{"id":7794,"date":"2009-10-13T22:55:43","date_gmt":"2009-10-14T04:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=7794"},"modified":"2009-10-14T12:22:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-14T18:22:00","slug":"republicans-keep-berrys-seat-in-the-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/10\/republicans-keep-berrys-seat-in-the-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans keep Berry’s seat in the House"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jim

Jim White (Courtesy photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

On a 4-1 vote, Bernalillo County Commissioners selected Republican Jim White this evening to replace Albuquerque Mayor-elect Richard Berry<\/a> as the representative of House District 20<\/a> in the state Legislature.<\/p>\n

White’s appointment is effective immediately, so he can participate in the special session that begins Saturday.<\/p>\n

County commissioners selected White, 67 and a retired Air Force colonel and former state GOP treasurer, after voting against a motion by Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins <\/a>to delay the selection for 48 hours so the group could consider other potential candidates. The motion died on a similar 4-1 vote.<\/p>\n

While no one else was nominated for the position, there had been talk earlier in the day that several other people were interested, including Democrat Josh Anderson, political director for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)<\/a> union.<\/p>\n

White, who ran for the House seat in 2006 and lost to Berry, said he\u2019s looking forward to serving his new constituents and is preparing for this weekend\u2019s special session.<\/p>\n

He also said he\u2019s inclined to run for the seat in next June\u2019s primary election.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see how the process goes, and what happens in the next six months, and we\u2019ll take it from there, but right now I\u2019m inclined to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If he doesn’t seek re-election, he’ll leave office at the end of 2010.<\/p>\n

Getting up to Speed<\/h3>\n

After his selection, White said he\u2019ll focus on getting his credentials together before the start of Saturday\u2019s special session in Santa Fe to balance the state\u2019s soaring budget deficit.<\/p>\n

White said he\u2019ll be talking to legislators to catch up on the situation. He said he\u2019s prepared to make cuts across the board to balance the budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that all programs are of equal importance, the logical thing is to cut all of them equally,” he said.<\/p>\n

But he acknowledged that it may not be that simple when he said, “we\u2019re going to find out that some programs may be more important than others. So we\u2019ll have to find some way to cut some budgets and not cut others, or cut them partially.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see how it goes,” White said. “Certainly there will have to be some cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

White said his military career and education have prepared him for his new position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the military for 27 years, and it was rewarding for me. I want to carry that type of service forward,” he said. “When I left the military I thought I was a better person for it. I feel the same way about getting into the Legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got some skills and some education, I\u2019ve got some background, and I\u2019ve got some ethics and standards that I\u2019ve lived by, and I want to take those up to Santa Fe and contribute up there, too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

GOP leadership pleased<\/h3>\n

Earlier in the day, House Republican Leader Tom Taylor<\/a>, R-Farmington, told NMPolitics.net that he\u2019d meet with White all day on Friday in anticipation of his possible appointment. He said the GOP leadership would take White through “a crash course, and utilize all the resources we have to bring him up to speed in 24 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJim brings in excellent leadership skills that will continue to provide strong representation for the citizens of District 20,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

House Minority Whip Keith Gardner<\/a>, R-Roswell, welcomed White to the Legislature in a statement released after his selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe learning curve will be steep, but Jim is an Air Force retiree, a man with leadership skills, and we have no doubt that he\u2019ll be able to step in and serve the citizens of District 20 very well,\u201d Gardner said. “We look forward to working with him this week as he begins to take on this very important task.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a 4-1 vote, Bernalillo County Commissioners selected Republican Jim White this evening to replace Albuquerque Mayor-elect Richard Berry as the representative of House District 20 in the state Legislature.<\/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-7794","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\/7794","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=7794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}