{"id":4285,"date":"2009-02-25T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T00:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/02\/the-senate-passes%e2%80%a6-an-ethics-reform-bill\/"},"modified":"2009-02-25T18:03:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-26T00:03:00","slug":"the-senate-passes%e2%80%a6-an-ethics-reform-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/02\/the-senate-passes%e2%80%a6-an-ethics-reform-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"The Senate passes\u2026 an ethics reform bill!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SaXdEYlI-gI\/AAAAAAAAK8Y\/8YNexoqzgS4\/s1600-h\/2009Legislature.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 150px;\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SaXdEYlI-gI\/AAAAAAAAK8Y\/8YNexoqzgS4\/s200\/2009Legislature.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306890803313441282\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The Senate approved this afternoon a bill that would allow a judge to fine an elected official convicted of corruption related to his or her office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">On a vote of 29-12, senators sent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/_session.aspx?Chamber=S&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=141&amp;year=09\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill 141<\/a>, sponsored by Minority Whip <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/legdetails.aspx?SPONCODE=SPAYN\" target=\"_blank\">William Payne<\/a>, R-Albuquerque, to the House for consideration. It\u2019s the most visible piece of ethics reform approved so far this year by the Senate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Under the bill, a judge could impose a fine when an elected official commits a felony connected to his position. The fine could be no greater than the elected official\u2019s salary and benefits, and would be an additional penalty on top of the standard sentence the official receives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">There was little debate before the Senate approved the legislation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The bill had been heavily pushed by the Senate Republican caucus as an important ethics-reform proposal. Before today\u2019s vote, Payne said in a news release that enacting the bill \u201cmight make these corrupt officials think twice about using their office for criminal purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cBecause they were receiving a salary from taxpayers when they were acting illegally, they should have to pay some of that salary back to the public, and they should not receive their fringe benefits like pensions,\u201d Payne said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">All Republicans voted for the bill except Rod Adair, who was absent. Here\u2019s how Democrats voted:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"MsoNormal\">Voting against the bill<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Mary Jane Garcia<br \/>Phil Griego<br \/>Linda Lopez<br \/>Linda Lovejoy<br \/>Richard Martinez<br \/>Howie Morales<br \/>George Munoz<br \/>Cynthia Nava<br \/>Bernadette Sanchez<br \/>Michael Sanchez<br \/>John Sapien<br \/>David Ulibarri<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"MsoNormal\">Voting for the bill<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Pete Campos<br \/>Carlos Cisneros<br \/>Tim Eichernberg<br \/>Dede Feldman<br \/>Stephen Fischmann<br \/>Eric Griego<br \/>Tim Jennings<br \/>Timothy Keller<br \/>Cisco McSorley<br \/>Gerald Ortiz y Pino<br \/>Mary Kay Papen<br \/>John Pinto<br \/>Nancy Rodriguez<br \/>John Arthur Smith<br \/>Peter With<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate approved this afternoon a bill that would allow a judge to fine an elected official convicted of corruption related to his or her office. On a vote of 29-12, senators sent Senate Bill 141, sponsored by Minority Whip William Payne, R-Albuquerque, to the House for consideration. It\u2019s the most visible piece of ethics [&hellip;]<\/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-4285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285","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=4285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}