{"id":672561,"date":"2019-01-29T05:30:48","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T12:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=672561"},"modified":"2019-01-29T05:30:48","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T12:30:48","slug":"longtime-former-legislator-kiki-saavedra-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2019\/01\/longtime-former-legislator-kiki-saavedra-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Longtime former legislator &#8216;Kiki&#8217; Saavedra dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Henry &#8220;Kiki&#8221; Saavedra, who represented an Albuquerque South Valley district in the New Mexico House of Representatives for nearly 40 years, is dead. He was 82.<\/p>\n<p>House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, announced Saavedra&#8217;s death on the House floor Monday.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_672564\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-672564\" src=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Saavedra-Kiki-336x305.jpg\" alt=\"Henry 'Kiki' Saavedra\" width=\"336\" height=\"305\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henry &#8216;Kiki&#8217; Saavedra<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A statement issued by son Marc Saavedra on behalf of the family said the late lawmaker suffered from Alzheimer&#8217;s disease for the past couple of years. But, the statement said, &#8220;his lively spirit continued to shine through until the end, and we are grateful that he is now at peace.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Saavedra, a Democrat who was retired from Albuquerque city government, served in Legislature from 1977 through 2014 and chaired the House Appropriations and Finance Committee in his final years at the Roundhouse.<\/p>\n<p>He was a friend and political ally of former state Rep. Luciano &#8220;Lucky&#8221; Varela, D-Santa Fe, who died in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Albuquerque in 1936, Saavedra graduated from Albuquerque High School, where he played sports including baseball. A 2014 resolution by the Albuquerque City Council honoring his years of service said because of his baseball skills, Saavedra had been asked to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals.<\/p>\n<p>Saavedra graduated from St. Joseph&#8217;s College in Albuquerque and served in the Air National Guard.<\/p>\n<p>He began working for the city of Albuquerque in 1967, eventually becoming director of the city&#8217;s Parks and Recreation Department. He retired in 1995.<\/p>\n<p>Two years after his election to the Legislature in 1977, he was appointed to the Appropriations Committee. He became chairman of that powerful panel in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>One cause Saavedra championed was the Special Olympics. Early in his legislative career, he sponsored legislation that made New Mexico the first state to provide funds for the Special Olympics.<\/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 2019 legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>A 2014 House memorial honoring Saavedra before his retirement noted he was elected during the days of the &#8220;Mama Lucy&#8217;s&#8221; &#8212; an informal alliance of primarily Hispanic Democrats &#8212; and was mentored by former House Speaker Walter Martinez.<\/p>\n<p>Because of his humor, in 1988, Saavedra was the subject of a tongue-in-cheek memorial declaring him &#8220;House jester.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tributes from lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, came quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said through a spokeswoman, &#8220;He was a treasured leader in the state House, looked up to by new legislators of both parties as a welcoming teacher, and he championed projects like funding New Mexico&#8217;s Special Olympics. I especially appreciated his warmth, fairness, and delightful sense of humor. He was a gentleman through and through, and the Legislature is a better place because of him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Kiki was always focused on making sure that anyone affected by a bill have a chance to give their input,&#8221; Egolf told the New Mexican.<\/p>\n<p>On a personal note, Egolf said Saavedra loved kids. &#8220;Any time my two young daughters, or any kids, came into the House lounge, he&#8217;d always reach into his pocket and give them a dollar bill. That&#8217;s just how he was.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup, who chairs House Appropriations, paid tribute to Saavedra on Monday by placing his old nameplate in front of her seat. &#8220;He dedicated his life to public service and we are better off because of it,&#8221; Lundstrom later said in a statement. &#8220;It is a loss for all New Mexicans.&#8221;<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Rep. Andres Romero, an Albuquerque Democrat who succeeded Saavedra in House District 10 after the veteran lawmaker retired in 2014, said &#8221; it&#8217;s a very sad day for the Legislature.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sen. John Sapien, D-Corrales, said Saavedra dealt with political adversaries in a most civil way. He said Saavedra always set aside any philosophical differences by saying, &#8220;It doesn&#8217;t make them bad people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Senate Republican Whip Bill Payne, R-Albuquerque, said Saavedra &#8220;was one of the last great leaders of the state that everybody knew and everybody loved.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Kiki Saavedra was just larger than life. I&#8217;d ask myself, who is this guy who is so funny and so quick-witted?&#8221; said Sen. Bill O&#8217;Neill, D-Albuquerque.<\/p>\n<p>Former state Republican Party Chairman Ryan Cangiolosi <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RCangiolosi\/status\/1090004751079464961\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted<\/a> a photo of Saavedra and the late Rep. Larry Larra\u00f1aga, R-Albuquerque, another past chairman of the Appropriations Committee. New Mexico, Cangiolosi said, &#8220;has lost another statesman and titan of the NM Legislature. Reps. Saavedra and Larra\u00f1aga represented an era of bipartisanship and teamwork.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Saavedra is survived by his widow, Charissa Saavedra, five children, four step-daughters, 17 grandchildren, a great-grandson, and his sister Helen.<\/p>\n<p>Funeral services are pending, Marc Saavedra said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Early in his legislative career, Saavedra sponsored legislation that made New Mexico the first state to provide funds for the Special Olympics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":672564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3671,107],"class_list":["post-672561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2019-legislative-session","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672561","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=672561"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":672565,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672561\/revisions\/672565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}