Senate minority leader thought meeting was uncovered by press
Some days legislators step in it.
Monday was such a time for state Sen. Stuart Ingle, who in a public meeting called the Senate committees he serves on "the same old horse s--t."
Ingle, R-Portales, at first did not realize a reporter was in the room with several senators when he made the remark. He then asked that what he said not be reported.
The full context was this: Members of the Senate Committees' Committee (how bureaucratic can a name be?) were discussing the mundane business of postage, letterhead and business cards for senators.
Ingle said he did not need any. A clerk asked him if he was a member of any new committees, thereby necessitating a change in his letterhead and cards.
"I've got the same old horsesh--," said Ingle, the Senate minority leader.
Everybody in the room heard him. Those in attendance included Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen and Sens. Carlos Cisneros, George Munoz, Timothy Keller, Joseph Cervantes, Clemente Sanchez and William Sharer.
Sen. Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, the majority leader, was there too. He tried to bail out Ingle by suggesting that he did not realize a reporter was in the committee meeting, held in the close confines of Papen's office.
Ingle, 65, has been a senator for 28 years. He gets no free passes at this stage.
His comment, it should be said, seemed out of character. Unassuming, smart and filled with down-home friendliness, Ingle rarely calls attention to himself, especially in a negative way.
Call him Senator and he always has a fast reply: "My name's Stuart."
Perhaps Ingle was having a bad day. Maybe he says those sorts of disparaging things all the time if he believes they will not get back to the taxpaying public. Yet another possibility is that the Legislature has become monotonous to him after all these years.
For the record, the horse pucky committees he serves on are Rules, Indian and Cultural Affairs, and the dreaded Committees' Committee, where all of this trouble started.
A good rule for all legislators is that, when speaking in public forums, there is no such thing as off the record, especially after the horse pucky has left the barn.
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