Rep. Andy Nunez (I-Hatch) at House Judiciary Committee hearing, 2/3/12

A bill aimed at rescinding the New Mexico law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses passed through the House Judiciary Committee but only after some Democrats made blistering comments about Republican Gov. Susana Martinez for what they said is her intractability on the issue.

The committee voted 9-6 to move a bill sponsored by Rep. Andy Nuñez (I-Hatch) as two Democrats on the panel — Rep. Al Park (D-Albuquerque) and Rep. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) – joined all the Republicans by voting yes. But Park and Cervantes didn’t exactly embrace their votes, openly questioning whether the bill can make it through the Senate.

“I’m going to make a bad decision between two bad choices,” Cervantes said, referring to either voting for the Nuñez bill or keeping the status quo.

Park, who is the Judiciary chairman, said the committee spent the last 48 hours trying to work out a compromise behind closed doors between Republicans and Democrats that ultimately failed. “I’m deeply disappointed,” Park said adding that “I believe our failure on a compromise will mean nothing will occur in this legislative session.”

The bill that did pass the committee is basically the same bill that Nuñez offered last year during the legislature’s 60-day session. Now that it has passed Judiciary, it goes on to the House floor and if it passes there, it will move to the Senate, where Democrats have a 28-14 advantage.

“There are not the votes in the Senate for this bill,” Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas (D-Albuquerque) said. “It’s an exercise in futility.”

Does Nuñez think it can pass? Capitol Report New Mexico talked to him right after the hearing: “My understanding in the Senate, a lot of the senators who voted against it last time are going to vote for it this time and we’ll see how many. We’ll just have to take our chances over there.”

Friday’s hearing came on the same day a story appeared in the Albuquerque Journal with the headline “Don’t Bother With License Compromise, Martinez Says” that Democrats on the committee pounced on. In the article, Gov. Martinez said, ”There’s an election that’s going to come up, and the people of New Mexico who are demanding a repeal of this law will get to decide who stays in office and who doesn’t. It just boils down to that. There’s going to be accountability to the voter, not to me.”

“Are you kidding me,” Rep. Bill O’Neill (D-Albuquerque) said referencing the headline. “What are we doing up here?”

“I can’t believe we’re going back to the ostrich policy of politics,” Rep. Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque) said.

“If you can’t learn to compromise,” Rep. Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) said, “you don’t belong in public service.”

Rep. Eliseo Lee Alcon (D-Milan) said he didn’t take part in the subcommittee’s efforts to hammer out a compromise, “I didn’t even poke my head in the door.” Alcon went on to say that “the fourth floor (where Martinez’s offices are located) has sent a message that she wants it her way or no way … Let’s vote and go home. I’m tired and want to go home.”

After the hearing, Capitol Report New Mexico talked to the governor’s chief of staff Keith Gardner. “Some people believe the compromise is doing what I believe you should do as opposed to coming to some agreement,” Gardner said. “After listening to the rhetoric today, that’s exactly what it was. Their idea of compromise was, hey come here and do what we want to do as opposed to what you want to do and we’ll call it compromise. That’s not compromise.”

Last year, the Nuñez bill made it past the House floor on a 42-28 vote but lost on the Senate floor, 25-16.

Gov. Martinez tried to get another bill rescinding the law onto the docket in the special session last September but it didn’t make it to committee.

Here’s our quick interview with Gardner after the vote:

Saul Meyer, photo courtesy NY Times

We had a feeling that when Bruce Malott filed his own lawsuit in connection with allegations of “pay to play” practices within the administration of former Gov. Bill Richardson that things would get interesting.

On Friday (Feb. 3), Albuquerque Journal investigative reporter Michael Gallagher disclosed that Malott — a former Educational Retirement Board Chairman — accused Richardson insider Anthony Correra of sending a $10,000 bribe in cash in 2004 to Saul Meyer, who ran Aldus Equity Advisors of Dallas, and he’s got a secretly recorded conversation to prove it.

“Supposedly, what he [Correra] was saying was, ‘I’m giving you this trip to Italy,’ or whatever,” Meyer says in the recording.

From the Journal story:

During the taped conversations, there are references to buying a Ferrari and expensive watches for people with whom the firm does business.

Meyer told [a partner at Aldus], “Those (expletive) watches we gave were a wicked investment too.”

The gifts are a way of building loyalty with people, Meyer explains and criticizes other partners for not understanding how to bring business into the firm.

The references to the Ferrari are more obscure but appear to have to do with the value of Aldus as a company. The watch recipients were generally not named in the recorded conversation.

The tape was released in relation to a lawsuit Malott has filed, claiming he was duped by Meyer, other partners at Aldus, Correra and his son Marc to such a degree that Malott’s accounting firm went belly-up and he lost his good name in the community.

You can read the Journal story and even listen to the audio tape of the secretly recorded conversation by clicking here. (Sorry, subscription required.) The story is also an excellent account of this interesting but complicated case.

You can click here to read more about Malott’s legal action.

There are a series of lawsuits associated with “pay to play” allegations but none of the current suits name former Gov. Richardson as a defendant and through spokesmen Richardson has denied any involvement.

John Sanchez, New Mexico Lt. Governor

From Heath Haussamen:

During his interview with NMPolitics.net, Sanchez sounded at times as though he intends to stay in the Senate race. For example, he said his campaign team is “preparing for the conventions and then obviously the final stretch in the spring.”

But instead of directly answering when asked if he would “swear” that he’s “not dropping out of the Senate race,” Sanchez, the state’s lieutenant governor, said this:

“I can tell you as of today I am a candidate for the United States Senate.”

It’s never a good sign when someone says, “as of today …”

Sanchez trails Republican rival Heather Wilson badly in fundraising and in recent polls, the Lt. Governor is lagging behind Wilson by 35 percent. Should Sanchez drop out, the only other candidate for the GOP nomination is Las Cruces businessman Greg Sowards.

The other question is whether a Sanchez bow-out might help him shore up his support with Gov. Susana Martinez. The governor has frowned upon members of her administration seeking elective office and just one day after Sanchez announced his candidacy, this photo was snapped of Martinez laughing it up with Wilson at a function in Albuquerque:

 

Ouch!

There has been talk that Sanchez might run for Congress in District 1 (the seat that’s being vacated by Rep. Martin Heinrich) but Sanchez told Haussamen he’s not interested in that.

You can read Heath’s entire article by clicking here.

Senate Public Affairs Committee hears "social promotion" bills, 2/2/12

Two competing bills dealing with the issue of “social promotion”  — the practice of graduating students to the next grade even if they haven’t mastered the academic work — passed through the Senate Public Affairs Committee on Thursday (Feb. 2), with committee members saying they hope the sponsors of each bill can merge their legislation so that something can be passed before the current 30-day session ends on Feb. 16.

That may be a tall order, though, given the policy differences — as well as the political dynamics and rivalry — between the two sides.

At one end is Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and her secretary-designate at the Public Education Department, Hanna Skandera, who have been pushing for ending social promotion for third-graders who can’t read proficiently for three legislative sessions now. Martinez-backed bills in the Senate (Senate Bill 96) and the House (House Bill 69) have Democrats as well as Republicans as co-sponsors who often cite New Mexico’s poor performance in national academic surveys as proof that change is needed.

On the other end are bills with backed by other Democrats — Senate Bill 50, sponsored by Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Albuquerque) and House Bill 53, sponsored by Rep. Rick Miera (D-Albuquerque), who called the Martinez-backed legislation “the third-grade flunking bill” at a recent news conference.

Among the major differences in the competing bills is that Lopez/Miera bills will only hold students back if their parents sign off on it. Also, while the Martinez-backed bills focus on reading proficiency, the Lopez/Miera bills call for establishing an academic improvement plan for math and reading.

Sen. Lisa Curtis (D-Albuquerque) criticized the Martinez-backed measures at the committee meeting hearing, saying,  ”I’ve heard parents in my district say, ‘don’t you dare retain my child’ … They don’t want Santa Fe government to retain their kids.”

Sen. Gay Kernan (R-Hobbs) testified in favor of the governor-supported SB96. “Look where we are,” Kernan said, adding that “If we stay with the status quo, our students will continue to suffer.”

Sen. Mary Jane Garcia (D-Doña Ana) joked, “I might end up voting for both [bills] because I don’t know who to believe.”

That’s eventually what the committee did, passing along both bills without recommendation to the Senate Education Committee, although Curtis wanted to send along the Lopez-backed bill with a recommendation.

During the hearing, Sen. Cynthia Nava (D-Las Cruces) said the focus should remain on reading instead of reading and math.

We talked to her about that:

 

Sen. Nava said she’ll offer a compromise amendment aimed at bridging the gap between the two sides on parental approval for retaining students when the bill gets to Senate Education, that she chairs.

But can both sides hammer out an agreement?

Skandera talked to Capitol Report New Mexico right after the hearing:

Time is essential. Both Senate bills were given four referrals in committees — a very high number for a 30-day session. And even if they pass, they still have get through the House of Representatives. Can it get done in time? “I think it depends on how many partners get in board,” Nava said. ”If we can work on a bill that everybody can get behind, things can move magically here.”

The two competing House bills will be heard Friday morning in the House Education Committee, that Miera chairs.

Update 2/3: On Friday, Miera pulled his bill from discussion in House Ed but Rep. Mary Helen Garcia (D-Las Cruces) insisted her bill be heard and it was in the morning and then, after the House floor session, the committee reconvened in the afternoon and Garcia’s HB69 passed on through to the House Judiciary Committee on a 9-0 vote (Reps. Sheryl Williams Stapleton and Rhonda King were absent). “I was very specific,” Rep. Garcia told Capitol Report New Mexico Friday night about having her bill heard. “I’m not going to roll it over … He [Chairman Miera] wasn’t very happy with me … I told him I was very disappointed that my own party won’t support me … This has gotten way too partisan … I’ve always been an advocate for children first.” Garcia’s bill was passed without a substantive amendment but one could well be added in Judiciary. That possible amendment is aimed at finding commonground on parents signing off on their kids being retained if they don’t read at a minimal level. We’ll see what happens Monday in Judiciary.

Now that Gregg Marcantel has been confirmed as the Secretary of the Corrections Department, the focus turns to two high-profile cabinet members who have not received confirmation hearings — most specifically, secretary-designate Hanna Skandera of the Public Education Department.

Sen. Michael Sanchez (D-Belen)

Senate Majority Floor leader Michael Sanchez (D-Albuquerque) talked to reporters Thursday morning (Feb. 2) and suggested that Skandera would get some resistance. “I’m not sure she meets the criteria within our state consitution,” Sen. Sanchez said. Why, because she’s never been a classroom teacher? “That’s one,” Sanchez said, adding rather cryptically, ”there could be others.”

Skandera, who was appointed to the position by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez more than a year ago, has never appeared before Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Albuquerque), who is the chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee, where cabinet appointees appear for confirmation endorsements.

This isn’t the first time Sen. Sanchez has brought up the question of Skandera’s experience. Last year during the 60-day legislative session, Sanchez pointed to a phrase in the state constitution requiring the secretary of PED be a “qualified, experienced educator.” While Skandera acquired considerable experience implementing educational reforms in Florida under then-Gov. Jeb Bush, she has never taught in the classroom or worked in public school administration.

So will Skandera get a hearing in this session or not? “Not sure yet,” said Sanchez, who also sits on the Senate Rules Committee. “Maybe in a day or two we’ll have a better idea.”

We’ve sent a note to the governor’s office for comment. As soon as we get a response, we’ll post it.
Update: We received this statement from Scott Darnell, spokesman for the Martinez administration:

We’ve been down this road before when some defenders of the status quo began playing political games with Secretary-designate Skandera’s confirmation last year.

Governor Martinez is committed to turning around New Mexico schools, and she selected Hanna Skandera as her Secretary of Public Education due to her impressive credentials and strong commitment to reform.

The Constitution requires that the Public Education Department be led by a ‘qualified, experienced educator,’ which Skandera fulfills having developed and implemented education policy in three administrations and served as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University. In the past, the legislature has made a distinction between an educator and teacher, with educators being inclusive of administrators and teachers; in this case, Skandera’s experience addresses both as she has played a direct role in crafting education policy, as well as in classroom instruction.

The defenders of the status quo, where 80% of our kids aren’t able to read proficiently, will likely take issue with Secretary-designate Skandera’s commitment to reform. But those seeking change and reform will fight for and support her nomination.

It’s unfortunate that Senator Sanchez is so far out of the mainstream that his own party’s presidential administration said the following about Secretary-designate Skandera:

“Hanna’s a part of this next generation of State Chief Officers that I think are just going to be extraordinary. She is passionate, she is committed, knows both the strengths and the challenges in New Mexico and is pushing every single day to give every single child a great, great education.” (Arne Duncan,Press conference call for reporters from the West, September 23, 2011 12:30pm ET)

Hanna Skandera, Public Education Department

There’s been tension between the Martinez administration and Democratic leadership in both houses from the start. Skandera in many ways is a focal point since she has been the point-person at initiating a number of school reforms.

There’s also been plenty of friction between Martinez and Sanchez. Last  year in the 60-day session, an education reform bill the governor strongly supported was never heard on the Senate floor – one step short of going to the governor’s office and becoming law — and an angry Martinez blamed Sanchez, saying he was ”playing politics with our children.” Sanchez responded by saying he wasn’t trying to undermine the governor: “It was on our calendar, whether we got to it or not, it just depended on how the other bills came out.”

On Thursday morning, Sanchez said he’s met once with Gov. Martinez during this current 30-day session — “it was very, very cordial” — and has met with Martinez’s chief of staff Keith Gardner “maybe four times.”

The governor complained about Sen. Lopez, who issued a series of news releases earlier this week criticizing the suitability of Martinez appointee Gregg Marcantel to run the Corrections Department before Marcantel appeared before the House Rules Committee.

Originally, the Marcantel hearing was going to be heard in executive session (away from the public) but his confirmation hearing was eventually held in open session and he was endorsed by Democrats and Republicans on the committee on an 8-1 vote, with Lopez being the sole dissenting vote. The Senate floor confirmed Marcantel 38-1, with Lopez again voting no on the grounds that she felt that Marcantel didn’t adequately respond to questions posed in the committee’s vetting process.

Another high-profile Martinez cabinet appointee has also not appeared before the Senate Rules Committee — Jon Barela, the secretary-designate for the Economic Development Department. Barela narrowly lost to Democrat Martin Heinrich in 2010 in a race for the US Congressional seat in the Albuquerque area. It’s not clear what or why Barela’s confirmation could prove to be problematic.

New Mexico has always been considered a swing-state in the upcoming presidential election but the results of a recent Gallup poll show that President Obama has lost a big chunk of his support in the state.

In Gallup’s “State of the States” poll that was released Tuesday (Jan. 31), New Mexico tied for the third-largest decline in approval rating for the president between 2010 and 2011:

Change in Obama   approval rating, 2010-2011 %approval, 2010 %approval, 2011 change Top 5 Wyoming 27.6 30.6 3.00% Connecticut 54 55 1.00% Maine 46.4 47.2 0.80% Massachusetts 55.2 55.1 -0.10% Wisconsin 47.8 47.4 -0.40% Bottom 5 Oklahoma 36.6 30.3 -6.30% New Mexico 48.6 41.7 -6.90% Nebraska 44.7 37.8 -6.90% South Dakota 43 35.3 -7.70% Hawaii 65.9 56.1 -9.80% Source: www.gallup.com

Gallup identifies 12 states as swing-states that will be crucial in the November presidential election and New Mexico is listed among those 12.

A couple months ago, Public Policy Polling painted a rosier picture for the president in New Mexico, reporting that in a survey of state voters, Obama led Mitt Romney in a head-to-head matchup, 53-38; led Newt Gingrich 56-39; and led Ron Paul 51-38.

While the election is still nine months away, Gallup released a worrying map for the president, based on its current numbers:

New Mexico possesses only five Electoral College votes but it’s very possible that five electoral votes could make a big difference in determining a winner.

President Obama won big in New Mexico in 2008, defeating Republican nominee John McCain by 15.1 percent.

 

Gregg Marcantel, Secretary of Corrections Department

Two days after the chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee questioned the suitability of Gregg Marcantel to serve as the Secretary of the Corrections Department, the 51-year-old law enforcement veteran was endorsed for confirmation on an 8-1 vote Wednesday (Feb. 1).

“What I was confused on is why someone wouldn’t first talk to me if they had any questions they have before you send out a press release,” Marcantel said after the confirmation hearing, which came after committee chair Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Albuquerque) sent out a series of news releases saying Marcantel’s responses to the committee’s vetting process “have identified issues that cannot be ignored.”

The initial news release cited Marcantell’s alleged involvement in a number of incidents but two subsequent news releases eliminated references to some of the claims.

“I answer my cellphone 24/7,” Marcantel told reporters. “If you call me, I don’t care if it’s you, or I don’t care if it’s one of the senators, I’ll answer anything you have. I have nothing to hide in my life.”

On Tuesday (Jan. 31), Gov. Susana Martinez criticized Sen. Lopez, saying, “I’m extremely frustrated that politics has taken over the Roundhouse. How someone with such a great reputation in law enforcement and with what ease a letter is sent out [the news release] being critical of someone who has such a great career in law enforcement.”

But Sen. Lopez, who was the lone committee member to vote against Marcantel’s appointment on Wednesday, was adamant about her vote.

“You need to list anything that mentions misconduct during your employment and there were several incidences that are found through a background check and [Marcantel] listed none,” Lopez said in her office after the hearing. “So for me, as a matter of principle, he didn’t answer the question correctly … That’s why I voted no. I think Mr. Marcantel and anybody else who comes here to represent the state of New Mexico in a position of authority knows how to read.”

But what about the news releases? Here’s Lopez on that point:

During the hearing, a series of law enforcement officials across the state spoke about Marcantel in glowing terms,  including the state’s Secretary of Homeland Security, the Bernalillo County Sheriff, the police chief of Roswell and a retired official at the US Department of Justice.

Marcantel came out of retirement at the urging of Gov. Martinez to accept running the Corrections Department, which has a long history of controversy.

The former secretary, Lupe Martinez, stepped down after her fiancé was involved in a couple incidents, including one on the grounds of the corrections facility in Santa Fe. Housing on the prison grounds is provided to the Corrections secretary (although Marcantel has declined it) and last summer Martinez’s fiancé got in trouble for brandishing a gun and firing shots on the grounds. He said he was shooting at a rattlesnake.

“It makes you wonder, what the hell is going on,” Sen. Tim Jennings (D-Roswell) said during the hearing. “It’s obvious you’re a fine policeman,” Jennings told Marcantel, adding, “I just want a committment from you that you’ll always tell the legislature the truth.”

Update: A couple hours after the Rules Committee vote, the entire Senate voted 38-1 to confirm Marcantel as Corrections secretary. Lopez, again, was the lone dissenting vote.

Noe Torres

Noe Torres was on the run for more than six years, eluding law enforcement officials for his alleged connection to the shooting death of a 10-year-old boy in Clovis back in 2005. He was even featured on “America’s Most Wanted.”

But for some reason, Torres sent a letter to Gov. Susana Martinez – a former district attorney — on Jan. 18, saying the warrant for his arrest was bogus and appealing for her to help him.

The letter — laced with religious references — provided a break in the case as Gov. Martinez forwarded the note along with details of the circumstances surrounding the killing to the governor of the Mexican state of Chihuahua — who just happened to be meeting with Martinez in Santa Fe that day. Six days later, Torres was caught by Mexican officers and is now in the process of getting extradited back to New Mexico to stand trial.

“Noe Torress foolishly sent me a letter,” Martinez said at a news conference Tuesday outside her offices. “This guy wanted me to send a message through the media about his case. Well Noe, here’s my message through the media: I don’t help child killers.”

The district attorney in the Clovis area, Matt Chandler, said he expects the 32-year-old Torres to be extradited within 60-90 days. Chandler said Torres was nabbed walking along a road in Chihuahua outside a “religious compound,” as Chandler described it, but would not elaborate on the location.

During his six years on the run, Torres would occasionally send letters to Chandler and other investigating officers, sometimes taunting them and always claiming the charges against him were trumped up. Chandler said investigators suspected Torres was in Mexico but could never get the break they needed until the letter he sent to Martinez — and her relationship with Gov. César Horacio Duarte of Chihuahua — sent them in the right direction:

Also appearing the news conference were members of the Perez family. “Carlos was a very outgoing person,” his sister Patricia said. “He was never in trouble. He was a good kid … Me and my family anixously await … the court date.”

Carlos Perez, shooting victim

Here are some details about the killing in Clovis, according to Chandler:

One night in September of 2005, nine shots rang out at the home of the Perez family. Eight bullets hit furniture but one struck Carlos as he lay in his bed. Family members told reporters Carlos was set to celebrate his 11th birthday the following day.

Carlos was air-lifted to a Lubbock hospital but was pronounced dead.

Three men were arrested in connection with the shooting but Torres — nicknamed “Li’l Loco” — eluded capture.

By the way, one of the three arrested suspects, Edward Salas, received a 50-year sentence but in August of 2008, he escaped the detention facility in Curry County and is still at large. He’s listed on the US Marshalls’ 15 most wanted list.

Martinez told reporters when she received the letter from Torres on Jan. 18th, she did not know exactly what it pertained to.

“Henry Varela, who works for the governor’s office and is director of constituency services, when he read the letter, he knew it came from the case in Clovis and contacted Matt Chandler,” the governor said. “They have known each other for many years. And when he contacted him, he said, ‘isn’t this the same Noe Torres?’ He said, ‘Yes’ and all the pieces started to fall together.”

Update: Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican has posted a copy of the letter sent to the governor. Click here to read it.

Public employees — including teachers — who serve in the Roundhouse can still receive the salaries from their jobs away from the legislature as well as their legislative per diem of $153 after a reform bill introduced by three Republican state reps was tabled in committee on a party-line vote on Tuesday (Jan. 31).

House Joint Resolution 18 would have called for a constitutional amendment to require public employees who are also Roundhouse lawmakers to take unpaid leave from their jobs on the grounds that public employees are receiving “double pay.”

But in the House Voters and Elections Committee on Tuesday, Rep. W. Ken Martinez (D-Grants) criticized the resolution as being written too broadly and said if it became law, it would keep teachers from serving in the legislature.

But committee member Rep. Nate Gentry (R-Albuquerque) countered that lawmakers who work in the private sector have to make financial sacrifices when they serve in legislature and public employees should not be immune from those sacrifices.

The bill was tabled on a 7-6 vote, with all the Democrats on the committee voting to table and all the Republicans voting no.

From Milan Simonich of the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership:

Martinez moved to table Smith’s resolution when  the Voters and Elections Committee was evenly divided, 6-6, between  Democrats and Republicans.

But another Democrat on the committee,  House Speaker Ben Lujan, arrived while the vote was being taken. Lujan  then cast his vote, and the Democrats succeeded in stopping Smith’s  proposal.

“Shocker,” said Rep. Dennis Roch, R-Texico. Roch  is an  associate school superintendent who does not receive his salary while  serving in the Legislature.

Capitol Report New Mexico talked to one of the resolution’s co-sponsors, Rep. Jim Smith (R-Sandia Park), after the vote. Rep. Smith is a teacher at a charter school in the Albuquerque area and takes unpaid leave to serve in the Roundhouse:

 

The resolution comes in the wake of an incident caused by Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton (D-Albuquerque), who caused a firestorm back in December when she accused a Republican colleague of “carrying the Mexican’s water on the fourth floor” — where Gov. Susana Martinez’s offices are located. Stapleton is an administrator at the Albuquerque Public Schools (APS), which allows employees who happen to serve in the Roundhouse to get paid while they attend to their duties in Santa Fe.

 

Jason Marks (left) and Fred Nathan (right) testify on behalf of PRC resolution, 1/30/12

Going into the House Judiciary Committee meeting hearing on increasing standards for those who serve as commissioners on the Public Regulation Committee, we knew you didn’t need a college degree to serve on the PRC.

What we didn’t know was that you don’t even have to have a high school diploma.

Or have finished middle school.

Or elementary school.

“We have to have something more than, ‘you have to have a pulse and be more than 18 [years old],’ ” PRC commissioner Jason Marks told the committee members in reference to House Joint Resolution 11, which will establish some minimum standards to serve as a commissioner at the troubled agency.

As it stands now, to serve on perhaps the most powerful agency in the state (the PRC’s duties include regulating privately owned utilities, overseeing the state’s insurance industry and even administers to taxis and … ski lifts) a candidate’s only requirements for eligibility is to be 18, have lived in New Mexico for at least one year and not have a felony record.

“Commissioner’s decisions affect tens of thousands of New Mexicans,” said Fred Nathan of Think New Mexico, a Santa Fe-based think tank that released a report last year outlining suggestions for reform, including requiring a degree from a 4-year college or five years of experience in law, accounting, engineering or economics.

To make any changes, an amendment would need to be made to the New Mexico Constitution. The bill, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) and Rep. Tom Taylor (R-Farmington), would have to be approved by both chambers of the legislature and ultimately go before voters for approval.

The bill unanimously passed through the House Voters and Elections Committee last week and on Monday, it passed 15-0 in Judiciary.

But it came after lengthy debate about some of the wording of the resolution. Rep. Paul Bandy (R-Aztec) pointed out that the bill calls for “increasing” minimum standards. Bandy said that since, essentially, there no standards currently, the wording could pose some problems down the road. For example, if the legislature set exceedingly high standards (such as requiring a Ph.D) but later wanted to reduce them (to, perhaps, a bachelor’s or master’s degree), lawmakers might be unable to due to the bill’s language.

Eventually, the committee passed amended language offered by Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R-Carlsbad) calling for the legislature to set “minimum educational and professional requirements” for PRC commissioners.

The joint resolution now heads to the House floor, where Rep. Cervantes is confident it will pass:

If the resolution clears all the legislative hurdles, it could be on the ballot in time for Election Day in November.

You can read HJR11 by clicking here.

Update: On Tuesday (Jan. 31), two more PRC reform bills passed through committee.

House Joint Resolution 17, which calls for removing the insurance oversight at the commission and instead hand over those responsibilities to an appointed insurance superintendent passed through the House Voters and Elections Committee, 10-0. It goes to the House floor next. You can read HJR17 by clicking here.

And later in the same committee hearing, House Joint Resolution 16, which would remove the PRC authority to regulate corporations and place that responsibility to the Secretary of State’s office, passed 11-0. It also moves on to the House floor. You can read HJR16 by clicking here.

Rep. Nate Gentry (R-Albuquerque) testifies on HB111, 1/30/12

A bill that would stiffen penalties for public officials convicted of corruption charges — include potentially forfeiting their state pensions as well as banning them from lobbying or entering into contracts with the state — cruised through the House Judiciary Committee on Monday (Jan. 30) and is now heading to the House of Representatives for a floor vote.

House Bill 111′s co-sponsor, Rep. Nate Gentry (R-Albuquerque), thinks there’s momentum behind the measure — not only from legislators but also from voters across the state: “It’s clear to me that we’re not getting through to all our public officials. There’s just one corruption scandal after the next and people are taking note of that. I think there’s public support for this type of legislation.”

Should it pass on the House floor, the bill will move over to the Senate, where Gentry hopes it will assigned to just one committee so that its hopes of getting through before the 30-day session expires on Feb. 16 improve.

As for Monday’s committee hearing, HB111 passed 14-1. The only “no” vote came from Rep. Eliseo Alcon (D-Milan), who said, “I’m worried this will clog up the court system.”

Why, because there are so many corrupt public officials in New Mexico? Just kidding!

***

Click here to read HB111 in its entirety.

 

Update 1/31: Rep. Alcon sent Capitol Report New Mexico this note about his “no” vote:

“If $50 (Fifty dollars) is a misdemeanor, $51 (Fifty-one dollars) is a fourth degree felony. They can charge you $1 (One dollar) more and make just about anything a fourth degree felony and go after a public official, depending on the Prosecutor. And that was what my concern – it was about clogging up the court system and NOT that there are so many corrupt public officials in New Mexico.”