{"id":7679,"date":"2009-10-13T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2009-10-13T06:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=7679"},"modified":"2009-10-13T11:53:27","modified_gmt":"2009-10-13T17:53:27","slug":"commissioners-scrambling-to-replace-berry-by-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/10\/commissioners-scrambling-to-replace-berry-by-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Commissioners scrambling to replace Berry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by cjc4454\/flickr.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

Less than a week after being elected mayor of Albuquerque, two-term State Rep. Richard Berry, R-Albuquerque, resigned his District 20 house seat<\/a> Monday to focus on his transition to leading the state’s largest city.<\/p>\n

Now, Bernalillo County commissioners — three Democrats and two Republicans — are scrambling to find a replacement for Berry by the start of Saturday\u2019s special session.<\/p>\n

The commission’s next meeting is today at 5 p.m., and the appointment discussion has already been added to the agenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a news release announcing his resignation, Berry said he needs to focus full-time on his transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe citizens of my district deserve a full-time legislator representing their needs in Santa Fe, and the people of Albuquerque deserve a mayor-elect who is working full time to facilitate a smooth transition at City Hall,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Republican County Commissioner Michael Brasher<\/a> said in an interview that he\u2019s looking for someone who knows Berry\u2019s district.<\/p>\n

\"Richard

Richard Berry<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll need to have an understanding of the problems, needs and interests of the district,\u201d Brasher said. \u201cThey will have to carefully go through the budget\u00a0 addressing the (state budget) shortfall issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawmakers will be working to plug a shortfall in the current fiscal-year budget that is approaching $700 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Democrat or Republican replacement?<\/h3>\n

Brasher said he anticipates that the person selected to replace Berry will be a registered Republican.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a Republican district. It\u2019s been represented by a Republican for years, so I expect we\u2019ll chose a Republican to fill the position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Insiders tell NMPolitics.net that Jim White has emerged as the leading GOP candidate for the position.White lost to Berry in the 2006 Republican primary after receiving retiring House Minority Leader Tedd Hobbs’ endorsement.<\/p>\n

White, an Air Force retiree and former GOP state party treasurer, could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

But don’t assume the job will be White’s. Democratic Party of New Mexico Executive Director Josh Geise disagrees with the notion that the seat has to be filled by a Republican. The decision is in the hands of the county commission, and a majority of the commission’s members are Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly there will be qualified Democrats interested in serving, and we would encourage the county commission to select one of those Democrats,\u201d Geise said.<\/p>\n

But Geise told NMPolitics.net that no Democrat had approached the party for support by 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon. He said interested individuals may be contacting county commissioners directly.<\/p>\n

Democrat County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins<\/a> said she doesn\u2019t think the board decision will be partisan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our position has to be consider anyone who\u2019s interested and make the best choice based on qualifications. I would like to give all the people interested in the seat consideration,\u201d Hart Stebbins said. \u201cI do understand the need to have someone represent District 20 during the special session in Santa Fe, but I would like to make sure it\u2019s an open process.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘I was hoping he would stay on’<\/h3>\n

Hart Stebbins said whoever is selected needs to have deep roots in the district and be prepared to jump right in.<\/p>\n

House Speaker Ben Luj\u00e1n<\/a>, D-N\u00e1mbe, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that the commission will make a wise decision,\u201d Lujan said. \u201cI would think the commission will be interviewing a lot of people and that they will appoint some who can handle the duties that are needed during the upcoming special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luj\u00e1n said that he expects there will be between seven and 10 bills to cover the budget shortfall and that he would get whomever is appointed to Berry\u2019s seat as much information as possible ahead of this weekend\u2019s session in Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

Luj\u00e1n seemed surprised that Berry resigned ahead of this weekend\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hoping he would stay on. He didn\u2019t have to resign,\u201d Luj\u00e1n said. \u201cI understand it\u2019s probably a lot of work.\u00a0 He was a good member of my Corporations and Finance Committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berry served on the interim Finance Authority Oversight Committee and was an interim member of the Retirement Systems Solvency Task Force.\u00a0 He also served \u00a0on the Appropriations and Finance Committee, the Transportation and Public Works Committee and the Rules and Order of Business Committee.<\/p>\n

Berry will be sworn in as Albuquerque mayor on Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

Update, 12:07 a.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A source confirmed the emergence of a Democratic candidate for the seat: Josh Anderson, political coordinator for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees<\/a> (AFSCME) in New Mexico. Anderson was making calls about his candidacy Monday evening.<\/p>\n

Heath Haussamen contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: Bernalillo County commissioners are scrambling to find someone to take the place of Richard Berry in the Legislature before the special session begins Saturday. Berry, Albuquerque\u2019s mayor-elect, resigned from his House seat Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[139,118,107],"class_list":["post-7679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-albuquerque","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7679","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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7679\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}