{"id":4149,"date":"2009-01-20T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-20T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/01\/nm-senate-leadership-fight-to-be-decided-today\/"},"modified":"2009-01-20T02:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-20T08:00:00","slug":"nm-senate-leadership-fight-to-be-decided-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/01\/nm-senate-leadership-fight-to-be-decided-today\/","title":{"rendered":"NM Senate leadership fight to be decided today"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Will the Senate continue to be a thorn in the governor\u2019s side or become more amenable to his agenda? The race between Jennings and Cisneros is too close to call.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the state Legislature convenes today, senators will decide whether to continue following a bipartisan coalition that has been the only real check on the governor\u2019s power or take a new direction under leadership many believe will be friendlier to Bill Richardson<\/a> and his agenda.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Supporters of keeping Tim Jennings<\/a>, D-Roswell, as Senate president pro tem say their coalition, which consists largely of Republicans and conservative Democrats, is a necessary check on Richardson, especially in a year in which lawmakers have to make dramatic cuts to the state budget. Supporters of replacing Jennings with Carlos Cisneros<\/a>, D-Questa, are looking to take advantage of progressive gains in the Senate and the current left-leaning mood of the nation to move their agenda forward.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In a number of interviews conducted in the last few days, Jennings and many of his supporters said he has the edge going into today\u2019s vote, while Cisneros and his supporters made the same claim about Cisneros. Most conceded that the race is close.<\/p>\n

That essentially means it\u2019s impossible to predict what will happen today. The entire Republican caucus is likely to back Jennings, who is attempting to override the will of his own Democratic caucus, which voted late last year to replace him with Cisneros. To be successful, Jennings needs the votes of himself and six other Democrats, along with those of every Republican.<\/p>\n

The vote is important primarily because the pro tem appoints members of the Senate Committees\u2019 Committee<\/a>. That committee makes assignments to other committees and decides who will chair those committees. So the pro tem has the ability to put his allies in the position of setting the agenda for the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe determination of who will lead the Senate in the next session will determine the direction of the Senate for the next four years,\u201d said Sen. Cisco McSorley<\/a>, D-Albuquerque and a Cisneros supporter. \u201cIt will manifest itself on the budget, on social issues, on environmental issues, right down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

The budget<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, many senators said John Arthur Smith<\/a>, D-Deming, would likely continue as chairman of the Finance Committee if Jennings keeps the pro tem job, but is likely to be replaced if Cisneros wins. Smith has been warning that the state was going to face a dire financial situation since long before most of his colleagues and the governor saw it coming.<\/p>\n

That alone is enough to lead Sen. Mary Kay Papen<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, to support Jennings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am supporting Tim Jennings because I think that we need to keep fiscal responsibility, and we have that in Sen. Smith and Sen. Jennings,\u201d Papen said. \u201c\u2026 We will work with the governor but we will not be overrun by the governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennings said it\u2019s now clear that the Senate has been a necessary check in recent years, not the naysayer Richardson and others have complained about.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere would we be without the Senate right now? Instead of being $600 billion in the hole or half a billion in the hole, we\u2019d be twice that. The Senate has saved the state from being totally devastated, and the only thing we\u2019ve received from that is being totally attacked,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cShouldn\u2019t somebody say, \u2018You were right about that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But Cisneros said the budget is going to be front-and-center regardless of who wins the leadership battle. He said the fact that lawmakers have to address a shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars ensures a fiscally smart focus during the session.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what we\u2019re doing right now is not working and we have to do something to make very clear that we have a balanced budget,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with the governor<\/span><\/p>\n

Cisneros said, if he\u2019s pro tem, he\u2019ll work with everyone and try to steer the Senate to the middle. He said his good relationships with House Speaker Ben Lujan<\/a> and the governor will also help.<\/p>\n

Jennings, on the other hand, has been one of Richardson\u2019s most vocal critics and has felt the wrath of the governor\u2019s fury in recent years. Asked about that, Jennings said he\u2019s glad to know one governor will be around for the entire session so the dynamic is clear. Until Richardson withdrew his nomination to be commerce secretary, the likely scenario was that Richardson would be replaced mid-way through the session by Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Richardson withdrew because of an ongoing federal grand jury investigation into allegations of pay to play in his administration<\/a>. Jennings says he doesn\u2019t believe the governor is weakened by the investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is kind of scary when you think about some of the charges that are out there for pay-to-play, but the governor\u2026 is innocent until proven guilty, and I will maintain that and treat him that way,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cIt\u2019s real easy to tear somebody down. The governor\u2019s done a lot of things to me as far as personal attacks, but I don\u2019t tend to make those. That\u2019s his shortcoming; that\u2019s not mine. \u2026 I\u2019m not here to make hey on his problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cisneros also said the governor remains politically strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we\u2019re all concerned about the most recent activity — his administration is being investigated and so on. \u2026 If he gets charged then that may shift, but I don\u2019t think, unless that happens, that it\u2019s going to have any implication,\u201d Cisneros said. \u201cHe\u2019s strong, he\u2019s determined and historically he prevails.\u201d<\/p>\n

The north-south dynamic<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s one other dynamic at play in the Senate leadership battle. Jennings and many of those who have influential positions in the Senate as a result of his holding the pro tem job are from the southern half of the state. Papen, who as a member of the Finance Committee is one of those influential southerners, said electing Cisneros would shift the power in the Senate to the north. She pointed out that the leadership in the House already comes primarily from the northern half of the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we elect Carlos and the people that have been promised to be put into place\u2026 We would move every bit of power in this state up north, and I\u2019m not willing to do that,\u201d Papen said. \u201cI think we need to be looking at the state as a whole, we need to be looking at leadership as a whole, we need to be looking at leadership that will work with the governor and the House but also will stand ground as the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

McSorley said the opposite is true — electing Cisneros would continue and possibly increase the south\u2019s influence. He said Cisneros would do a better job of listening to Sen. Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, D-Do\u00f1a Ana and the majority whip, than has past leadership, and Cisneros would pay greater attention to education, and Sen. Cynthia Nava<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, chairs the Education Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an interesting, historic crossroads we\u2019re at because the presidency of the Senate has been dominated for over 30 years by southern New Mexico and Albuquerque,\u201d McSorley said. \u201cThis is the first time that we have the historic opportunity to balance that with the election of a norte\u00f1o, and I\u2019ll be proud to be part of making that change.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will the Senate continue to be a thorn in the governor\u2019s side or become more amenable to his agenda? The race between Jennings and Cisneros is too close to call. When the state Legislature convenes today, senators will decide whether to continue following a bipartisan coalition that has been the only real check on 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-4149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4149","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=4149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}