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Martinez looks to unseat legislative foes
Gov. Susana Martinez (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
By targeting Republican Sen. Clinton Harden, Gov. Susana Martinez showed that she’ll go after any state legislator she views as standing in the way of her reform proposals, regardless of party affiliation.
When State Sen. Clinton Harden announced this weekend that he won’t seek another term, he gave Gov. Susana Martinez her first victory of the 2012 election.
Not that she’ll publicly claim victory or he’ll give it to her, but Harden’s announcement came days after the Clovis Republican learned that he would face a tough primary challenge that had the fingerprints of Martinez and her political adviser, Jay McCleskey, all over it.
Martinez, also a Republican, has repeatedly threatened to help voters decide what to do about legislative incumbents who get in the way of the reforms she proposes. As of its last report in October, her political action committee had about $300,000 on hand to do just that.
The apparent targeting of Harden shows that Martinez, fresh off another round of high-profile legislative losses on her top reform proposals, intends to remake the Legislature in this year’s election. That means going after anyone, Democrat or Republican, who has stood in her way.
In addition to targeting Harden, Martinez has also set her sights on Sen. John Sapien, D-Corrales. A mailer from SusanaPAC going out this week contrasts his vote against her push to repeal the law that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses with the vote by Rep. David Doyle, R-Albuquerque, in favor of her proposal, which has thus far been unsuccessful.
“Governor Martinez’s PAC will help level the playing field to assist reform-minded candidates in their elections.” – Martinez political adviser Jay McCleskey
Doyle, a close ally of the governor, confirmed Monday that he will challenge Sapien this year and said a formal announcement should come later this week.
Other potential targets include Democratic Sens. Steve Fischmann of Las Cruces, Tim Eichenberg of Albuquerque and, in spite of what Martinez has said, perhaps even Majority Leader Michael Sanchez of Belen.
Sen. Vernon Asbill, R-Carlsbad, announced his retirement Monday. Though he and Martinez were sometimes at odds, there had been no public signs that she planned to try to take him out this year – at least yet.
McCleskey declined to mention specific targets in a statement to NMPolitics.net but acknowledged the governor’s efforts to remake the Legislature.
“Just as trial lawyers, labor unions, and Senator Sanchez’s PAC will spend big to defend the status quo, Governor Martinez’s PAC will help level the playing field to assist reform-minded candidates in their elections,” he said.
Spears pledges to ‘stand up to the status quo’
During the final days of the session last week – while Harden was opposing a Martinez-sought floor amendment proponents characterized as taking money from school district lobbyists and public information officers to fund reading reforms – Angie Spears, the 37-year-old director of a counseling agency, was announcing her candidacy to take on Harden in the June primary.
“I’m running for the state Senate because we need leaders with the courage to stand up to the status quo and fight for real reforms. New Mexicans are fed up with politicians who don’t represent their views,” Spears said in a news release sent Feb. 14. The release mentioned her pledge “to fight to repeal the law that gives driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants” and her support for merit-based teacher pay and ending so-called social promotion.”
That was an intentional contrast that focused on Martinez’s top priorities that have stalled in the Legislature. Harden voted for the 2003 law that allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses – the law Martinez has now tried three times without success to get lawmakers to repeal.
“New Mexicans are fed up with politicians who don’t represent their views.” – Senate candidate Angie Spears
Though much of the back-and-forth has taken place behind the scenes, Harden has also not been the biggest supporter of some of Martinez’s education reform proposals.
Spears’ news release included endorsements from her uncle, Public Regulation Commission Chairman Pat Lyons, and Clovis-area District Attorney Matt Chandler, a close ally of Martinez.
Days later, Harden announced that he wouldn’t seek another term. Even though he had a 2012 re-election website up, Harden seemed to indicate he had decided to retire before Spears announced her candidacy. The Clovis News Journal quoted him as saying it was “in the best interest of all concerned that I have moved up my announcement that I will retire at the end of my term.”
Martinez praised Harden in a statement to NMPolitics.net, then moved quickly to endorse Spears and try to keep others from entering the race.
“Angie Spears is running for the State Senate (District 7) on a platform to shake-up the status quo and fight for real reforms. Angie understands the importance of repealing the law that gives driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and enacting true education reforms, including a teacher evaluation system that puts an emphasis on student progress,” Martinez stated Monday on her Facebook page.
Martinez needed no time to get to know Spears before endorsing her because the governor was already supporting the political newcomer – even if it was only behind-the-scenes until Harden quit the race.
Sapien hit in mailer, robocalls
Martinez is being less covert about her attempt to unseat Sapien.
“Thanks to John Sapien, New Mexico is one of only two states in the entire country that gives driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants,” states the mailer that is going out this week in his district. “… When New Mexicans tried to stop this by repealing the law, John Sapien blocked them and voted to continue giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.”
“We’re going to run hard and we’re not going to give up the seat.” – Sen. John Sapien
Instead of agreeing to the governor’s proposed repeal of that law, Sapien and many other Democrats have supported amendments they say would help combat fraud while ensuring that more people who drive on New Mexico’s roads are licensed.
Doyle, on the other hand, supported Martinez’s push for a repeal. The mailer states that he “understands how wrongheaded and dangerous it is to attract criminals and human traffickers to our state” and “will keep fighting to repeal it in the State Senate.”
This year’s redistricting shifted the voting performance of Sapien’s district three percentage points to the left, to 50.5 percent Democratic and 49.5 percent Republican. Before the Obama wave of 2008, the district had long been Republican-leaning, like those currently represented by Fischmann and Eichenberg. It’s no secret that the GOP wants all three back.
Sapien told NMPolitics.net he isn’t surprised that Martinez is targeting him. The state GOP sent out two robocalls in his district during the legislative session. He complained that, “as we’re trying to focus on meeting to form public policy, the governor and Republican Party are focused on the election.”
Though Martinez frequently cites a poll that found the majority of New Mexicans want to repeal the law that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, some Democrats have recently been touting one that says New Mexicans want compromise that strengthens the law. Sapien said he’s prepared to defend his vote against attacks from Martinez.
He said voters are more concerned about the economy and jobs, and he’s proud of his record on that issue.
“We’re going to run like we did in ‘08 when we were not the incumbent,” Sapien said. “We’re going to run hard and we’re not going to give up the seat.”
Sanchez says he’s confident
At a post-session news conference on Thursday, Martinez “needed little nudging by reporters” to talk about the election, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
“We have a pretty intelligent base of voters in New Mexico and once we explain the differences, I feel pretty confident that they’ll understand it.” – Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez
“If voters appreciate that (some lawmakers) abandoned our children in education reform, they’ll continue to vote them in,” the newspaper quoted Martinez as saying. “If they don’t appreciate that, putting pork before their kids, then they’ll put someone else in there.”
Like Sapien, Majority Leader Sanchez said recently that he’s confident Democrats will be able to defend their votes on the driver’s license issue and others.
“We’ll go to the public and explain our position philosophically. We have a pretty intelligent base of voters in New Mexico and once we explain the differences, I feel pretty confident that they’ll understand it,” The Associated Press quoted Sanchez as saying.
It’s no secret that Martinez views Sanchez as one of her biggest obstacles. Yet, according to The New Mexican, “Asked directly by a reporter whether she’d target Sanchez during the election, Martinez said no.”
Sanchez was quoted by the newspaper as saying he’s ready if Martinez does. But he could have a tough time. As I wrote in the January newsletter that goes to donors to the site:
“Under the new district boundaries, the Belen-area District 29 that Sanchez represents has a performance rating that’s 53.1 percent Democratic and 46.9 percent Republican. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
“Though there are lots more registered Democrats than Republicans in the district (51.8 percent to 29.4 percent), the district’s voters are more than willing to elect a Republican – when they view that Republican as worthy of support.
“Martinez won Sanchez’s district in 2010 with 57.5 percent of the vote. Former President George W. Bush won it in 2004 with 53.3 percent of the vote.
“So if a credible Republican runs against Sanchez, and Martinez backs him or her with serious cash, Sanchez could be in trouble.”
First Martinez has to find a credible candidate to take on Sanchez. She hasn’t yet, and she may not. But, regardless of what she says publicly, don’t believe the governor isn’t looking.
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Some of us in Senators Hardin’s district have worked long and hard to build up the Republican Party around here. We are pretty disappointed that Clint decided to retire. We think he has worked hard and been a good senator. Do we agree with everything he does? No, he can’t possibly please everyone a 100% of the time. But he tries to do what he thinks is best for his district. Before he decided to retire there was a person who announced that she would be running against Senator Hardin in the primary. What really disappointed a lot of us over here in this part of the state was that the Governor decided to endorse this person without seeing if anyone else was running. And now it appears that the Governor is expecting us to elect said candidate just because she wants us to. Now we supported the Governor when she ran and gave her over 70% of the total vote. Some of us supported her in the primary from the start. We think she is doing a good job but we don’t like the idea of being told who we can or can’t run. I for one think that the Governor is getting bad information about what we want or will support. I can tell you that alot of people have expressed their disappointment in the Governor for doing this. We are trying to recruit other candidates. Will we try to get people who will support the Governor’s policies? Of course. We want a candidate who is stronger than the one who announced. We think we can do that for ourselves and we don’t need any help from Santa Fe. If Mrs. Spears is our candidate most of us feel that we will loose a seat that the Republicans have held for 22 years. And if we lose it we probably can’t get it back. I pray that this won’t get people down on the Governor to the point that they won’t vote for her again. I wish she would come to this district and talk to more of the Republican Party people than just the two she is talking to. One of whom was the last Democrat to hold this Senate seat.
Senator Harden had serious concerns with HB 201. This bill strips the State Engineer of authority to permit and regulate geothermal waters. This will strip the due process of 20+ protestants to the application to the state engineer by a company reconfigured after one bankruptcy. This company was referred to in the U.S. News & World Report as the Solendra of the geothermal industry due to their dependance on government grants, loans and tax credits for their investors.
It wasn’t just Senator Harden who was concerned about this precedent of removing the state engineer’s jurisdiction. This law will have the effect of allowing users of geothermal water to bypass showing that they will not impair existing water right owners. Eliminating bureaucratic hurdles that stretch out the permit process is a noble pursuit. However in this case removal of the hurdle damages the Constitutional due process right of property owners.
Senator Harden was called on the floor by the Governor’s in the last minutes of the Legislative session and told point blank to not screw up the vote by debating the bill. There were probably others who received the same call. This is a story more suited for a Larry Barker investigative report.
Too bad that Governor Martinez doesn’t have people on her policy team who are capable of recognizing a scam destined to either failure or impairment of existing water rights or both. If this bill is signed by the governor, anyone in the state with existing water rights in proximity to geothermal resources will not have the protection of the state engineer permitting process to guard against impairment of those rights. It is certainly not good policy for New Mexico to change statewide water law to benefit a single company. I and many others were relieved to have Governor Richardson leave the office and had high hopes that we would see an end to the corruption of the process. It appears we have “met the new boss, same as the old boss.”
I know that Governor Martinez’s biggest administration problem is to find a new New Mexican hair stylist. Her anti-gay stance upset the hair stylist, who refused to do her hair. Read the story:
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2012/2/22/susana_martinez_nm_governor_loses_hair.htm
Governor Martinez is sure like the mad Red Queen in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. As the Red Queen said:”It is far better to be feared than loved.” Maybe our Governor should ask the targeted Democrats:” How would you like to have your head hacked off?”
Then you have Governor Martinez wanting more breaks for her oil buddies. As the red Queen says: “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
As The Governor is criticized for serving the special interests, the Red Queen would respond to this criticism: “You may call it “nonsense” if you like, but I’ve heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!”
I am sure the Governor feels this way about the state legislature: “It’s ridiculous to leave all conversation to the pudding!”
Finally here is our Red Queen Governor on getting rid of the Democrats in the state legislature:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eobuu-IexvI
The fact that Governor Martinez has chosen to push someone who is endorsed by a man who is accused of gross misconduct in his last office (Lyons) and another who seems to think that being a registered Democrat is a crime worthy of prosecution at taxpayer expense (Chandler) is very telling of how little she respects her own constituents. It would be like asking someone with absolutely zero educational training or experience to run the school system.
Oh… right.
Let Susana be Susana. Let her clean house, Democrats or Republicans. It is what New Mexico needs. If it were up to me to say something to Susana Martinez, the Governor of New Mexico, I would simply say this: YOU GO GIRL….GIVE EM HECK. I wish she was over here in Afghanistan with me to clean up this ten year situation we have found ourselves in. While the rest of the Republicans continue to shoot themselves in their own feet, let Susana, who is an expert marksman (woman) take the lead to fix the problems facing New Mexico. Let the rest of the cry babies fall by the wayside. Governor Susana Martinez is making sure the next 100-years of statehood for New Mexico will be far better than the first 100-years.
“She is one mean woman.”
Wow, such progress.
She is one mean woman.
Gov. Martinez’s administration and the oil industry are trying circumvent the rules when it comes to the pit rule. The following article is about how the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe had to order the oil-and-gas industry to stop pursuing changes in New Mexico’s ‘pit rule’ at the state Oil Conservation Division.
http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2012/02/15/court-halts-state-hearings-on-pit-rule.html?page=all
It is not what is best for state. Rather Governor Martinez follows political cronyism – what can I do to “help my oil buddies”. The pit rule protects the state from environmental disaster. Before the pit rule there were over 1,000 cases of water contamination. In fact Bob Gallagher, former president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, had stated that while the new regulations were tough, the industry could live with them. An examination of drilling rig counts, the most common gauge of the industry’s health, shows that the new rules have had little or no impact on drilling activity in New Mexico. However, facts are not important to this administration.
Here is an issue with which Democrats can attack Governor Martinez. Her administration wants to revise Medicaid. The poor will unjustly bear the burden of the changes. She will demand co-pays from poor Medicaid recipients. For instance the fees for using an emergency room will range from $6 to $50 for so-called routine medical treatment.
Managed care plans in other states have met with dissatisfaction with complaints about lack of payments for medical services, difficulty in getting patient medications approved and delays in authorizing services. I assume like in other states rather than pharmacies providing prescription drugs directly to low-income patients, persons in the Medicaid program will have to get prescriptions filled through a managed-care company. That is a crock! Governor Martinez is in cahoots with these private managed care companies.
Well, I don’t think Susana will have to worry much.
New Mexico voters are already fed up with the Santa Fe story… we will see a much larger Republican presence in the round house come next January. If Democrats won’t end the status quo, then the voters are smart enough to remove them.
Independent Source PAC will be there to counter Martinez’s political targeting of legislators who stood with the people of New Mexico against her attack on parents’ rights. Once the public fully grasps the level of attack against parents’ rights Martinez has initiated they will recoil in disgust from her and the candidates she backs.
Governor Martinez and her Republican cohorts are anti-woman, anti-labor, anti-immigrant and anti-education. They wave the flag of reform, but they are basically right wing ideologues serving special interests disguised as pro-business. Democrats if they plan to be successful need to attack their policies relentlessly in every county. This is a political war for the hearts and minds of New Mexicans. It would be sad fate for New Mexico if the right wing extremists get control of the state legislature by simply buying the election thru Super PACs like the SusanaPac.
This is good, but far from unusual or unique, Richardson of course did the same thing, as have many other Guvs. But with all the obstruction in the Senate, perhaps by both sides, something has to be done to reflect the will of the majority of the citizens, real citizens.
I hope that the Governor will focus on gaining Republican majorities in the house and diminishing the D advantage in the Senate by beating Democrats at the polls, and not spending resources to remove Republicans who may disagree with her from time to time with a net result of ‘no gain’ toward the goal of attaining a majority.