BREAKING NEWS: Reps. Cervantes, Garcia lose influential committee positions, Nuñez gains

After supporting House Majority Leader Ken Martinez’s failed bid for speaker last month, reps. Joseph Cervantes and Mary Helen Garcia of Las Cruces have lost influential committee positions.

Garcia learned late today that Speaker of the House Ben Lujan had replaced her with Rep. Joni Gutierrez of Las Cruces on the Appropriations and Finance Committee. Cervantes, who had been chair of the Judiciary Committee, will now serve as vice chair. Al Park of Albuquerque, the previous vice chair, will now be chair, Lujan decided.

On the flip side, Lujan made Rep. Andy Nuñez of Hatch, who supported him in the speaker race, chair of the Agriculture and Water Resources Committee.

I could not reach Lujan for comment. When I asked in December if Garcia might lose her committee position for being one of the leaders of the effort to oust him, Lujan said my question “doesn’t even deserve an answer. I have the prerogative and I’ll discuss it with the majority leader… and make a decision like I have the power to do.”

Garcia blasted Lujan today for taking her off appropriations, saying she met with him Monday and he promised he would not do that.

“He lied to me,” Garcia said. “He told me he was going to keep me on appropriations and finance and he reneged on that today.”

She also complained about those who supported Lujan in the speaker race, “especially those from Las Cruces. They have paid to play. They have considered power over principle.”

When asked to be specific, Garcia only named Gutierrez. Gutierrez was a strong supporter of Lujan and it was rumored that she would replace Garcia on appropriations.

“This is pay to play. It’s not about knowledge. It’s not about experience,” Garcia said.

“Joni has never had any kind of financial background. I have been working with school districts for years.”

Garcia had also been on the appropriations committee for 10 years.

An obviously angry Garcia said Gutierrez’s predecessor, Rep. J. Paul Taylor, was a consensus builder who worked well with others, and complained that Gutierrez, instead, “starts to divide our delegation from Doña Ana County.”

Gutierrez could not be reached for comment. Neither could Cervantes.

Nuñez, who agreed in November to support Lujan in exchange for the chairmanship he now holds, said he had ethical concerns before last month’s vote and kept an eye on allegations that Lujan might be tied to the state housing authority scandal. Nothing ever came out that meant he could not support Lujan with a clean conscience, Nuñez said.

“You’re innocent until you’re proven guilty, and they never did find anything on him,” Nuñez said.

He said he has hoped for years that when former Rep. Joe Stell retired and the committee chairmanship was up for grabs, it would be his.

“I’m really looking forward to this,” Nuñez said.

Update, 5:45 p.m.

Gutierrez said she did not want to respond at this time to Garcia’s attack, but did have these comments about being appointed by Lujan to the appropriations committee:

“I’m really proud to be on appropriations. It’ll be so beneficial for Doña Ana County that I’m on appropriations and I’m honored to serve. I’ll do a good job and I’ll be fair,” she said. “We had to have someone on appropriations (from Doña Ana County) and I feel really fortunate that it’s me.”

Among Doña Ana County’s delegation, Gutierrez is joined by Rep. Antonio Lujan of Las Cruces on the committee. Antonio Lujan, who is also a supporter of Ben Lujan, has been on the committee for several years.