NM Capitol Report | A view from the New Mexico state capitol

Many eyes on expungement bill

Ordinary citizens with a smudge or even a stain on their record are paying especially close attention to one bill before Gov. Susana Martinez.

It would empower judges to expunge certain criminal records, as well as records of the wrongfully convicted.

Martinez has until March 7 to veto the bill or sign it into law.

The measure was sponsored by Sen. Michael Sanchez of Belen (left).

He is the leader of majority Democrats in the Senate, and is no friend of Republican Martinez.

Sanchez, an attorney, believes an expungement system is fundamental to judicial fairness. The question is whether his bill goes too far for Martinez, who was a prosecutor for 25 years.

Both the wrongly accused and, in certain cases, the guilty, would benefit from Sanchez's bill.

It would allow people to petition district courts for expungment of their records in these three circumstances:

* Identity theft or wrongful arrest or indictment.

If a petitioner can prove his claim on any of these, a judge within 30 days would order all arrest records and public records to be expunged.

* A defendant released without conviction for a violation of a municipal ordinance, a misdemeanor or a felony.

A judge could order expungements after an acquittal, a dismissal or a grand jury investigation that led to no indictment.

Another possibility of expungement would be for defendants who successfully completed diversion programs without being formally prosecuted.

* Expungement of records after certain convictions.

This could apply to a person "convicted of one or more misdemeanors or violations of a municipal ordinance arising out of one incident." The defendant would qualify for expungement of his records if he had no other convictions after completing his sentence.

In addition, expungements would be possible for those with clean records for five years if the conviction was for a misdemeanor.

A record free of trouble for 10 years would be necessary to expunge a conviction for an offense involving domestic violence or abuse.

Those convicted of crimes against minors or children, a sex offense or an offense involving drunken driving could not petition for expungement of their records.

Sanchez's bill cleared the Legislature with bipartisan support. Nine Republicans in the Senate joined 26 Democrats in voting for it.

In the House of Representatives, six Republicans, one independent and 35 Democrats supported the bill.

Governor signs tax-cut bill

Gov. Susana Martinez lost many of her key initiatives during this year's legislative session, but today she celebrated a victory.

She signed a bill to curb double and triple taxation on projects in the manufacturing and construction sectors.

Martinez said the new law would prevent "tax pyramiding." She said this occurred, for example, when a contractor hired an architect and a surveyor for the same project, then had to pay gross receipts taxes for each.

Two bills to reduce the tax burden were combined and approved by the Legislature. The sponsors were Reps. David Doyle and Conrad James, both Albuquerque Republicans, and Sen. Stuart Ingle, R-Portales.

 

Reps. Roch, Brown staying put

Rep. Dennis Roch said today he will not try to jump the state Senate.

Roch (right) had an opening because of the forthcoming retirement of Sen. Clint Harden.

Harden, R-Clovis, represents an area covering more than 14,000 square miles in northeastern New Mexico. Roch, R-Texico, is an assistant school superintendent in the Texico, a bedroom community of Clovis.

"I intend to run for re-election to the House of Representatives," Roch said in an email.

Rep. Cathrynn Brown (below) also is running for re-election to the House of Representatives rather than trying for a Senate seat.

Brown, R-Carlsbad, said today she had no interest in seeking the seat that Sen. Vernon Asbill is vacating. Asbill, a fellow Republican from Carlsbad, is retiring this year after two terms in the Senate.

State representatives have two-year terms. State senators serve four-year terms, cutting the campaigning and fundraising chores in half.

Various Democrats, including state Sen. Howie Morales of Silver City, have said they see Roch as someone bound for higher office.

Roch, 38, has a master's degree in English from George Mason University and frequently is in the midst of the House's hottest debates.

He filibustered for one hour and 14 minutes on the last day of this year's legislative session, vexed because Democrats blocked a vote on a bill to retain third-graders who do not read proficiently.

Could it be Bingaman in '14?

 

Wishful thinking or not, party regulars want him to contemplate a run for governor

Democrats across Santa Fe hope U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman's retirement will be short-lived.

Those who focus on political match-ups believe Democrat Bingaman would knock out Republican Gov. Susana Martinez in 2014.

Bingaman still has 10 months left in his 30-year career in the U.S. Senate. He will be 71 years old in the fall of 2014, but Bingaman looks 45.

Strong and fit, a household name in every city and village, Bingaman would be more than formidable in a gubernatorial election.

But would he want the job?

Anything is possible in politics. Some people are bored in retirement, though Bingaman strikes us as the type who would find plenty to do.

With the next gubernatorial election more than two years away, there is no science to handicapping the field. So much can change in a day that nobody is guaranteed a place on the ballot, including Martinez.

But the very idea of Bingaman heading the ticket in '14 would energize Democrats. They would market him as a healer after one term of Martinez's bunker battles with state lawmakers.

Martinez, who came out of a district attorney's office, was accustomed to giving orders and having them followed.

But legislators do not march to her drumbeat. They never will unless both the state Senate and state House of Representatives flip from Democrat to Republican.

Even Republicans in the state Legislature are effusive in their praise of Bingaman. They refer to him as a statesman, not a politician.

Some of that goodwill was created by Bingaman's retirement, but part of it is heartfelt.

Solving problems and creating jobs are what Bingaman focuses on. Sometimes he works on both with the same program.

For instance, last fall he got a bill through the Senate for the cleanup of abandoned uranium mines.

The U.S. Department of Interior collects money from coal companies for mine reclamations, but restrictions now make it impossible to use the money on uranium mines. Bingaman's bill would allow for changes to cure one of New Mexico's bigger problems.

Two years is an eternity in political time. But if Bingaman has any interest in being governor when the calendar reaches 2014, he could have a political rebirth.

A good senator's ups and downs

 

Clint Harden winged it as a college quarterback.

But as a state senator, he listened a lot more than he talked.

 

 

 

 

 

It's been a full life for the legislator from Clovis, who is leaving office after 10 years

Clint Harden, businessman and politician, was one of the state Senate's true gentlemen 99 percent of the time.

Harden, R-Clovis, is not running for a third term. That is a loss for the chamber. His civility, intelligence and good humor helped make the Senate more interesting than the House of Representatives.

Only once in the last year did Harden sink to the kind of politicking that gives many of his colleagues a bad name.

One day last fall, Harden brought a guest into the Senate chamber. Then he made a point of being recognized by Lt. Gov. John Sanchez, who was presiding over the Senate.

"Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to introduce my guest, Heather Wilson," Harden said.

Sanchez at the time was running against Wilson for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. Sanchez has since quit the race.

Harden's in-your-face approach with Sanchez was out of character. Harden typically did not conduct himself in a style so as to embarrass those he disagreed with.

It appeared that Harden's friendship and loyalty to Wilson turned him into a mean partisan for that  moment.

In almost every other case, Harden was decent to all.

Asked about his plans on Feb. 15, a day before the end of the legislative session, Harden said he probably would run for another four-term in the Senate. Soon after he changed his mind.

Harden, 64, is moving on after this year. He takes with him one of the best bios in state politics.

He went to high school in the southern Colorado town of La Junta when its high school was a football power. Harden, a quarterback, went on to play football at the Naval Academy and the University of Utah.

Harden and his wife of 40 years, Kathy, have run a drive-in restaurant in Clovis for nearly half of  their lives.

He was a secretary of labor under then-governor Gary Johnson. Harden formed his friendship with Wilson during the Johnson years. She also was a member of Johnson's cabinet, as secretary of the Children, Youth and Families Department.

Harden was a reliable vote for the Republicans on nearly all their causes, but he broke ranks over grandstand tactics.

For instance, Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, earlier this month moved to end funding for school publicists and lobbyists. He said that cash should be poured into classroom instruction.

Adair's maneuver failed on the Senate floor, and Harden was one of a handful of Republicans who helped vote it down.

One issue was the state telling 89 local districts how to behave. What happened to local control? Did it no longer matter to Adair and the Republican bloc?

In addition, even small school districts have websites. We suppose those who maintain them might fit into Adair's definition of publicist.

Senate Republicans also employ a publicist to tout their bills and air their complaints. We have seen Adair himself headlined through this system.

We would have been more impressed had Adair fought harder to end the practice of legislators  becoming lobbyists as soon as they walk out of the chambers and back into civilian life.

The latest example was a Republican senator, Kent Cravens, who resigned from office in September to become a lobbyist for the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association.

But once again the important issue of lobbyist reform died in the committee rooms of the Legislature. Perhaps Adair can lead the charge on that one next year. We shall see.

By then, Harden will be on with another chapter of his life. Happy trails, senator.

Carlsbad senator not running

UPDATED

State Sen. Vernon Asbill, who fought long and hard for the crime-fighting system known as Katie’s Law, announced today that he will not seek re-election.

Asbill, R-Carlsbad, was a teacher, coach and school superintendent before entering politics. He has represented Senate District 34, covering Eddy County and part of Otero County, since 2005.

With a booming voice and a defensive tackle’s frame, Asbill was the biggest man in the Senate and one of the more effective Republicans. Democrats control the chamber 28-14, but Asbill led the way on two bills that reshaped state policies.

Asbill, 66, is perhaps best-known for sponsoring Katie’s Law. It requires those arrested in felony cases in New Mexico to provide a DNA sample.

He carried a bill for the original law in 2006. That version required that those arrested in a subset felonies — all violent crimes — had to provide a DNA sample.

Then last year Asbill sponsored a bill to expand Katie’s Law to cover all felony arrests.

For a time, it appeared that the expansion would fail because of disagreements with Democrats about whether DNA samples should be processed if the case was tossed out by a judge.

Asbill, working late into the night during the final days of the session, brokered a compromise that everybody agreed upon.

It established that DNA samples would be collected upon arrest, but held at the state crime lab until a judge found probable cause to hold the defendant. If no such finding occurs, the sample is destroyed.

“DNA samples will help solve crimes so more criminals are taken off of our streets and our residents are safer,” Asbill said.

Katie’s Law was personal to Asbill.

It is named after Katie Sepich, who was raped and murdered at age 22 in Las Cruces. She grew up in Carlsbad. Asbill, the school superintendent when Sepich graduated, handed her her high school diploma.

Asbill also carried the education bill, pushed by Gov. Susana Martinez, that created A-F grades for all public schools. The first preliminary grades were issued in January by the state Public Education Department.

“New Mexico’s public education system is forever changed because of Senator Asbill’s life’s work, and it has changed for the better,” said Sen. Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, the minority party floor leader.

Asbill said in a statement that he and his wife, Kate, collectively decided that he would not run for a third 4-year term in the Senate.

A native of Texas, Asbill taught one year in his home state, before heading to New Mexico.

He and his wife worked as educators across the eastern part of the state. His stops included Tucumcari, Artesia, Cloudcroft and then Carlsbad. Asbill was superintendent of schools in both Cloudcroft and Carlsbad.

 

Anti-corruption bill in the books

Gov. Susana Martinez will sign an anti-corruption bill this afternoon in Albuquerque.

The measure will enable judges to add financial penalties in cases of public officials convicted of corruption.

Additional sanctions could include loss of the defendant's public pension.

Sen. William Payne, R-Albuquerque, (right) sponsored the bill. Versions of this corruption crackdown had been proposed for years.

Payne's proposal, Senate Bill 197, cleared both houses of the Legislature without a negative vote.

Martinez will sign the bill at the Metropolitan Courthouse.

 

Great session for Moe

Rep. Maestas showed true grit by fighting for public defender reform

In a pack of 112 state legislators, one can still stand out for all the right reasons.

State Rep. Antonio "Moe" Maestas, D-Albuquerque, is the best example from the just-completed 30-day session.

Maestas is a lawyer with a blue-collar work ethic, a plainspoken style and the tenacity of a bulldog guarding his owner's last dollar.

It was Maestas (above) who set out to reform the state public defender's office by making it independent of the governor.

He persuaded legislators of both parties to support his bill. With that success, his proposal now goes on the ballot in November, for voters to make the final decision.

Perhaps the oddest part of debate about independence for the public defender was state Sen. Michael Sanchez's opposition.

A defense lawyer, Sanchez, D-Belen, argued against Maestas' initiative and ultimately opposed it on the Senate floor.

Fine. Sanchez can do as he pleases, and he almost always does. But to see Sanchez align with Republican Gov. Susana Martinez on this issue was beyond perplexing.

Maestas says it is an inherent conflict for the governor to oversee the public defender. One day, during a committee hearing, Sanchez snapped at Maestas for that characterization. There is no conflict at all, Sanchez said.

Really?

Martinez advocated throughout the session for bills to help prosecutors. Martinez, for instance, wanted to eliminate time limits to prosecute homicides.

Sanchez helped kill that bill. He said it would have tilted the scales of justice in favor of the government and against the accused.

We disagreed with Sanchez on that call. A six-year statute of limitation for second-degree murder is a disservice to the citizenry.

In that case, Martinez lost a battle she deserved to win.

The deeper issue is that Maestas knows governors talk all the time about being tough on crime. New Mexico's chief executive is especially aligned with that theme.

Martinez worked as a prosecutor for 25 years before being elected governor, so her sentiments are bound to be with the state, not the defense.

Upon taking office, Martinez fired the state's chief public defender. Then she appointed his successor.

Just how aggressive can a chief public defender be under this system, Sen. Sanchez?

Sanchez, of course, often works to protect the rights of the accused, risking the wrath of critics who say he is soft on crime.

He fought this session for a bill to expunge certain misdemeanor records. The measure also would expunge the records of victims of identity theft and the wrongly charged.

Sanchez's bill cleared the Legislature. But Martinez could veto it. She might even say that his proposal would skew the balance of justice too far away from victims' rights.

As for Maestas' proposal for reform, it is all about striking the right balance in the courts.

Maestas used to a prosecutor in Bernalillo County. Now he is in private practice. He understands the job each side is obligated to do.

He also knows that public defenders may not fight as hard as they should under the current arrangement.

Rep. Dennis Kintigh, R-Roswell, is a former FBI agent. He says the justice system is at its best when each side has the skill and resources to do all it can -- within the bounds of decency -- to make its case.

Kintigh is right. Each time a wrongfully convicted person is freed from prison after 10 or 20 years, we ask how the prosecutors could have gotten it wrong.

We also should be asking why the defense did not do its job better.

Maestas' idea to make the public defender an independent part of state government  is rooted in sound, conventional, conservative reasoning.

We call it justice for all.

Another brave man of the House

State Rep. Bob Wooley went home to Roswell this week, having fought cancer during the 30-day legislative session without a word of complaint.

Wooley, 65, has been undergoing chemotherapy for follicular lymphoma.

Gov. Susana Martinez appointed Wooley to the House of Representatives last year to fill a vacancy. He said he planned to run for election to the seat this year.

 

Redistricting remains a moving target, but most plans so far have placed Wooley in the same district as another sitting legislator, Rep. Dennis Kintigh.

Wooley and Kintigh are Republicans. They could compete against one another in the spring primary election.

Kintigh, a retired FBI agent, is gregarious and outspoken. This year he fought unsuccessful battles to reinstate the death penalty, to place 12-year term limits on legislators and to make 62 the minimum age at which a state lawmaker could collect a pension.

                                                                                                                                         Wooley

Wooley, fighting for his health amid all the great debates, has Kintigh's admiration and friendship.

If these two end up running against each other, their campaign will be as clean as any in the history of state politics.

This circumstance also shows that politics are not so important as relationships.

Everybody likes Wooley, a pipeline safety inspector who favors blue jeans, even when in the House chambers.

Wooley said he was moved the day that House Speaker Ben Lujan announced he had late-stage lung cancer. Lujan, 76, has been undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Wooley said he had not been through radiation, nor could he imagine how the speaker soldiered on so quietly for so long.

These are tough men, Wooley and Lujan.

Lujan will not be back. He is retiring from politics after 38 years in the House, the last 12 as speaker.

Wooley may also be finished with politics, depending on how the election goes.

No matter. Ever the gentleman, Wooley has stood tall against a cancer that caused him pain and fatigue.

Like Lujan, Wooley is a fighter. Here's hoping he scores a fast knockout against the lymphoma.

7 bills that would have changed NM

Penn State's scandal almost changed law in New Mexico.

Two bills to prevent former legislators from immediately becoming lobbyists faded away. Legislators talked the proposals to death.

A drive to remove politicians from the council that manages $15 billion in state funds started strong but failed.

In some cases, bills that died may have a greater effect on life in New Mexico than those that will become law.

                                                                                  Former Penn State assistant Sandusky

These seven measures, all killed in the legislative session that ended Thursday, would have fundamentally changed political, judicial and financial practices.
 

Term limits
Rep. Dennis Kintigh proposed limiting legislators to 12 years in office. The House Voters and Elections Committee blocked his bill.

Kintigh, R-Roswell, argued that too much longevity is bad for the political process. Everybody from county commissioners to sheriffs to the governor faces term limits in New Mexico. State legislators should not be an exception, Kintigh said.

A mix of Democrats and Republicans disliked Kintigh’s bill.

Rep. Ken Martinez, D-Grants, said power in legislatures does not disappear because of term limits. He said it shifts from elected officials to staff members and paid lobbyists who have more institutional knowledge than green politicians.

Martinez’s stand was similar to one taken in 1788 by Alexander Hamilton. Writing in Federalist Paper No. 72, Hamilton summed up term limits this way: "Nothing appears more plausible at first sight, nor more ill-founded upon close inspection."

Investments
New Mexico is the only state whose governor heads the body responsible for investing public money.

Sens. Steve Neville, R-Aztec, and Timothy Keller, D-Albuquerque, sponsored a bill to remove the governor and two other politicians from the State Investment Council. The state treasurer and state land commissioner also are members.

The senators wanted to replace all the politicians with professionals who have at least 10 years’ experience in finances and investments.

Their bill cleared the Senate 35-0, but died in the House of Representatives when the session deadline lapsed.

                                                                                                                                               Sen. Neville

Lobbying
Two bills focused on legislators themselves were dead on arrival.

The measures would have required former legislators to be out of office for at least one year before becoming paid lobbyists .

Sponsored by Sen. Dede Feldman and Rep. Bill O’Neill, neither reform bill gained momentum. Feldman’s never even made it out of committee.

Brain drain
Keller pushed a bill to keep 400 of New Mexico’s brightest people from leaving each year to accept well-paying jobs elsewhere.

His proposal was designed to help New Mexico businesses land employees who are in high demand. It would have granted companies a $5,000 tax credit for employing those with certain advanced degrees from New Mexico’s three research universities.

Graduates in science, technology, engineering, math and health would have qualified employers for the credit.

The bill cleared the Senate 34-3. Then the clock ran out before it was heard in the House.

Double pay
Certain state lawmakers collect pay from the school system they work for while also getting a daily expense allowance for serving in the Legislature.

Rep. James E. Smith, R-Sandia Park, said nobody should receive two public paychecks for doing one job.

Smith is a teacher who forgoes his salary while away serving in the Legislature. During sessions in Santa Fe, he collects the $153 a day in expense money provided to all lawmakers.

The House Voters and Elections Committee blocked his initiative to bar double pay for school employees. All seven Democrats on the committee voted against it.

Two other Democrats, Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton and Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, receive pay from their jobs in the Albuquerque Public Schools while in the Legislature.

Rep. Tim Lewis, R-Rio Rancho, teaches New Mexico history at an Albuquerque high school. He took both school and legislative pay last year. But this session Lewis gave up his school salary during the session.

Prosecuting homicides
Two Republican legislators introduced bills to eliminate the time limit to prosecute second-degree murder cases.

Albuquerque Sen. William Payne’s measure would have lengthened numerous other deadlines for felony prosecutions. It died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Bill Rehm, also of Albuquerque, offered a more streamlined proposal. His focused on second-degree murder, which now carries a six-year statute of limitations. His bill never got a hearing.

Suing predators
Jerry Sandusky once was known only by fans of Penn State University’s football team. He was Joe Paterno’s defensive coordinator, but prosecutors say he led another life, one of darkness and terrible crime.

Sandusky is charged with molesting 10 boys across 15 years. The allegations against him broke six months after a Pennsylvania legislator proposed longer time limits for civil lawsuits against predators of children.

State Sen. Lisa Curtis, D-Albuquerque, introduced a bill of her own because of the Sandusky case.

Curtis said those who are sexually abused as children often cannot face their attackers until well into adulthood.

Curtis’ bill would have allowed child victims to sue in civil court until they reach age 35.

Fellow senators approved her bill 41-0, but it died in the House of Representatives.

                                                                                                                                                 Sen. Curtis

4 reforms in voters' hands

State legislators headed home today, but they left behind four high-profile issues for voters to decide.

Three of the reforms would involve the state Public Regulation Commission, an agency under a floodlight of scrutiny during the last year.

The other proposal would make the state public defender’s office an independent part of government, rather than a part of the governor’s administration.

                                                                                                                  Fred Nathan

All four proposals will be on the ballot in November.

Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, is leading the push to make the public defender autonomous from the governor.

“There is an inherent conflict between the public defender department and the executive branch. The integrity of the justice system demands this change,” said Maestas, a former prosecutor now in private practice.

He said the public defender cannot aggressively advocate for changes in law or more money to do its job adequately while under the governor.

Gov. Susana Martinez said today she does not support the proposed change.

If the public defender has been shortchanged, legislators could rectify that when they create the state budget, she said.

New Mexico has a statewide, state-funded public defender system. Lawyers in staff offices and appointed attorneys represent indigent defendants.

Martinez fired the chief public defender soon after taking office last year. She then appointed his successor.

Maestas, a one-man reformer, had an easier time than the public policy organization Think New Mexico. It was the behind the bills to revamp the PRC and increase qualifications for the state’s five regulatory commissioners.

 Two of those bills made it through the Legislature in the last 30 minutes of the session.

 Rep. Tom Taylor of Farmington, leader of minority Republicans in the House of Representatives, stopped a filibuster by one of his members so the PRC bills could be cleared for the ballot.

 Public regulation commissioners make $90,000 a year, but the jobs now call for the barest of credentials. A commissioner must only be at least 18 years old, a resident of the state and have no felony convictions.

                                                                                                                                           Lynda Lovejoy

Fred Nathan, executive director of Think New Mexico, said the commissioners’ jobs are highly technical, requiring skills similar to judges.

Sen. Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, criticized Nathan over the last week for not discussing his reform plan with tribal governments.

A counterpoint came Thursday from Sen. Lynda Lovejoy, D-Crownpoint. She supported the push for greater qualifications for PRC members.

Lovejoy, a Navajo who served eight years on the PRC, said tribal members do not need or want watered-down credentials. Tribes have produced countless accomplished people who could meet higher qualifications to serve on the PRC, she said.

If voters approve the concept, the Legislature next year would create precise qualifications.

The other two reforms proposed for the PRC involve missions, not specific people.

One would remove from the PRC the job of chartering corporations and shift those responsibilities to the secretary of state.

Nathan said this would allow the PRC to focus on its core mission of regulating utilities and telecommunications. He said it also would make life easier for businesses, which now make administrative reports to both the PRC and the secretary of state.

The other change would remove the insurance division from the PRC and make it an independent entity. Legislators would appoint the superintendent of insurance.

Sen. Carroll Leavell, R-Jal, said the change would be wise.

Leavell said no state but New Mexico mixes utility regulation with supervision of the insurance industry.