{"id":523950,"date":"2018-02-14T20:35:04","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T03:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=523950"},"modified":"2018-02-14T21:15:40","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T04:15:40","slug":"papen-other-lawmakers-call-on-all-nmsu-regents-to-resign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/02\/papen-other-lawmakers-call-on-all-nmsu-regents-to-resign\/","title":{"rendered":"Papen, other lawmakers call on all NMSU regents to resign"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_308497\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-308497\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/4254111_web_031817_XGR_535_tonedCMYK-771x528.jpg\" alt=\"Mary Kay Papen\" width=\"771\" height=\"528\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/4254111_web_031817_XGR_535_tonedCMYK-771x528.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/4254111_web_031817_XGR_535_tonedCMYK-336x230.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/4254111_web_031817_XGR_535_tonedCMYK-768x526.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/4254111_web_031817_XGR_535_tonedCMYK.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">New Mexican file photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The president pro tem of the New Mexico Senate\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_368860502\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Wednesday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0called for the resignation of the five regents of New Mexico State University, saying they had arbitrarily stripped powers from Chancellor Garrey Carruthers.<\/p>\n<p>The regents <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/02\/nmsu-regents-trim-carruthers-power-as-chancellor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">voted\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_368860503\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Monday<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0to prohibit Carruthers from hiring and firing people in executive or coaching positions at the main campus in Las Cruces and on NMSU&#8217;s branch campuses.<\/p>\n<p>The move triggered a strong response from Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2018 legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>She stated in a letter of complaint to the regents that they had inappropriately and perhaps unlawfully delegated their responsibilities to one person while taking away authority from Carruthers.<\/p>\n<p>Papen&#8217;s reference was to regents board Chairwoman Debra Hicks, who was empowered by the rest of the board to make interim appointments.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The board is shirking its constitutional responsibilities in the control and management of NMSU by delegating its collective authority to the board chair,&#8221; Papen wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Hicks, of Hobbs, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n<p>Papen distributed the letter to fellow legislators in hopes that they would sign it.<\/p>\n<p>Many quickly did so, including Sens. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, and Howie Morales, D-Silver City.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I just think what the board did is uncalled for,&#8221; Soules said.<\/p>\n<p>Morales said at least three Republicans from the House of Representatives had added their names to Papen&#8217;s letter calling for the regents to resign. They are Reps. Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo, Candy Spence Ezzell of Roswell and James Townsend of Artesia.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, was writing a letter of his own criticizing the regents for their treatment of Carruthers.<\/p>\n<p>That letter, which had not yet been made public, did not go so far as to seek the regents&#8217; resignations, said Sen. Steve Neville, R-Aztec.<\/p>\n<p>Neville has been a vocal supporter of Carruthers for years. He said the regents were &#8220;a little heavy-handed&#8221; in taking away the chancellor&#8217;s powers.<\/p>\n<p>Neville spoke out for Carruthers last year when the regents said Carruthers had <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/08\/nmsus-carruthers-to-retire-next-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced his retirement<\/a>. Soon after, Carruthers, 78, said he wanted to work as chancellor for another few years.<\/p>\n<p>The regents then voted to search for a new chancellor and said Carruthers would leave office at the end of June, when his five-year term expires.<\/p>\n<p>In debate\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_368860504\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Wednesday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0on the Senate floor, several Democratic senators spoke on behalf of Carruthers and against Republican Gov. Susana Martinez&#8217;s record on picking regents. No Republican senators spoke during the debate, though Carruthers is a former GOP governor of New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Papen&#8217;s call for the ouster of the NMSU regents was challenged in certain respects by one Democrat, Sen. Jacob Candelaria of Albuquerque.<\/p>\n<p>Candelaria said the Senate should hold up-or-down votes on nominees for regent seats through its confirmation process. That has not always happened.<\/p>\n<p>He said he was frustrated by the politics on all sides when it comes to seating university regents.<\/p>\n<p>In Martinez&#8217;s seven years as governor, the Senate has rejected only one of her nominees for a board or commission. They did not confirm Matt Chandler for a seat on The University of New Mexico Board of Regents.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez later appointed Chandler to a District Court judgeship, a job not subject to Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Hicks, members of the New Mexico State University Board of Regents are Kari Mitchell, Mike Cheney, Jerean Cam\u00fa\u00f1ez Hutchinson and Margie Vela. Vela is a student at NMSU.<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Milan Simonich at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:msimonich@sfnewmexican.com\">msimonich@sfnewmexican.com<\/a>\u00a0or (505) 986-3080. Follow his Ringside Seat column in\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_368860505\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Monday&#8217;s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_368860506\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Friday&#8217;s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0print editions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The president pro tem of the Senate said the regents had arbitrarily stripped powers from Chancellor Garrey Carruthers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":308497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3634,3592,3647,133,107],"class_list":["post-523950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2018-legislative-session","tag-garrey-carruthers","tag-mary-kay-papen","tag-nmsu","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523950","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=523950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}