{"id":2908,"date":"2008-02-22T15:18:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-22T21:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/02\/a-jovial-richardson-signs-bills-in-las-cruces\/"},"modified":"2008-02-22T15:18:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-22T21:18:00","slug":"a-jovial-richardson-signs-bills-in-las-cruces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/02\/a-jovial-richardson-signs-bills-in-las-cruces\/","title":{"rendered":"A jovial Richardson signs bills in Las Cruces"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Gov. Bill Richards<\/a>on<\/a> was all smiles and jokes today during a news conference and bill-signing ceremony in Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

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

Richardso<\/st1:city>n<\/st1:city> was greeted warmly by lawmakers, local politicians and New Mexico State University<\/a> officials during the ceremony at NMSU\u2019s Business Complex.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe Legislative session wasn\u2019t very good, but for New Mexico<\/st1:placename> State<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>, it was great,\u201d the governor said with a chuckle in announcing more than $33 million in new funding for NMSU that came out of the legislative session and the creation of a new doctorate program in economic development.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s beard was the most mentioned subject at the event. Business Dean and former Gov. Garrey Carruthers<\/a> introduced the governor as \u201cAdjunct Professor Richardson\u201d \u2013 a reference to his teaching a course at NMSU a couple of years ago \u2013 and joked about the facial hair the governor has been growing since he withdrew from the presidential race in January.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Carruthers pointed to two bearded men standing at the back of the room and told Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> that they are among the top economists around.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cSo you\u2019re on the right track if that\u2019s your goal,\u201d he told Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:city> is usually lighthearted at bill-signing ceremonies, but his demeanor at today\u2019s event was a stark contrast to mood in Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> caused by his tough fight with senators over a number of issues including health-care reform. Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said today that he will meet with Senate leaders on Thursday to discuss when to hold a special session for health-care reform.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:city> signed six bills in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, including Senate Bill 71<\/a>, which outlaws human trafficking. The bill was sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, D-Do\u00f1a Ana.<\/p>\n

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

After telling the group that the new law brings New Mexico<\/st1:state> in line with other border states<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, he introduced \u201cthe one-and-only\u201d Garcia.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cYou look great with that beard,\u201d Garcia told the governor.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> also signed three bills sponsored by Sen. Cynthia Nava<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, and two bills sponsored by Rep. Nate Cote<\/a>, D-Las Cruces. And he made a point of thanking Rep. Joseph Cervantes<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, who helped rewrite Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s health-care bill during the session into something the House was willing to approve. Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said Cervantes \u201ccobbled together\u201d an acceptable proposal. The Senate later rejected the bill.<\/p>\n

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

After the event, Richardson<\/st1:city> told reporters he hasn\u2019t decided whether to sign a bill that would create a veterans\u2019 museum in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, saying Rio Rancho also wants the museum and he wants to find a solution all will accept. He said he will sign Senate Bill 1<\/a>, which will provide an alternate path to the ballot for major-party candidates for statewide and federal offices who fail to secure 20 percent of the votes at their party\u2019s preprimary nominating conventions.<\/p>\n

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

In the Second Congressional District race, there are a couple of big-name candidates who some think are struggling to reach 20 percent, so the news may come as a relief to some.<\/p>\n

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

Before Richardson<\/st1:city> headed to Alamogordo<\/st1:city> and Roswell<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, he greeted Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima<\/a> after the news conference by asking if he was \u201cMr. Miyagi\u201d \u2013 an apparent reference to the character from the movie The Karate Kid. And when he saw Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> developer Philip Philippou, he chanted \u201cPhil-i-ppou\u201d several times, sounding out each syllable with a big grin on his face.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Bill Richardson was all smiles and jokes today during a news conference and bill-signing ceremony in Las Cruces. Richardson was greeted warmly by lawmakers, local politicians and New Mexico State University officials during the ceremony at NMSU\u2019s Business Complex. \u201cThe Legislative session wasn\u2019t very good, but for New Mexico State, it was great,\u201d the […]<\/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-2908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2908","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=2908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2908\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}