{"id":1452,"date":"2007-03-22T03:50:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-22T09:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/despite-gop-protests-house-works-through-the-night\/"},"modified":"2007-03-22T03:50:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-22T09:50:00","slug":"despite-gop-protests-house-works-through-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/despite-gop-protests-house-works-through-the-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite GOP protests, House works through the night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The House appears to be on track to work through the night, and a GOP motion to adjourn sine die and end the session was defeated by Democrats. <\/p>\n

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

House Republicans are working every procedural angle they can find to try to stop or stall the session, and a bipartisan group of members who are on the floor have described the scene to me as a huge mess.<\/p>\n

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

I\u2019m not clear at this early hour (It\u2019s almost 4 a.m. now and I\u2019m in Las Cruces, not Santa Fe) what the exact vote was on the motion to adjourn sine die, but all Democrats voted against ending the session and all Republicans voted for it. Among those voting against the motion was Rep. Joseph Cervantes<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, who was absent much of Wednesday but made the trip to Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and is now working alongside other House members.<\/p>\n

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

The vote came early this morning after a call of the House by Republicans and a number of excusals by Speaker of the House Ben Lujan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

The scene is ugly. Earlier, Minority Whip Dan Foley<\/a>, R-Roswell, called the Democrats \u201csheep\u201d during a speech. Republicans also sent a strongly worded letter to the governor complaining that he\u2019s in California<\/st1:state> campaigning while they\u2019re in Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> working. (The entire text of the letter is at the end of this posting.)<\/p>\n

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

Lujan appears ready to keep working until the House has approved the entire agenda for the session. Members just approved what is now House Bill 2<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Dan Silva<\/a>, D-Albuquerque. It\u2019s the $208-million road-funding bill that includes $25 million for the spaceport road. The domestic partner benefits bill is up next, and the debate on it should last several hours.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe have an obligation to the citizens of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to complete the work before us,\u201d Lujan said in a news release put out Wednesday evening. \u201cWe are prepared to stay and do our job.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Here\u2019s a rundown of the other bills introduced by House Democrats that are being considered:<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 House Bill 3<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Swisstack<\/a>, D-Rio Rancho, would establish cleanup procedures for toxic substances in residences used as methamphetamine labs and would establish a statewide registry of these residences.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 House Bill 4<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart<\/a>, D-Albuquerque, would provide domestic partners with the same rights, protections and benefits given to spouses, including parental rights.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 House Bill 5<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Al Park<\/a>, D-Albuquerque, would increase the penalties for domestic-violence repeat offenders and mandate treatment for first-time offenders.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 House Bill 6<\/a>, sponsored by Lujan, would provide for public financing of statewide judicial campaigns.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 House Bill 7<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Gail Chasey<\/a>, D-Albuquerque, would refine campaign reporting requirements and place limits on campaign contributions.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 House Bill 8<\/a>, sponsored by Majority Leader Ken Martinez<\/a>, D-Grants, would establish a state ethics commission.<\/p>\n

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

I\u2019m not certain at this point what has already been approved, but all passed the House during the regular session and should do so again. Martinez<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said in the news release from Democrats that he\u2019s especially concerned about the ethics bills.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt\u2019s important that we pass these three bills so we can have a comprehensive ethics reform package,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Text of House Republicans\u2019 letter to Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Meanwhile, here\u2019s a copy of a letter House Republicans sent to the governor:<\/p>\n

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

Dear Governor Richardson:<\/p>\n

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

On behalf of the People of the State of New Mexico<\/st1:state>, we request that you return to New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, or in the alternative, that you advise the Legislature of your future travel plans so that we may schedule a mutually convenient time for your Special Session. Your Proclamation states that our citizens deserve and expect that public servants act in a manner that is honest and honorable \u2013 we quite agree. However, we do not agree with your statement that issues critical to the economic health, welfare and public safety of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> have arisen since the conclusion of the regular session. If such issues had indeed arisen in the past four days, no honest and honorable Executive would have left the state. We are aware that your schedule is hectic but we also know that you do not intend to abdicate your responsibilities to New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/p>\n

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

We feel that the Executive and Legislative branches worked very well together over the last 60 days \u2013 let\u2019s not destroy the progress we\u2019ve made. The public is furious the Senate has gone home while the House sits idle, costing the taxpayers God only knows how much. Our citizens are also aware that there is no real need for this Special Session, and they blame you as well as us.<\/p>\n

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

Please comply with our request so we can continue to work together for the good of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/p>\n

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

Respectfully submitted,<\/p>\n

Tom Taylor, Republican Floor Leader<\/p>\n

Dan Foley, Republican Whip<\/p>\n

Anna Crook, Republican Caucus Leader<\/p>\n

cc: Ben Lujan, Speaker of the House<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The House appears to be on track to work through the night, and a GOP motion to adjourn sine die and end the session was defeated by Democrats. House Republicans are working every procedural angle they can find to try to stop or stall the session, and a bipartisan group of members who are on […]<\/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-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452","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=1452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}