{"id":526618,"date":"2018-02-18T00:01:25","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T07:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=526618"},"modified":"2018-02-17T21:22:12","modified_gmt":"2018-02-18T04:22:12","slug":"the-teacher-childhood-trauma-informed-senators-legislative-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/02\/the-teacher-childhood-trauma-informed-senators-legislative-success\/","title":{"rendered":"The teacher: Childhood trauma informed senator&#8217;s legislative success"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_526634\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-526634\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_020-771x541.jpg\" alt=\"Mimi Stewart\" width=\"771\" height=\"541\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_020-771x541.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_020-336x236.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_020-768x539.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_020-1170x821.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_020.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Don Usner \/ for Searchlight New Mexico<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mimi Stewart at the State Capitol.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>She was 3 years old when her father died in a car crash and 17 when her mother committed suicide. In between those bookends of loss, she lived with the man she refers to as \u201cmy evil stepfather.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He demeaned her, her two older sisters and her younger brother, and punished them with a belt when they didn\u2019t meet his exacting standards.<\/p>\n<p>At night, he crept into her bedroom. \u201cHe would reach under my pajamas and start,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article is part of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/searchlightnm.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Searchlight New Mexico\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0year-long journalistic investigation into child well-being in New Mexico. Read the series, Raising New Mexico,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/series\/raising-new-mexico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Decades of therapy after a nervous breakdown have led Mimi Stewart, at age 70, to a place where she can talk about her childhood trauma.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart was a state representative for 20 years and has served in the Senate since 2014. She can be abrupt and hectoring in committee hearings and on the floor. She is also one of the New Mexico Legislature\u2019s most dogged and prepared members, with a passion for education and a knack for working across party lines and getting bills passed.<\/p>\n<p>As the sun fades and her office on the fourth floor of the state Capitol darkens \u2013 Stewart, 70, has a pet peeve about wasting electricity \u2013 she says everything she needed to know about politics she learned in that haunted house with the man her mother brought home when she was 5.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m good at politics because I learned how to work in coalition \u2013 with my siblings,\u201d she says. \u201cHow to mediate with someone who we don\u2019t trust and like \u2013 my stepfather. How to determine what to do about right and wrong \u2013 because my stepfather lied to my mother about what we did and who we were.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She stops and starts again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have more resilience than probably most people have.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_526636\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-526636\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Mimi007-10-771x553.jpg\" alt=\"Mimi Stewart\" width=\"771\" height=\"553\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Mimi007-10-771x553.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Mimi007-10-336x241.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Mimi007-10-768x550.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Mimi007-10-1170x839.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Mimi007-10.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">This 1952 family photo taken in Douglas, Ariz., shows, from left to right, Andrea, Mimi (at age 5), mother Alice, Steven and Jere.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Deep roots in education<\/h3>\n<p>Stewart first came to the Roundhouse more than 25 years ago as one of the legions of citizens who seek to influence policy concerning something they care about.<\/p>\n<p>For Stewart, who taught special education at Zia Elementary in the Albuquerque Public Schools, that was teachers and education. Watching the process piqued an interest in politics, and in 1992 she made an audacious move.<\/p>\n<p>She challenged the Democratic incumbent in her Eastside Albuquerque Senate district in the primary and lost by only 63 votes. Two years after that, with backing from the Albuquerque and New Mexico teachers\u2019 unions, she ran for her House seat and won.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-three years later, the Democrat has served as chair of the House Education Committee. She served as vice chair of the Senate Education Committee before resigning in January after being elected majority whip. She has been instrumental in getting enacted many of the state\u2019s advancements in education, from a tiered licensure system for teachers to a K-3 Plus program that extends the school year for low-income children.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>She has been a sharp critic of Gov. Susana Martinez\u2019s education policies, in particular the controversial Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, a computer exam administered in grades 3 through 11. She has been a staunch opponent of the governor\u2019s decision to assign A-to-F letter grades to public schools. And she has been a primary impediment to the passage of one of Martinez\u2019s most persistent demands: mandatory retention of third-graders who can\u2019t read at grade level.<\/p>\n<p>Not content to simply put the brakes on Martinez\u2019s proposals, Stewart has introduced her own legislation on these topics. That includes proposals for a replacement A-to-F grading system and intervention supports for children struggling to read.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Stewart was named New Mexico\u2019s most effective lawmaker by FiscalNote, a Washington, D.C., firm that uses an algorithm counting bills sponsored, bills moved out of committee to the floor and bills enacted.<\/p>\n<p>But back in 1995, she got off to a rocky start. Freshman member Stewart \u2013 always the prepared student \u2013 painstakingly researched her bills, presented them with enthusiasm and was furious when other lawmakers didn\u2019t support them.<\/p>\n<p>After a few years, Rep. Max Coll, the longtime chairman of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee and a fellow Democrat, had seen enough.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know your bills. You\u2019re passionate,\u201d he told Stewart in a written note. \u201cBut it would be a lot better if you were not angry on the floor of the House. They push your buttons. You show them where all the buttons are and they have a heyday with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stewart, who has been described as a \u201cwhirlwind,\u201d admits Coll was right.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had to struggle with my anger,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>Her sharp tongue is a calling card. In 2013, when the Democratic leadership helped push through a corporate income tax cut, some angry legislators characterized the measure as hasty and unfortunate. Stewart called it \u201ca royal screw job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As she has said with a tight smile, \u201cI tend not to edit myself very well.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>A passion for change<\/h3>\n<p>Stewart stands 5 feet 3 inches tall and bristles when she is referred to as short. (\u201cI\u2019m normal!\u201d) She has worn the same uniform \u2013 black slacks, colored jacket, turquoise jewelry \u2013 for decades, while keeping her hair in the same neat bob.<\/p>\n<p>Fellow Sen. Bill O\u2019Neill, a Democrat, described that hair as \u201cperfectly parted, perfectly straight,\u201d in a book of poetry he published this year. The poem about Stewart is called \u201cHouse Bill 644\u201d after a 2001 bill she sponsored that would have raised the retirement age for some state pensioners.<\/p>\n<p>He described her in the midst of an argument on the House floor: \u201cThe fury in her elfin face as she reddens and the thundering begins. Her anger is a clear stream, always, and merits respect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Neill considers Stewart to be his political mentor and a personal friend. But that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s safe from her fury.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I cross her, that\u2019s a tough one. She gets angry at me,\u201d he says. \u201cIn her defense, she just cares so deeply about her bills that she can\u2019t believe anyone would vote against them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Stewart gets over her pique and he is again in her good graces, O\u2019Neill knows it only by sensing a rewarming of the relationship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t remember her ever apologizing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018I\u2019ve tried to slow down\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Last July, Stewart was representing New Mexico in New Orleans at an education conference and sat on a panel about closing the achievement gap.<\/p>\n<p>When it came her turn, Stewart, who has a master\u2019s degree in education and taught for 30 years before she retired in 2009, spoke about the challenges of teaching children from low-income neighborhoods who come to school unprepared to learn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t know how to teach kids from poverty,\u201d she said. \u201cThey come with no skills \u2013 well, they have street-fighting skills. They\u2019ve got a lot of skills; they\u2019re just not academic skills.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Martinez, who has pushed for five years for the third-grade retention bill and who calls Stewart a \u201cliberal elitist,\u201d pounced. Her office tipped the New Mexico news media to a recording of the New Orleans panel, and she issued a statement that read, \u201cI believe all children can learn, and unfortunately many liberals believe some children are destined to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Stewart responded to the governor by saying, \u201cThe governor doesn\u2019t know anything about education.\u201d More recently, she\u2019s abbreviated her comment to \u201cThe governor doesn\u2019t know anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So it might have surprised a few of her colleagues when Stewart last year received the Senate\u2019s \u201cMilagro Award\u201d \u2013 an award presented at the conclusion of each session to a member who has performed exceptionally well. Stewart was singled out for \u201cwisdom,\u201d \u201ccourtesy\u201d and \u201celegance.\u201d \u00a0Stewart displays the framed award in her office and points it out proudly. It\u2019s an acknowledgment that she\u2019s made headway in her efforts to be less strident and more patient \u2013 to sand down some of the rough edges of her personality.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do have some bad personality traits,\u201d she admits. \u201cI get so focused on my work that I don\u2019t sort of stop to realize that I\u2019ve alienated some people, that I\u2019ve been brusque with some people, that I\u2019ve run over some people in my haste to get somewhere and to get things done. I\u2019ve tried to slow down and acknowledge people.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_526642\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-526642\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_009-771x581.jpg\" alt=\"Mimi Stewart\" width=\"771\" height=\"581\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_009-771x581.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_009-336x253.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_009-768x579.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_009-1170x881.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/dju_20180131_Mimi_Stewart_009.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Don Usner \/ for Searchlight New Mexico<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mimi Stewart meets with Rachael Elumbo of ENLACE, a student leadership group.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>A serial problem-solver<\/h3>\n<p>Stewart has become comfortable playing a long game.<\/p>\n<p>K-3 Plus, one of the bright spots in New Mexico\u2019s early childhood education landscape, is a case in point. It began in 2003 when Stewart, then in the House, sponsored a bill that would pilot a program in a handful of school districts to extend the kindergarten year to help disadvantaged children catch up and be on more equal footing with their peers. It passed with broad bipartisan support.<\/p>\n<p>Three years later, her bill expanding and extending the pilot program also passed with near-unanimous support.<\/p>\n<p>In 2007, she sponsored the bill that established the state\u2019s current K-3 Plus program as a six-year pilot and again received near-unanimous support. \u00a0In 2012, her bill made the program a permanent part of the state Public Education Department.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s beyond 100 percent committed to education and particularly early literacy,\u201d says Claire Dudley Chavez, executive vice president of the New Mexico Early Childhood Development Partnership. \u201cAnd she is courageous and not really afraid of anybody and just dogged. When she is passionate about something, she is just a dog with a bone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When she was in elementary school and was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, Stewart said \u201cactress\u201d and \u201cteacher.\u201d Ten years ago, as she was turning 60, Stewart wrote and performed a one-woman show at a small theater in Albuquerque. It was called \u201cThe Scary Life of Mimi Stewart,\u201d and it explored her childhood traumas and the effects of being orphaned at 17.<\/p>\n<p>In the show, Stewart included her arrest for drunken driving. It happened early one morning in May 1999, when a Santa Fe police officer found Stewart asleep in the driver\u2019s seat of her Toyota Corolla. The engine was running; the headlights were on. When the officer woke her, she told him she didn\u2019t know where she was.<\/p>\n<p>She later said she had consumed three margaritas with dinner at Tomasita\u2019s at a Cinco de Mayo party.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of that day, Stewart had admitted her mistake, apologized, pleaded guilty to the charge and accepted a sentence of fines and 48 hours of community service.<\/p>\n<p>What could have been a career-killer \u2013 Stewart was an advocate for tougher DWI laws at a time when New Mexico was a national leader in DWI fatal crashes \u2013 was taken care of in a news cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart\u2019s sense of conscientiousness \u2013 whether it\u2019s reading every last word of a report, volunteering for every committee or admitting she was driving drunk \u2013 was born at age 17.<\/p>\n<p>In the summer after her junior year in high school, Stewart\u2019s mother moved back to Arizona with her husband and son. Stewart got a job as a maid at a summer resort and arranged to live with a friend during her senior year.<\/p>\n<p>A few weeks later, Stewart\u2019s sisters dutifully mailed birthday cards to their mother. They didn\u2019t arrive in time, however, and Stewart forgot altogether. On July 22, the day of her 44th birthday, her mother shot herself, leaving behind a suicide note that read, \u201cNot even a card or a present.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I\u2019ve done a lot of therapy,\u201d Stewart says. \u201cSome people think I\u2019m overly responsible. I may have that. I volunteer for things. I feel like I want to step in and help people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to solve problems. I\u2019m manic about politics. I work all the time. I have a T-shirt that says, \u2018Please stop me from volunteering again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She ignored that T-shirt message when asked three years ago to serve on the National Conference of State Legislatures\u2019 International Education Study Group, a small group of state lawmakers tasked with looking to other countries for ways to improve educational outcomes in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The work has prompted Stewart to turn the interim education committee she chairs into a tutorial on best practices, with assigned reading and nationally recognized education experts as guest speakers.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart, who has often chafed at the pace of education reform, is heartened by the reception from committee members. She\u2019s set her hopes on a new governor &#8212; whoever that may be &#8212; in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so excited about what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Stewart says. \u201cI\u2019m much more hopeful now than I\u2019ve ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mimi Stewart says everything she needed to know about politics she learned in that haunted house with the man her mother brought home when she was 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":526634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[234,125,3588,107],"class_list":["post-526618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-children","tag-education","tag-mimi-stewart","tag-roundhouse","series-raising-new-mexico"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526618","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=526618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}