She is doing so in part, say our sources, because of Egolf dissolving the House Local Government, Land Grants and Cultural Affairs Committee. That controversial decision was a glaring reminder that in majority-minority New Mexico the legislative leadership is dominated by two wealthy Anglo males, namely Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth and Speaker Egolf, and Senator Stewart.

US Senator Ben Ray Lujan and former state Rep. Joseph Sanchez are among those who have publicly expressed misgivings over abolishing the committee that was chaired by ABQ Dem Rep. Miguel Garcia, long a thorn in Egolf's side. 

The Speaker has apparently endured enough chastisement and says he's working on salvaging an agreement that would turn down the temperature.

Lopez has reportedly also been put off by the efforts of Sen. Stewart to ram through a Senate redistricting plan at December's special redistricting session that would have diluted Native American voting strength and spared Republican Senators Greg Baca and Joshua Sanchez from having to run against each other. Lopez prevailed and the map she sponsored kept the two R's in the same district and preserved Indian voting power. 

Sen. Stewart

The pro tem is powerful. She is in charge of handing out important committee assignments. That sets the tone for the Senate. The position is elected by the full body but with Senate Dems having a solid majority the post is safely in their hands. That is especially so since the conservative coalition of GOP senators and a handful of conservative Democrats that long dominated the Senate has been busted. 

Stewart is pro tem until leadership is chosen again after the November election. She was elected following the 2020 election. 

Lopez was first elected in 1996 and since has run for the Dem nomination for lieutenant governor and governor, both unsuccessfully. Becoming pro tem could be within her grasp if the memories of Egolf's power play and Stewart's redistricting maneuver linger. It took a number of ballots and intense negotiation before Stewart emerged as the pro tem choice from the Senate Dem Caucus in 2020.

YAZZIE FOOT DRAGGING

While Sen. Lopez has been cementing her ties to the Native American community you can't say the same for MLG.

The administration continues to drag its feet in enforcing the landmark Yazzie court ruling that found the state in violation of its Constitution for not providing many Native American children and others "at risk" with a proper public school education.

MLG's difficulty in coming to terms with that ruling and fully engaging the Native community with a Yazzie plan hit the headlines again this week. 

It seems it's not the ultimate goals of the court order holding things up as much as it is the state's reluctance to cede its power to a judicial ruling. But that's water under bridge and if the foot dragging continues the administration could find itself slapped with another court order to carry out the long delayed first one. 

NOT ONLY THAT. . . 

Yazzie isn't the only thing causing bad blood between the Native American community and the Guv. She is being asked to put on the call of the 30 day legislative session later this month a bill to roll back the obscenely high 175 percent interest rate that payday loan stores are allowed to charge. The measure would make the maximum rate a still high 36 percent, but more tolerable, 

Some 60 percent of the payday loan outlets are within 10 miles of tribal lands, hotbeds of poverty where the store owners are fighting to hang on to all of their lucrative income. They have spent heavily on lobbyists.

MLG carried McKinley County in the heart of Indian Country with 71 percent of the vote in 2018. She was expected to take a firmer stand against the powerful payday loan interest group on behalf of Native Americans but also other low income people of color (mainly Hispanic) who are the dominant users of the loans.

No matter the political implications, a 176% interest rate is pretty outrageous--unless a Governor says it isn't.

THE BOTTOM LINES