Speaker Martinez (Moore, Journal)

Open the floodgates. A huge gusher of money is about to flood through courtesy of a new House Speaker and a Governor unshackled from re-election worries and armed with the most massive cash kitty in New Mexican history. 

The state suddenly and without warning embarked on a new fiscal direction as the '23 legislative session kicked off Tuesday. But it wasn't until late in the day--well after MLG's State of the State address--that the shockwaves rippled from the Roundhouse and out to the entire state. 

That's when word came that Gallup Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, the face of fiscal conservatism and chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, had been stripped of that role and replaced with liberal Rep. Nathan Small, a fourth term lawmaker who is a former Las Cruces city councilor and husband to ex-US Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, who is nearly Lundstrom's polar opposite. 

The power play came from freshly elected House Speaker Javier Martinez only hours after the took the oath of office and the gavel that goes with it. Although it had been rumored that Lundstrom was in trouble for challenging Martinez for the speakership, that talk petered out after Martinez was chosen in December as the Dems nominee. But then Tuesday the rumor became reality, stunning La Politica and this Senior Alligator weighing in from the House floor:

Joe, this was a move by the Speaker to consolidate his power and do it fast. It reminded me of the playbook of former Speaker Ben Lujan. Send a message right away. He must have an unobstructed view for his policies and the respect of the entire legislature--and now Speaker Martinez has both.

The Martinez message is as clear as the mountain air in Angel Fire: The Democratic base of working families will get their share of the state's immense surpluses and he will not be hamstrung by conservative Dems playing hanky-panky with Republicans. 

Chairman Nathan Small

With Rep. Small in charge it will the first time in living memory that a chairman of House Appropriations Committee will not be viewed as a fiscal conservative. Only Senate Finance Committee Chairman George Munoz stands in the way of more progressive spending habits and the odds are he will get washed away if he stands in the way. 

But Martinez and the Governor are not pushing aside a popular governing philosophy. They were re-elected in November on a platform of investing more in people programs.

As outgoing Speaker Brian Egolf pointed out as he headed for the exits: The Democratic House suffered no net losses, staying under control 45 to 25.

The 41 year old Martinez seized that mandate with gusto Tuesday by removing the only real obstacle in his way.

LUNDSTROM REACTS

Lundstrom

Lundstrom, in the House since 2001, did not hold back in her reaction to being so unceremoniously bounced. She said: 

As a minority woman and rural Democrat, I am saddened and concerned that the new progressive regime has inappropriately replaced my steadfast and prudent leadership of the HAFC and LFC in a pathetic attempt at political retaliation. . The decision to replace me with a white man with less than a fourth of the experience in budget development is extremely damaging to New Mexico with the ever-increasing one-party system that retaliates against traditional, Hispanic, rural, Democrats. My fight is long from over, because I can't believe the message that this sends to our young women of color.

Lundstorm playing the race card is out of character and a sign of her deep personal hurt but she challenged Martinez and donated campaign money to the conservative Dem primary foes of Reps. Susan Herrera of Embudo, Kristina Ortez of Taos and Andrea Romero of Santa Fe. All of them opposed Lundstrom's push for hydrogen energy. 

Lundstrom missed the moment. The state has turned and with it conservative Dems are almost as much of an endangered species as Republicans. That her chief political adviser, Mark Fleisher, unexpectedly passed away last September also left her vulnerable. He might have seen it coming and had her avoid the bitter end that has befallen her. 

THE LAUNDRY LIST

In her opening day address MLG came equipped with a laundry list of programs to chip away at a projected $3.6 billion surplus in the state budget and billions more stowed away in rainy day and other funds. 

Many of the programs were previously announced but it was the political impact of what she was proposing that struck this observer as she detailed them to the state watching via the live-streams. 

Additional free child care to make it universal; universal free school lunches, establish a Health Care Authority and expand Medicaid to bring the state closer to universal health care; $200 million to establish a Rural Healthcare Delivery Fund to improve hospitals and clinics; codify abortion rights 

Those spending programs are not one and done. They will become permanent entitlements in each year's state budget and be particularly popular with a new generation of young women and men raising families. That should further solidify the state's Democratic base and could be an enduring political legacy of the incumbent Governor--to the chagrin of the Republicans who are hoping for a comeback someday. 

TOO GLOSSY?

GOP senate leader Greg Baca accused the Governor of "glossing over" the state's well-known and deep-seated problems. 

Baca did not mention these omissions but from our perspective the speech was notably absent of any mention of the drug/addiction crisis that is at the root of so many of the state's social plagues. Nor was there any mention of making New Mexico safer for its children who are too often subjected to trauma which forges future behavioral health issues that stunt progress. 

And while advocating for a four percent pay raise for teachers and urging that all of their health insurance premiums now be paid by the state, she did not indicate any leverage would be applied in order to move the needle on the state's underperforming public schools. 

This Governor is not one to lay down markers if she doesn't see a high probability of success, but the see no evil theme will be tested as her second term matures. 

WHO'S NEXT?

That second term isn't even a month old but already the Roundhouse was buzzing on opening day about who will succeed MLG in 2026. It was lost on noone in the packed house of politicos that Sec. of Interior Deb Haaland was on hand for the ceremonies and was recognized by MLG as was US Reps Stansbury and Leger Fernandez. 

But it is Haaland who is persistently mentioned when talk of the future governor arises. Several lobbyists were already anointing her Tuesday as MLG's successor, citing the irresistible allure of Dems to nominate and elect New Mexico's first Native American Governor. US Sen. Martin Heinrich wasn't there to compete with that speculation but it is sure to crowd his own daydreams about succeeding MLG. 

This is the home of New Mexico Politics.