a phone call from either the governor or a staffer. What was said has not been disclosed, but the Senate almost immediately recessed so Democrats could hold a secret caucus. They came back and killed one of the seven proposals for which Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has called them back \u2013 contribution limits \u2013 and let time expire on another \u2013 the road funding bill.<\/p>\n

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

If the Senate quits the special session without working on the bills, the more conciliatory House will be caught in a difficult position. After three days, it can call the Senate back to work, but doing so would be taking the governor\u2019s side. Adjourning would be taking the Senate\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

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

There\u2019s a good chance House Republicans would want to side with the Senate. A large number of Democrats would want to side with the governor. A handful of middle-of-the-road House Democrats, who have often sided with Republicans this year, may end up deciding the fate of the special session.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI have no idea how productive the session will be,\u201d said House Majority Leader Ken Martinez<\/a>, D-Grants. \u201cI have not had a chance to sit down with the House and Senate leadership or the executive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u2018A fairly big enterprise\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Martinez<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> called the governor\u2019s agenda for the special session \u201ca fairly big enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The main reasons for the special session are the ethics bills and the road funding. The Senate approved two of seven ethics reform proposals \u2013 one that made a number of changes to the Governmental Conduct Act and another that placed limits on gifts to state officials and candidates for state offices.<\/p>\n

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

But it killed, in the final moments of the regular session, limits on campaign contributions, and it never heard the proposals for public financing of judicial races and the ethics commission.<\/p>\n

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

Rawson pointed out that the Senate approved contribution limits that would apply to gifts to candidates and political action committees after a lengthy debate about the fact that Republicans are more dependent on gifts from individuals and Democrats are more dependent on gifts from groups.<\/p>\n

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

The generally less partisan Senate agreed that the bill\u2019s intent was to level the playing field, and amended the proposal to apply to PACs as a way to do that. The House, whose Democratic leadership operates the powerful Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, took the provision out of the bill before sending it back to meet its death by one vote in the Senate.<\/p>\n

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

On the ethics commission, Rawson pointed out that the Legislature has its own joint committee to look into complaints against lawmakers, and said an ethics commission should not apply to the Legislature. I asked why the legislative committee hadn\u2019t investigated Rep. Richard Vigil<\/a>, D-Ribera, whose wife threw a $9,700 private, invitation-only party last year that was dubbed as a workshop for professional development. The party was paid for by capital outlay money secured by her husband.<\/p>\n

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

Rawson said the committee hasn\u2019t investigated because no one has filed a complaint. Anyone can file a complaint, he said, but the committee hasn\u2019t met in several years because no one has done that.<\/p>\n

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

As to the road-funding bill \u2013 dubbed GRIP II (Governor Richardson\u2019s Improvement Plan II) \u2013 Rawson pointed out that the projects funded by GRIP I haven\u2019t been completed. The project is more than $300 million short because of material cost increases and the state\u2019s failure to secure federal funding it planned to receive for the commuter rail.<\/p>\n

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

And, Rawson said, GRIP I was for state roads. GRIP II would fund county and municipal roads, which some lawmakers think the state should only fund through capital outlay money.<\/p>\n

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

Most important, Rawson said, is that senators don\u2019t believe the GRIP II money would cover all the projects listed.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe can\u2019t trust their numbers on GRIP II because their projections on GRIP I were so bad,\u201d Rawson said.<\/p>\n

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

Also included in the bill is $25 million for a road from Interstate 25 in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename> to Spaceport America<\/a> in Sierra<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>, in Rawson\u2019s district. That money is also controversial.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cA lot of the legislators don\u2019t like the spaceport,\u201d Rawson said.<\/p>\n

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

A presidentially motivated special session?<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is set to speak later this month to a national gay-rights group and is hoping to raise a significant amount of money. Many suspect that\u2019s why he is so insistent on domestic partner benefits, a topic he didn\u2019t mention in his state of the state address.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> didn\u2019t begin openly pushing for the bill until the last week of the session, and the bill doesn\u2019t carry his endorsement.<\/p>\n

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

Last week the House approved the legislation, then sent it to the Senate, which amended it to allow benefits not only for homosexual couples, but for people in any number of living situations Rawson called \u201cpartnerships\u201d \u2013 whether it be senior citizens living together to help care for each other, a father and daughter living together or other situations.<\/p>\n

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

The House amended the bill back to apply to only homosexual couples, and the Senate let it die.<\/p>\n

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

Rawson questioned why the special session couldn\u2019t have waited a month \u2013 why Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> had to bring 112 exhausted lawmakers who had made other plans back immediately.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWhat has to be done tomorrow?\u201d he asked. \u201cOh, maybe domestic partner benefits if you\u2019re going to speak to a national group.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

During his Saturday news conference announcing the special session, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said the special session has nothing to do with his presidential run, adding that GRIP II isn\u2019t exactly a hot national topic. However, others pointed out, it could make a number of business owners happy enough to give money to a certain candidate for president. And domestic partner benefits is certainly a national topic.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI do things for what\u2019s right for the people of New Mexico<\/st1:state> and also what\u2019s right for this country,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said.<\/p>\n

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

We\u2019ll see in a few hours what the Senate thinks about that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a chance that the New Mexico Senate will only convene today long enough to adjourn. The reasons for Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s call for a special session can be summed up easily: The Senate didn\u2019t do what he wanted. A number of senators, however, say there\u2019s good reason for that. What\u2019s not clear is how […]<\/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-1439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439","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=1439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}