Nunez: An Island of Independence in a Sea of Partisanship

Andy Nunez

Santa Fe New Mexican - Democrat Ben Luján on Tuesday survived what appeared only days ago to be a growing movement to dump him as speaker of the House, and he did it with the help of very unlikely allies — supporters of the tea party. Luján's opponent, Rep. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, aborted his plans to make a bid for speaker. In the end, he wasn't nominated and even voted for Luján. Luján, who has been speaker since 2001, was re-elected with 36 votes. House Republican Leader Tom Taylor, nominated symbolically — as is the usual practice for the minority party — got 33 votes. Rep. Andy Nuñez, D-Hatch, a vocal Cervantes supporter, voted "present." The Nambé representative's re-election assures that Santa Fe lawmakers retained some power during the session. Last week, Rep. Jim Trujillo, D-Santa Fe, said he feared that a coalition could mean Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela would lose his chairmanship of the Legislative Finance Committee and that Trujillo himself could lose his position as chairman of the subcommittee that oversees capital-outlay spending. As recently as two days ago, many were predicting Cervantes would have enough votes from Republicans and Southern New Mexico Democrats to win the speakership. But most of that talk stopped Monday when news broke that several tea party organizations were urging Republicans not to back a coalition effort for Cervantes. Shortly after the vote, Cervantes was asked by a reporter what had happened. "Tea party," he said. "Two words." Read full story here:

Nunez: An Island of Independence in a Sea of Partisanship