7 year old Samantha Rubio

MLG Tuesday continued to keep the door open on calling a special legislative session as she reviewed the results of the recently concluded 30 day session before an ABQ business group and as an old rival  indirectly chided her over a prominent failure of that session. 

In her speech the Guv said of a possible special:

You'll know when I know. I don't know. I think there's a lot more to do. 

But Dem Senator Joe Cervantes, chair of the Judiciary Committee and who ran against MLG for the 2018 Dem Guv nomination, was pointing in a different direction sure to rile his former political foe, saying on social media:

If any issue deserves a special session, or for the Legislature to call (one) itself, it is this tragedy and what we are allowing to (happen to) our most defenseless children. "CYFD agrees to pay $5.5 million settlement over 8-year-old girl's death."

Cervantes was referencing this horrid report on the failure of the Children, Youth and Families Department:

After the unexpected death of her mother in April 2020, the 7-year-old (Samantha Rubio) put her head down on her knees when asked whether she wanted to go live with Juan Lerma, a man believed to be her father whom she hadn't seen in years. A few months later, Samantha never would speak again — her lifeless body discovered in a garbage bag in a trash can. The case, which resulted in the state of New Mexico agreeing to pay a $5.5 million settlement last month, should send a resounding message to the state's troubled child welfare agency, which placed Samantha and her older brother in Lerma's care despite his history of child abuse and dangerous propensities, attorney Ben Davis said. 

The institutional collapse of CYFD and the placement of what critics call an MLG political crony as the new Secretary at the troubled agency--not a child welfare expert--looms large over the current success ratio of this administration and its future legacy.

All major CYFD reform measures stalled in the past session with progressive Democrats seemingly fearful of crossing MLG. But not Cervantes whose independent streak and middle of the road brand of politics, while diminished in Santa  Fe, still has pockets of power in the Senate and House. 

If MLG calls a special session more gun proposals and other crime bills could be expected to be near the top of her agenda but some of them would likely go through Cervantes and his committee. He has thwarted criminal justice measures the Governor has repeatedly pushed. His social media comment indicates he is not ready to change direction at a special.

The Governor says that at the 2025 session she wants attention given to the breakdown at CYFD. One can only hope that between now and then there are no more children who meet the undeserved and heart-wrenching fate of young Samantha Rubio.

MISSING THE MARK

Bernalillo County spent $13 million on this building to welcome visitors coming into ABQ from the West, but it looks more like a hospital or jail than a welcome entryway into a city with a colorful and fabled history. 

Couldn't some of that color be reflected in this harsh looking edifice? 

The county has now turned over management of the Route 66 Visitors Center to the city of ABQ. Maybe they can tap into our large talent pool of muralists and other artists to dress this place up and really make it look like a place to visit for our out of town guests? Just wondering.

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.