{"id":930,"date":"2006-11-29T08:52:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-29T14:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/11\/martinez-lujan-campaign-for-speaker-position\/"},"modified":"2006-11-29T08:52:00","modified_gmt":"2006-11-29T14:52:00","slug":"martinez-lujan-campaign-for-speaker-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/11\/martinez-lujan-campaign-for-speaker-position\/","title":{"rendered":"Martinez, Lujan campaign for speaker position"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The two representatives vying for speaker of the House are fighting hard behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

Ben Lujan has called at least one Republican to ask for support to continue as speaker.<\/p>\n

House Minority Whip Dan Foley said Lujan has contacted one Republican to ask for support, and said that Republican, who he did not name, said he would talk with GOP leadership.<\/p>\n

Foley said that\u2019s a sign that House Republicans are united, and he said they plan to nominate a candidate for speaker when the legislature convenes in January. He said he\u2019s betting it will be Minority Leader Tom Taylor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cOur caucus is stronger than it\u2019s ever been,\u201d Foley said today. He and Taylor are driving around the state to meet with Republican House members.<\/p>\n

I was unable to reach Lujan for comment Tuesday. I have been unable to reach Majority Leader Ken Martinez, who is challenging Lujan for speaker, since this ordeal began.<\/p>\n

After speaking with several House members Tuesday, I found a lot of uncertainty among Democrats. None seem to have a good grasp on how the vote will turn out, and many are still shocked that Martinez had the courage \u2013 or audacity, if you want to call it that \u2013 to challenge Lujan.<\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Ana County\u2019s seven Democratic House members met over the weekend to discuss the situation. While some expected a consensus, they discovered that they are a divided group.<\/p>\n

Rep. Mary Helen Garcia of Las Cruces wouldn\u2019t say who she supports, but she did make this comment for the record:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe speaker has not asked for my support, but Ken Martinez has,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rep. Andy Nu\u00f1ez of Hatch told the Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> that Martinez hasn\u2019t asked for his support.<\/p>\n

A few Martinez supporters pointed out an example of what they called a vast difference between the two candidates. Martinez led the impeachment hearings the House held last year before former state Treasurer Robert Vigil resigned. Lujan opposed hearings, and when he lost that battle, opposed the hearings being open to the public.<\/p>\n

He lost that fight as well.<\/p>\n

Some speculate Lujan is calling Republicans because he is worried about losing the caucus vote on Dec. 18 and is preparing for a comeback supported by a coalition of Republicans and Democrats at the start of the session. Others suggest he\u2019s just covering his bases.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Lucky Varela of Santa Fe told the New Mexican he pledged his support to Lujan weeks ago. Rep. Al Park of Santa Fe refused to tell the newspaper who he supports, but said he won\u2019t support a coalition of Republicans and Democrats.<\/p>\n

He is one of many Democrats who want this worked out at the caucus meeting instead of on the House floor on the first day of the session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The two representatives vying for speaker of the House are fighting hard behind the scenes. Ben Lujan has called at least one Republican to ask for support to continue as speaker. House Minority Whip Dan Foley said Lujan has contacted one Republican to ask for support, and said that Republican, who he did not name, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930","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=930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}