Roundhouse Roundup: A Very Special History Lesson

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
September 1, 2011

 As Gov. Susana Martinez heads into her first special session, which seems to be drawing more complaints from legislative Democrats each day, it’s starting to remind me of another governor’s first special session, a bitter time in which it became apparent that the honeymoon between the new governor and the Legislature was way past over.

In fact, if Martinez and her predecessor Bill Richardson were on friendlier terms, the former governor might provide Martinez with some cautionary tales from the not-so-distant past.

Former Gov. Bill Richardson

Back in 2003, Richardson was still an extremely popular governor, both with the public and the Legislature. Even Republicans praised him for getting a tax-cut bill through his first legislative session.

But when he called a special session in the autumn of that year, Richardson backed into a political buzz saw. He received fire from Ds and Rs alike. His massive tax-reform plan, which had been the reason for calling the session in the first place, never even got heard by a single committee.

Though the ill-fated special session didn't hurt Richardson's popularity with the public (he won a landslide re-election in 2006), the rancor the special session created in the Legislature continued to grow and fester. Relations between the governor and the Senate became outright toxic by his final years in office.

Santa Fe Appreciation Day: The grumbling and sniping began the first day of the session, which began in late October. Both chambers recessed in the early afternoon after learning that Richardson's tax bill wouldn’t be ready for introduction until the next day.

“Is this just an 'Appreciate Santa Fe' day?” Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, asked, noting that without a tax bill to consider there was nothing for legislators to do but visit the capital city's sites.

Then House Republican Leader Ted Hobbs also blasted the governor's office for not having the tax bill ready. “We didn't even get the proclamation until 10 minutes before we convened,” he said. “That's because they keep changing what they want.” Even House Democratic Whip, Rep. James Taylor complained, “The governor's staff has been difficult to deal with for some of my members.”

Former Rep. Max Coll

The introduction of Richardson’s 188-page tax bill didn’t help. As Rep. Max Coll, D-Santa Fe, said of the tax bill after the session. “Neither house would touch it with a 100-foot pole.” Said Coll, “When you've got a special session, you need to build a consensus, especially on tax issues, before you go in. You can't just walk in without it (being) settled.”

Several current observers have said the same thing recently about Martinez and her bill to repeal the law allowing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

Sine Die! By the end of the first week of the 2003 special session, the Senate had had enough.

Eight Democrats, including Senate President Pro-tem Richard Romero of Albuquerque, joined 15 Republicans to call for an end to the session. Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe, said after that vote, “The lack of consensus was clearly evident from the very beginning. ... There was confusion, a lot of frustration and a concern about whether this was absolutely necessary at this point in time.”

House Speaker Ben Lujan kept the House in session, and after some arm-twisting by Richardson, Romero agreed to bring the Senate back into session. The Legislature ended up passing Richardson’s ambitious program for highway improvements. (That’s the GRIP program, which would come back to haunt Richardson in later years, though that’s another story.)

The Legislature still didn’t attempt any major tax-code overhaul and haven’t touched it since. The 2003 special session even had some Democrats looking back with nostalgia at Republican Gov. Gary Johnson. “We hardly ever supported Gov. Johnson, but we appreciated his open-door policy,” Sen. Phil Griego, D-Ribera, said at the end of that session.

After the session, Richardson said, “I learned a lot during this session, We will work harder to get legislators involved earlier in the process.”

But some of those wounds in that session never seemed to heal.

Invisible Candidate Johnson Now Leading Some "Serious" Candidates

The bad news for Gary Johnson is that, according to the latest national poll of Republicans, he's only pulling two percent.

However, according to the new CNN/ORC poll, Johnson is beating both ex-Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former Sen. Rick Santorum. And he's tied with pizza magnate Herman Cain. In a race in which Sarah Palin and Rudy Giulian are excluded, Johnson remains at 2 percent -- still beating Huntsman and Santorum, but falling one point behind Cain.

However, both Huntsman and Santorum are invited to next week's debate in California, sponsored by NBC and Politico. Johnson is not.

"This poll, conducted by credible organizations and more current than those used by NBC and Politico to choose who will be allowed on the stage in California next week, shows that it is ludicrous to exclude Gary Johnson, while inviting other candidates whose support appears to be no greater than his," said Johnson campaign campaign manager Ron Nielson in a news release. "Drawing arbitrary lines between polling results, when all of those results are within margins of error, and using those lines to determine who gets to take his or her message to the voters on a national stage if fundamentally wrong at this stage of the process."

The poll is based on interviews with 467 Republicans on Aug. 24-25. The margin of error is 4.5 percent.

Pelosi in Santa Fe

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who still is the leader of House Democrats in Congress, appeared this morning at Mary Ester Gonzales Senior Center in Santa Fe.

Pelosi was accompanied by Congressman Ben Ray Lujan.

Both spoke about protecting Social Security and Medicare in the ongoing D.C. deficit and budget battles. Referring to the committee of 12 House and Senate members that will make budget recommendations, Pelosi said, "This table of 12 cannot be a chopping block for Medicare and Social Security."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Santa Fe Mayor David Coss at right

She also spoke about her desire to have the meetings of the "Super Congress" open to the public, televised and webcasted.

Asked whether having these negotiations public would turn into predictable recitations of talking points for both sides  instead of producing a real compromise, Pelosi said, "That's called `democracy.' I think the American public will have a slim appetite for that kind of exploitation at that table. We have to succeed at that table."

Both Pelosi and Lujan said the current debate is not really about deficits. "Why didn't (Republicans) say `boo' when (the deficit) was being amassed by President Bush," Pelosi said. She blamed the deficits on tax breaks for the wealthy and "two unfunded wars."

In a written statement e-mailed after the event, Tyler Q. Houlton, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said, "Nancy Pelosi and Ben Ray Lujan should be honest with New Mexico voters and admit to the damage they’ve caused to Medicare. It’s disingenuous for Pelosi and Lujan to claim they have protected Medicare when they voted to gut the program by $500 billion to fund their government takeover of healthcare.”

More in Tuesday's New Mexican.

Preparing for the Special Session?

This is Gov. Susana Martinez requalifying for her concealed carry license.

According to McClesky Media, which posted this on YouTube, the governor got 100 percent scores with both .45 and .38 caliber handguns.

On her Facebook, Martinez wrote, "Chuck will never admit it, but I'm the better shot."

(Yes, I'm back to work.)

Summer Vacation!

That's where I'll be for the next two weeks, so don't expect to see much on Roundhouse Roundup: The Blog during that time -- barring some truly major political event.

Probably goes without sayingI won't be writing my weekly Roundhouse Roundup (the column) while I'm out.

I did write a lengthy look at the struggling Gary Johnson presidential campaign, which was published in Saturday's New Mexican.

Speaking of Johnson, he had some nice words to say about the departing Tim Pawlenty:

"Gov. Pawlenty's decision to end his campaign is his to make, and I respect that decision.  He and his many supporters have put forth a great effort, and should be applauded for it.  As Republicans survey a new list of candidates today, including the departure of a candidate who is credible, experienced and who had a real record to run on, it is appropriate to question the inflated role of an event like the Ames Straw Poll in the process.  That a pay-to-play gathering in Iowa six months before the first real ballots are cast can be such a qualifying -- or disqualifying -- event is something the media and tens of millions of Republican voters need to think about.  A lot of voices have not been heard yet, and it is far too early for the 'system' to be picking winners and losers.

 "If there is a message from Ames, it is that this race is wide open and that the vast majority of Republicans and Independents are still looking for the candidate who can win the White House in 2012."   

Speaking of departing, I'm outta here. See you in a couple of weeks.

Johnson Touts New McClatchy-Marist Poll

Gary Johnson just tweeted about some new poll results.

The good news for Gary: He's tied with Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty, and he's got TWICE the support of Jon Huntsman among Republican voters.

The bad news: Johnson, Newt and T-Paw, as well as former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer are all at 2 percent. Huntsman has 1 percent.

Scroll way down to the bottom of the document below to see those results.

One screwy thing I noticed about some other numbers in the poll: 18 percent of those who say they are "Tea Party Supporters" say they will "definitely vote for President Obama" in 2012.

The Obama wing of the Tea Party. There's a feature story waiting to happen!

MARISTPOLL8-11

The Twitter Candidate

Gary Johnson might have been excluded from tonight's Fox News debate on the eve of the Ames, Iowa straw poll. But his voice will not be stopped.

At least not on Twitter.

A news release from the Johnson campaign says the former New Mexico governor will "tweet his reactions" to the debate, which begins 7 p.m. New Mexico time.

You can keep track of his comments during the debate on his Twitter feed, @GovGaryJohnson

Some Non-Block Tidbits

I just realized that all my blog posts this week have been about Jerome Block, Jr. --(who, as expected, was removed as PRC vice chairman this morning. He'll be replaced by Commissioner Theresa Becenti-Aguilar. And no, he hasn't resigned at this writing.)

But there are a few other things going on.

Some sad news from earlier this week is that Republican "fix-it man" Lou Gallegos died this weekend at the age of 72. He served as chief of staff for Gov. Gary Johnson as well as U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici. I didn't know him well, but the few time I had to deal with Lou I found him very friendly and helpful. My obit for Lou can be found HERE.

For some happier news, next week the bronze bust of former Gov. David F. Cargo will be formally unveiled at the Capitol next Thursday (Aug. 18.)

The bust, by artist Storm Townsend was on display briefly at the Capitol a year ago, when Hal Truesdale, a Capitol security guard, snapped this photo. But the Legislature had to approve it for permanent display.

My story on that is HERE.

Roundhouse Roundup: If Block Steps Down

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
August 11, 2011


Breaking news: Nobody new called for Jerome Block Jr.’s resignation on Wednesday.

Well, no one that I know of. I haven’t checked my Twitter feed in a couple of hours.

Bipartisan requests for Block to quit the state Public Regulation Commission began flowing last week when the story broke about an investigation into thousands of dollars in questionable charges to a state gasoline card issued to Block, among other possible misdeeds.

So far, Block hasn’t responded to those urgings, nor the possibility that the Legislature might consider impeaching him.

Gov. Susana Martinez, who is among those who say Block should step down, would have authority to name a replacement for him until the next election. She hasn’t talked with any potential successors, her spokesman said Wednesday. “If the seat does come open, we would go through a swift and thorough process to find the right replacement,” Scott Darnell said in an email.

It’s probably not going out too far on a limb to think that a Republican governor would want to appoint a qualified Republican to the $90,000-a-year job — even though the GOP didn’t even field a candidate in this Democratic-leaning PRC district in 2008, when Block was elected.

If Block departed and Martinez appointed a Republican, it would shift the political balance of the elected regulatory body, giving the R’s a 3-to-2 edge.

That situation likely would be temporary, however, as 57 percent of the registered voters in PRC District 3 are Democrats. Only 26 percent are Republicans, while 17 percent are independent or belong to other parties.

I have heard a couple of names of possible Republican candidates. Neither returned phone calls Wednesday. Whether that means anything, I don’t know. Maybe, after observing Block, they think it’s the duty of a PRC member not to return calls.

No shortage of Democrats: As reported previously, there already are plenty of Democrats who want to take his place.

Even before his latest problems surfaced, it was apparent that many felt Block was politically vulnerable, and some believed he wouldn’t seek re-election. Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza jumped in the race months ago. More recently, activist Martin Suazo of Las Vegas, N.M., and Santa Fe mortgage banker Brad Gallegos — whose father is former Corporation Commissioner Louis Gallegos — announced they will run.

Danny Maki, a former staffer for U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and son of lobbyist and former Bill Richardson congressional aide Walter “Butch” Maki, said this week that he will announce later this month.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe County Commissioner Virginia Vigil said Wednesday that she has thought about running for the PRC for several years. However, she said she lives very close to the district boundary in southwestern Santa Fe, so she will wait until the Legislature draws new district boundaries next month before she makes a decision.

I’m not sure where all those candidates and possible candidates live, but redistricting certainly does have the potential of creating some havoc in this and other races.

A clue on Facebook? The Rio Grande Sun noticed something peculiar on Block’s Facebook page. His profile says he “Worked at the State of New Mexico (Commissioner).” Worked. As in past tense. As the Española weekly pointed out, that only happens when you enter an end-date in your profile’s employment section.

I’m not sure how long that’s been on Block’s profile and can’t say for sure whether he might have made some mistake when setting up his profile.

But it raises the question: Could a state official these days resign via Facebook?

An Oldie But Goodie From Jim Terr

Songwriter/parodist Jim Terr did this video back in 2008. There might be enough new material for a sequel.