In New Mexico, the citizen legislature meets for 30 day and 60 day sessions. With 70 House members and 42 State Senators, the annual legislative session in Santa Fe is filled with pomp, circumstance, endless meetings, morning and evening events and plenty of deal making. Over the past several years, the State Senate leadership has maintained a more conservative and thoughtful approach, while the House has seen it's share of debate. For details on the NM legislature: http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs
And the cutting edge blog that is on top of what is happening in Santa Fe is Joe Monahan's political blog that follows the ins and out of politics in New Mexico. While I'd disagree with his recent criticism of Farmington's own Representative Tom Taylor (whose is the House Minority Leader), Joe is pretty well connected with his sources in the state and has a bead on the breaking stories.
Since the session just started in mid January, they'll be plenty of entertainment over the next 50 more days, with the first female GOP Hispanic governor in the United States (Susana Martinez), a weakened Democrat Speaker of House (the Dems lost 8 seats to the GOP, but kept a slim majority in the Chamber), and the State Senate (which has been the stabilizing influence in Santa Fe during the crazy and corrupt days of Big Bill).
(c) 2011, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org
Showing posts with label Susana Martinez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Susana Martinez. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Insider NM Politics
Insider New Mexico Politics
New Mexico politics are always interesting. And especially with the change from the corrupt Richardson Democrat administration to the new Republican Governor-elect Susana Martinez. One of her campaign themes is to clean up Santa Fe. And based on what some of the Albuquerque, NM TV stations are running and stories we've heard out of Santa Fe in the last year of "Big Bill", it is a mess. Add in the dramatic NM budget crunch (the shortfall was estimated at $300MM, but may actually be closer to $450MM) when the legislature gathers in January. With the new Guv in town, less money means big changes.
One of the best insider NM blogs is by Joe Monahan http://www.joemonahansnewmexico.blogspot.com
This week he has been blogging on the changes in the NM House, as the Republicans picked up 8 seats and the Democrats cling to a narrow 37D to 33R majority. While Speaker Lujan (R-Santa Fe) is still the Speaker nominee in January 2011, the numbers suggest that if all the R's and 3 Democrats formed a coalition, they could swing the vote away from Lujan as the Speaker. Somewhere in the mix is empowered House Minority Leader Tom Taylor (R-Farmington), who has a much stronger hand with new Republican Governor and 8 new GOP members. Plenty of blogger fogger.
Meanwhile, Lt. Governor John Sanchez will be in Farmington, NM right before Thanksgiving for part of the new Republican administration's "listening tour".
(c) 2010, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org
New Mexico politics are always interesting. And especially with the change from the corrupt Richardson Democrat administration to the new Republican Governor-elect Susana Martinez. One of her campaign themes is to clean up Santa Fe. And based on what some of the Albuquerque, NM TV stations are running and stories we've heard out of Santa Fe in the last year of "Big Bill", it is a mess. Add in the dramatic NM budget crunch (the shortfall was estimated at $300MM, but may actually be closer to $450MM) when the legislature gathers in January. With the new Guv in town, less money means big changes.
One of the best insider NM blogs is by Joe Monahan http://www.joemonahansnewmexico.blogspot.com
This week he has been blogging on the changes in the NM House, as the Republicans picked up 8 seats and the Democrats cling to a narrow 37D to 33R majority. While Speaker Lujan (R-Santa Fe) is still the Speaker nominee in January 2011, the numbers suggest that if all the R's and 3 Democrats formed a coalition, they could swing the vote away from Lujan as the Speaker. Somewhere in the mix is empowered House Minority Leader Tom Taylor (R-Farmington), who has a much stronger hand with new Republican Governor and 8 new GOP members. Plenty of blogger fogger.
Meanwhile, Lt. Governor John Sanchez will be in Farmington, NM right before Thanksgiving for part of the new Republican administration's "listening tour".
(c) 2010, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)