{"id":25167,"date":"2011-01-19T08:29:20","date_gmt":"2011-01-19T15:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=25167"},"modified":"2011-01-19T11:48:35","modified_gmt":"2011-01-19T18:48:35","slug":"politics-derailed-cervantes%e2%80%99-coalition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/01\/politics-derailed-cervantes%e2%80%99-coalition\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics derailed Cervantes\u2019 coalition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Rep. Joseph Cervantes (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Though House Republican leaders wanted their caucus to support a coalition to make Rep. Joseph Cervantes<\/a> speaker of the House, in the end, politics took over, and a coalition never truly materialized.<\/p>\n

The political dynamics that prevented the coalition were twofold: Some GOP members felt the pressure of lobbying from tea party groups around the state and were afraid they might face primary challengers in two years if they joined a coalition.<\/p>\n

Others thought they would have a better chance of taking control of the House in 2012 if Ben Luj\u00e1n<\/a> remained speaker.<\/p>\n

In addition, some GOP members wanted more from Cervantes, who promised nothing except fairness and adherence to the rules.<\/p>\n

In the end, it didn\u2019t matter that Minority Leader Tom Taylor<\/a> and Minority Whip Don Bratton<\/a> wanted their caucus to back Cervantes.\u00a0From The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cTaylor, who acknowledged he had been leaning toward supporting Cervantes, said\u2026 more Republicans were thinking of the political advantage of keeping Luj\u00e1n in the position rather than the \u2018policy\u2019 advantages.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018He\u2019s the status quo,\u2019 Taylor said of Luj\u00e1n. \u2018There was a risk with Cervantes that we could have passed some great legislation and there\u2019d be a love fest in the Legislature. … It would be harder to run a negative campaign.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cervantes, speaking to Capitol Report New Mexico<\/a> and other reporters after Tuesday\u2019s floor session ended, said a number of Republicans \u201cjust felt they couldn\u2019t ever support a Democrat\u201d and said the tea party \u201chad a very strong influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the Republicans were at one point were prepared to reach across and support a bipartisan effort, in the waning hours, enough of their members felt they needed to stay home,\u201d Cervantes said.<\/p>\n

Tea parties flex their muscles<\/h3>\n

This is the first time tea party groups from around the state have joined together and flexed their muscles in such an impactful way. Nine such groups<\/a> from around the state passed resolutions opposing GOP involvement in a coalition.<\/p>\n

Coalition supporters were upset that some GOP members allowed tea party influence to derail their efforts. One with knowledge of the discussions of the Republican caucus said there\u2019s a big difference between Luj\u00e1n, who was backed by many progressive Democrats, and Cervantes, who was backed by Democrats willing to cross party lines to get things done.<\/p>\n

The source had a message for the tea party:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t think there\u2019s any difference between these folks, you\u2019re not paying attention,\u201d the source said. \u201cThe progressives won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Late last week, many sources \u2013 supporters of both Cervantes and Luj\u00e1n \u2013 said the vote was at least a toss up, and some thought it leaned in Cervantes\u2019 favor. Then tea party groups started passing their resolutions. By Monday night, despite the efforts of Taylor and Bratton to influence the GOP caucus, it was clear there would be no coalition.<\/p>\n

Rep. Andy Nu\u00f1ez<\/a>, D-Hatch and a vocal supporter of a coalition to make Cervantes speaker, asked, if the tea parties weren\u2019t willing to support Cervantes, what Democrat they would ever support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that the tea party was supposed to be nonpartisan,\u201d said an obviously disappointed Nu\u00f1ez.<\/p>\n

Nu\u00f1ez was unsuccessfully challenged in last year\u2019s election by Republican Debra White, who is now the leader of the Las Cruces tea party \u2013 the group that started the effort to derail the coalition. White sounded partisan in an interview with Capitol Report New Mexico<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re supposed to be a group of conservatives. We\u2019re Republicans,\u201d she said when asked why she opposed the coalition. \u201c\u2026 There\u2019s no reason for us to vote with the coalition. We are our own group. These people were elected to do the will of the people, and this is what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about what is right. It\u2019s either right or it\u2019s wrong. There is really no middle of the road here,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ll continue to keep trying to make a difference\u2019<\/h3>\n

Cervantes acknowledged being disappointed, but said he will continue working to make a difference. Though some sources said the unsuccessful challenge might lead to a lessening of Cervantes\u2019 influence, others were quick to point out that he became even more influential after being part of an unsuccessful challenge to Luj\u00e1n\u2019s leadership in 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here 10 years, and I\u2019ve many times tried to bring change here \u2013 this is not the first time that I\u2019ve tried to do so,\u201d Cervantes told reporters Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019ll continue to keep trying to make a difference in Santa Fe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though House Republican leaders wanted their caucus to support a coalition to make Rep. Joseph Cervantes speaker of the House, in the end, politics took over, and a coalition never truly materialized.<\/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-25167","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\/25167","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=25167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}