{"id":36975,"date":"2012-02-21T08:22:03","date_gmt":"2012-02-21T15:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=36975"},"modified":"2012-02-22T08:59:45","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T15:59:45","slug":"martinez-looks-to-unseat-legislative-foes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/02\/martinez-looks-to-unseat-legislative-foes\/","title":{"rendered":"Martinez looks to unseat legislative foes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gov.<\/a>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>

Gov. Susana Martinez (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

By targeting Republican Sen. Clinton Harden, Gov. Susana Martinez showed that she\u2019ll go after any state legislator she views as standing in the way of her reform proposals, regardless of party affiliation.<\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

When State Sen. Clinton Harden<\/a> announced this weekend that he won\u2019t seek another term, he gave Gov. Susana Martinez<\/a> her first victory of the 2012 election.<\/p>\n

Not that she\u2019ll publicly claim victory or he\u2019ll give it to her, but Harden\u2019s announcement came days after the Clovis Republican learned that he would face a tough primary challenge that had the fingerprints of Martinez and her political adviser, Jay McCleskey<\/a>, all over it.<\/p>\n

Martinez, also a Republican, has repeatedly threatened to help voters decide what to do about legislative incumbents who get in the way of the reforms she proposes. As of its last report in October<\/a>, her political action committee had about $300,000 on hand to do just that.<\/p>\n

The apparent targeting of Harden shows that Martinez, fresh off another round of high-profile legislative losses<\/a> on her top reform proposals, intends to remake the Legislature in this year\u2019s election. That means going after anyone, Democrat or Republican, who has stood in her way.<\/p>\n

In addition to targeting Harden, Martinez has also set her sights on Sen. John Sapien<\/a>, D-Corrales. A mailer<\/a> from SusanaPAC<\/a> going out this week contrasts his vote against her push to repeal the law that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver\u2019s licenses with the vote by Rep. David Doyle<\/a>, R-Albuquerque, in favor of her proposal, which has thus far been unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Jay<\/a><\/dt>\n

\u201cGovernor Martinez\u2019s PAC will help level the playing field to assist reform-minded candidates in their elections.\u201d – Martinez political adviser Jay McCleskey<\/h4>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Doyle, a close ally of the governor, confirmed Monday that he will challenge Sapien this year and said a formal announcement should come later this week.<\/p>\n

Other potential targets include Democratic Sens. Steve Fischmann<\/a> of Las Cruces, Tim Eichenberg<\/a> of Albuquerque and, in spite of what Martinez has said, perhaps even Majority Leader Michael Sanchez<\/a> of Belen.<\/p>\n

Sen. Vernon Asbill<\/a>, R-Carlsbad, announced his retirement<\/a> Monday. Though he and Martinez were sometimes at odds, there had been no public signs that she planned to try to take him out this year \u2013 at least yet.<\/p>\n

McCleskey declined to mention specific targets in a statement to NMPolitics.net but acknowledged the governor\u2019s efforts to remake the Legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as trial lawyers, labor unions, and Senator Sanchez\u2019s PAC will spend big to defend the status quo, Governor Martinez\u2019s PAC will help level the playing field to assist reform-minded candidates in their elections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Spears pledges to \u2018stand up to the status quo\u2019<\/h3>\n

During the final days of the session last week \u2013 while Harden was opposing a Martinez-sought floor amendment proponents characterized as taking money from school district lobbyists and public information officers to fund reading reforms \u2013 Angie Spears, the 37-year-old director of a counseling agency, was announcing her candidacy to take on Harden in the June primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m running for the state Senate because we need leaders with the courage to stand up to the status quo and fight for real reforms. New Mexicans are fed up with politicians who don\u2019t represent their views,\u201d Spears said in a news release<\/a> sent Feb. 14. The release mentioned her pledge \u201cto fight to repeal the law that gives driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants\u201d and her support for merit-based teacher pay and ending so-called social promotion.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was an intentional contrast that focused on Martinez\u2019s top priorities that have stalled in the Legislature. Harden voted for the 2003 law that allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain driver\u2019s licenses \u2013 the law Martinez has now tried three times without success to get lawmakers to repeal.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Angie<\/a><\/dt>\n

\u201cNew Mexicans are fed up with politicians who don\u2019t represent their views.\u201d – Senate candidate Angie Spears<\/h4>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Though much of the back-and-forth has taken place behind the scenes, Harden has also not been the biggest supporter of some of Martinez\u2019s education reform proposals.<\/p>\n

Spears\u2019 news release included endorsements from her uncle, Public Regulation Commission Chairman Pat Lyons<\/a>, and Clovis-area District Attorney Matt Chandler<\/a>, a close ally of Martinez.<\/p>\n

Days later, Harden announced that he wouldn\u2019t seek another term. Even though he had a 2012 re-election website<\/a> up, Harden seemed to indicate he had decided to retire before Spears announced her candidacy.\u00a0 The Clovis News Journal quoted him as saying<\/a> it was \u201cin the best interest of all concerned that I have moved up my announcement that I will retire at the end of my term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez praised Harden in a statement to NMPolitics.net, then moved quickly to endorse Spears and try to keep others from entering the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cAngie Spears is running for the State Senate (District 7) on a platform to shake-up the status quo and fight for real reforms. Angie understands the importance of repealing the law that gives driver\u2019s licenses to illegal immigrants and enacting true education reforms, including a teacher evaluation system that puts an emphasis on student progress,\u201d Martinez stated Monday on her Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Martinez needed no time to get to know Spears before endorsing her because the governor was already supporting the political newcomer \u2013 even if it was only behind-the-scenes until Harden quit the race.<\/p>\n

Sapien hit in mailer, robocalls<\/h3>\n

Martinez is being less covert about her attempt to unseat Sapien.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to John Sapien, New Mexico is one of only two states in the entire country that gives driver\u2019s licenses to illegal immigrants,\u201d states the mailer<\/a> that is going out this week in his district. \u201c\u2026 When New Mexicans tried to stop this by repealing the law, John Sapien blocked them and voted to continue giving driver\u2019s licenses to illegal immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"John<\/a><\/dt>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to run hard and we\u2019re not going to give up the seat.\u201d – Sen. John Sapien<\/h4>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Instead of agreeing to the governor\u2019s proposed repeal of that law, Sapien and many other Democrats have supported amendments they say would help combat fraud while ensuring that more people who drive on New Mexico\u2019s roads are licensed.<\/p>\n

Doyle, on the other hand, supported Martinez\u2019s push for a repeal. The mailer states that he \u201cunderstands how wrongheaded and dangerous it is to attract criminals and human traffickers to our state\u201d and \u201cwill keep fighting to repeal it in the State Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s redistricting<\/a> shifted the voting performance of Sapien\u2019s district three percentage points to the left, to 50.5 percent Democratic and 49.5 percent Republican. Before the Obama wave of 2008, the district had long been Republican-leaning, like those currently represented by Fischmann and Eichenberg. It\u2019s no secret that the GOP wants all three back.<\/p>\n

Sapien told NMPolitics.net he isn\u2019t surprised that Martinez is targeting him. The state GOP sent out two robocalls in his district during the legislative session. He complained that, \u201cas we\u2019re trying to focus on meeting to form public policy, the governor and Republican Party are focused on the election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Martinez frequently cites a poll that found the majority of New Mexicans want to repeal the law that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver\u2019s licenses, some Democrats have recently been touting one that says New Mexicans want compromise that strengthens the law. Sapien said he\u2019s prepared to defend his vote against attacks from Martinez.<\/p>\n

He said voters are more concerned about the economy and jobs, and he\u2019s proud of his record on that issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to run like we did in \u201808 when we were not the incumbent,\u201d Sapien said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to run hard and we\u2019re not going to give up the seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanchez says he\u2019s confident<\/h3>\n

At a post-session news conference on Thursday, Martinez \u201cneeded little nudging by reporters\u201d to talk about the election, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Michael<\/a><\/dt>\n

\u201cWe have a pretty intelligent base of voters in New Mexico and once we explain the differences, I feel pretty confident that they\u2019ll understand it.\u201d – Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez<\/h4>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIf voters appreciate that (some lawmakers) abandoned our children in education reform, they’ll continue to vote them in,\u201d the newspaper quoted Martinez as saying. \u201cIf they don\u2019t appreciate that, putting pork before their kids, then they\u2019ll put someone else in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Sapien, Majority Leader Sanchez said recently that he\u2019s confident Democrats will be able to defend their votes on the driver\u2019s license issue and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll go to the public and explain our position philosophically. We have a pretty intelligent base of voters in New Mexico and once we explain the differences, I feel pretty confident that they\u2019ll understand it,\u201d The Associated Press quoted Sanchez as saying<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that Martinez views Sanchez as one of her biggest obstacles. Yet, according to The New Mexican, \u201cAsked directly by a reporter whether she\u2019d target Sanchez during the election, Martinez said no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanchez was quoted by the newspaper as saying he\u2019s ready if Martinez does. But he could have a tough time. As I wrote in the January newsletter that goes to donors to the site<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the new district boundaries<\/a>, the Belen-area District 29 that Sanchez represents has a performance rating that\u2019s 53.1 percent Democratic and 46.9 percent Republican. But that doesn\u2019t tell the whole story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough there are lots more registered Democrats than Republicans in the district (51.8 percent to 29.4 percent), the district\u2019s voters are more than willing to elect a Republican \u2013 when they view that Republican as worthy of support.<\/p>\n

\u201cMartinez won Sanchez\u2019s district in 2010 with 57.5 percent of the vote. Former President George W. Bush won it in 2004 with 53.3 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if a credible Republican runs against Sanchez, and Martinez backs him or her with serious cash, Sanchez could be in trouble.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First Martinez has to find a credible candidate to take on Sanchez. She hasn\u2019t yet, and she may not. But, regardless of what she says publicly, don\u2019t believe the governor isn\u2019t looking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By targeting Republican Sen. Clinton Harden, Gov. Susana Martinez showed that she\u2019ll go after any state legislator she views as standing in the way of her reform proposals, regardless of party affiliation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[156,270,125,107,208],"class_list":["post-36975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2012-election","tag-drivers-licenses","tag-education","tag-roundhouse","tag-susana-martinez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36975","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=36975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}