By MILAN SIMONICH
The Santa Fe New Mexican
There really was a peanut gallery on opening day of the New Mexico Legislature. It was the place to be.
While too many lawmakers made ho-hum announcements and introduced an elephantine list of guests, students from Eastern New Mexico University staffed a booth with complimentary packages of Hampton Farms peanuts. They are a staple of the Portales area’s economy and the best-known peanuts in politics since Jimmy Carter ran for president.
Forty feet from the booth, Eastern’s excellent Greyhound Sound Marching Band took over the Capitol Rotunda. The band drowned out chatter reverberating from the House and Senate chambers with a series of instrumentals. The best of them was “Hey! Baby”, initially a hit in 1961. Collegiate energy beats political speeches every time.
The first day of the legislative session also was Higher Education Day at the Capitol. If Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is remembered for one policy decision in her eight years in office, it should be her persistence in pushing for the Opportunity Scholarship. It pays 100% of tuition and required fees for established New Mexico residents enrolled at state colleges and universities.
Improving higher education isn’t a universally strong point for Lujan Grisham. Her selection of a bad batch of regents at Western New Mexico University led to a $1.9 million payout to the school’s then-president, Joseph Shepard. Western’s new and much-improved board of regents is tied up in litigation with Shepard because of his severance package and other fallout.
Western had no presence Tuesday at the Capitol. A spokesperson for the school told me an organizational glitch was the reason Western didn’t send a delegation to Santa Fe for Higher Education Day.
As for addressing the long-standing problem of a governor’s political cronies and campaign contributors dragging down university boards of regents, one reform measure is in play. The proposal is House Joint Resolution 1 by two Democrats, Rep. Christine Chandler of Los Alamos and Sen. Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces. Their constitutional amendment is a long shot to clear the Legislature and make the statewide ballot.
Proponents of streamlining state government by eliminating the lieutenant governor’s office have no chance at all to get that issue to a public vote. The glue that keeps the lieutenant governor affixed to the state bureaucracy is solid support from the state Senate.
Its members gave nice guy Lt. Gov. Howie Morales a standing ovation Tuesday upon the mere mention he was starting his eighth and final regular session as presiding officer of the Senate. Morales is cordial and fair to all 42 senators — 26 Democrats and 16 Republicans — as he moderates debates.
His office is an unnecessary appendage of modern government, but no one would get a proposal to abolish it through the Senate. Morales’ predecessor as lieutenant governor, Republican John Sanchez, was almost as popular with senators. Sanchez presided over floor sessions for eight years without upsetting a single member.
There is another reason the Senate would never agree to eliminate the job and establish a different line of succession to fill a vacancy in the governor’s office. Several senators have aspired to be lieutenant governor and pursued the office.
Morales was one. Sitting Democratic Sens. Linda Lopez and Michael Padilla launched unsuccessful campaigns for lieutenant governor in 2010 and 2018, respectively. Sen. Harold Pope, D-Albuquerque, is running for lieutenant governor this year.
The lofty title is one reason the office is attractive to senators. Money is another fact. The job of lieutenant governor pays more than $144,000 a year. New Mexico legislators receive no base salary, though many are trying this session to advance a pay package to a vote of the people.
Lawmakers won’t succeed in that effort. A lengthy cooling-off period is in order after their show of greed. Legislators alienated many constituents during the last four years by increasing their own pensions by 27% and then 50%.
As for Morales, he will pause his career in politics after his term ends. He toyed with the idea of running for governor this year, but decided against a Democratic primary against two moneyed opponents, Sam Bregman and Deb Haaland. Morales said he wanted to devote more attention to his children and the Silver City area, where he was raised.
At 53, he might not be finished politically. If he ever attempts a comeback, he won’t find another office where he made thousands of parliamentary decisions but not a single enemy.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505.986.3080.