{"id":977,"date":"2006-12-11T12:50:00","date_gmt":"2006-12-11T18:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/12\/compromise-proposal-has-smith-jennings-as-senate-finance-co-chairs-cisneros-as-vice-chair\/"},"modified":"2006-12-11T12:50:00","modified_gmt":"2006-12-11T18:50:00","slug":"compromise-proposal-has-smith-jennings-as-senate-finance-co-chairs-cisneros-as-vice-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/12\/compromise-proposal-has-smith-jennings-as-senate-finance-co-chairs-cisneros-as-vice-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"Compromise proposal has Smith, Jennings as Senate finance co-chairs, Cisneros as vice chair"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A group of state senators meet Wednesday to resolve a debate over who should be the next chair of the Finance Committee. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The proposal to have Democrats Tim Jennings<\/a> of Roswell<\/st1:city> become chair and Carlos Cisneros<\/a> of Questa vice chair is still being discussed, but so is a compromise that would have John Arthur Smith<\/a>, D-Deming, become co-chair alongside Jennings<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That would be similar to the situation on the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, which is co-chaired by Henry Kiki Saavedra<\/a>, D-Albuquerque, and Luciano \u201cLucky Varela<\/a>, D-Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Committee\u2019s Committee meets Wednesday to vote on committee assignments.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Smith has been vice chair and basically run the Finance Committee for the last two years. The chairmanship is open because of the retirement of Joe Fidel<\/a>, D-Grants.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Smith and Jennings<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> are independent Democrats who have, at times, been at odds with Gov. Bill Richardson. Cisneros has been a close ally of the governor.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Smith said he doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI really don\u2019t know how they\u2019re planning on working that one out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just premature.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Senate President Pro Tem Ben Altamirano<\/a>, D-Silver<\/st1:placename> City<\/st1:placetype>, originally proposed moving Smith elsewhere and having Jennings<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and Cisneros, who both have more seniority, in charge of finance. But there was outcry from some who said Smith had paid his dues and had experience that should not leave the committee.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In addition, bumping Smith might mean he takes the chair of the Education Committee from Cynthia Nava<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, who is probably the most knowledgeable about education in the Senate.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, D-Do\u00f1a Ana and a member of the Committee\u2019s Committee, said the compromise proposal is acceptable.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s what makes John Arthur and Tim happy, I say, go for it,\u201d she said. \u201cJohn Smith has done a good job, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Garcia can\u2019t attend Wednesday\u2019s meeting and has asked Sen. Phil Griego<\/a>, D-San Jose, to fill in for her. She said she told him to vote for Jennings<\/st1:city> to be chair and Cisneros to be vice chair, but a compromise that has Smith and Jennings<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> as co-chairs would change her mind.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sen. Leonard \u201cLee Rawson<\/a>, R-Las Cruces and a member of the committee, declined comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of state senators meet Wednesday to resolve a debate over who should be the next chair of the Finance Committee. The proposal to have Democrats Tim Jennings of Roswell become chair and Carlos Cisneros of Questa vice chair is still being discussed, but so is a compromise that would have John Arthur Smith, […]<\/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-977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977","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=977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}