Sen. Martinez

It's possible but hard to see how Democratic State Senator Richard Martinez survives his Friday night arrest in Española on aggravated DWI and reckless driving charges. After all, the former Rio Arriba County magistrate is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that writes state laws. Now he's accused of breaking one that has major emotional impact.

The longtime senator, 66, was first elected in 2000. He is now likely to face a primary challenge next June as a result of the accident. The alternative is that he doesn't and voters look the other way, but in this era when punishment for DWI has escalated, that seems unlikely.

Martinez refused a breath test thus the "aggravated" DWI charge. He failed the field sobriety test given him. Also, he rear-ended another vehicle and police say he admitted he had been drinking.

When ABQ GOP State Rep. Monica Youngblood was busted for DWI last year she tried to hang on. Her Republican Party looked the other way with only one prominent R (AG candidate Michael Hendricks) calling on her to resign. Still, she was handily defeated for re-election last November by her Dem challenger.

Martinez was last challenged in a Dem primary in 2012 when he secured a 58 to 42 victory. If a foe emerges and Martinez stays and fights, he will have a campaign account with $112,000 in it to start.

It will be interesting to see how Martinez's Democratic senate colleagues react to his arrest. Perhaps Martinez will announce his resignation before they are put on the spot?

If he did resign, the county commissions of the four counties in the district--Rio Arriba. Los Alamos, Sandoval and Santa Fe--would recommend replacements to the Governor who would make the appointment. As for the Senate Judiciary Committee, ABQ Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto is Vice-Chair and could be in line for the chairmanship if Martinez steps aside.

Martinez's troubles will especially get the attention of women's groups who have already been talking about running primary foes against socially conservative northern Dem Senators like Martinez who voted against repealing an antiquated abortion statute during the last session of the legislature.

The Martinez district is heavy Dem. No R's need apply.

BERNCO ANALYSIS

ABQ attorney David Bucholtz, who was part of our 2018 Election Night team on KANW 891. FM, notes our recent blog in which we said we did not pay an inordinate amount of attention to the Bernalillo County Commission races last year because the five member panel was not going to flip from the Dems to R's. Bucholtz parses that:

None of us saw the upset by Democrat Charlene Pyskoty over appointed Republican incumbent James Smith, even on election night. Technically, Smith was the incumbent even though he had only just been appointed by then Governor Martinez to replace Wayne Johnson, who had gone on to be State Auditor.

That election has had a dramatic effect on the balance of power on the commission. Previously there were two relatively progressive Democrats (Maggie Hart Stebbins and Debbie O’Malley), two Republicans (Smith and Lonnie Talbert) and one conservative Democrat Michael Quezada who really held the balance of power. With Pyskoty’s defeat of Smith, the power now resides with the three progressive Democrats. I am not sure you would have had the same results on things like banning plastic bans and paid sick leave if the 2-2-1 lineup had remained.

HANDLING THE CAPITAL

James Jimenez is the executive director of NM Voices for Children. He writes of our blog urging the Governor and legislature to approve a Capital Outlay Commission and take some of the huge influx of pork from the oil boom out of the hands of the politicos:

Joe, while I agree that a Capital Outlay Commission may be useful in setting priorities what is really needed is staff in the agencies that handle the approved projects. As we know, the Martinez Administration gutted state government and most agencies simply don’t have the bodies to manage all the projects. There are lots of steps between an approved capital outlay budget and a ribbon-cutting and without the people to manage those steps money will continue to languish. In addition, the Governor should consider bringing a Capital Budget Czar on board, in the Governor’s Office, to “ride herd” over the agencies and to ensure that bottlenecks get identified and addressed.

We would add that it hasn't only been under Martinez that millions in capital outlay went unspent or toward questionable priorities. It is a longtime issue.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019