Examining the "Protecting" of the Committee Process

Ken Martinez

NewsNM note - This column was updated with a link to the audio archive of an appearance on News New Mexico in January by Andy Nunez. During the interview segment with Nunez he indicated that Speaker Ben Lujan had brought (blasted) bills to the floor that had previously been tabled by unanimous vote in committee. House members Ken Martinez, Roger Madalena, and Thomas Garcia went on the record at NMPolitics late last week. Each spoke in favor of protecting “the committee process.” Martinez actually spoke of a long standing “tradition” in the House. The term “integrity” was tossed around. Let’s examine these words and phrases. If one would simply substitute the words, “awesome dictatorial power of the Speaker of the House,” for, “the committee process,” we can precisely define the essence of what actually gets “protected.”

Roger Madalena

Representative Andy Nunez is an emerging political phenomenon in New Mexico. It seems that both Republicans and Democrats are having trouble getting a grip on the force of change that Nunez represents. Nunez is a one-man independent caucus. He is a non-partisan problem solver. Besides being an authentic force for change, lately Nunez has been helping New Mexico citizens learn plenty about the lack of “integrity” inherent in the “committee process.”

Thomas Garcia

Here is the background. We have interviewed dozens of elected officials on the News New Mexico radio/internet show since July 2010. One of the most amazing aspects of all the interviews is how often we have heard the phrase, “culture of corruption.” This remarkable phrase has been uttered by Democrats and Republicans alike in describing how things work in Santa Fe. It is critical to recognize that the committee rules in the House of Representatives facilitate corruption. The rules are structured in such a way that open discussions of various ideas that can lead to improved problem-solving are being stifled as a matter of routine. Based solely on the whims of the Speaker, bills get tabled.
Language used lately to describe the process of yielding to the will of the people is instructive. “Blasting,” is the term elected officials and the media used last week to describe the Nunez motion to have the full House consider his bill (HB 78).

Andy Nunez

While actual democracy gets the “blasting” label, the term “tradition” is trotted out to describe Ben Lujan's dictatorship. The fact that 80% of the voters supported any idea, and it still required a dynamic leader like Andy Nunez to bypass the committee process, tells you all you need to know about rules regarding “integrity” in the House. We find it deeply troubling that on several occasions Ben Lujan has unilaterally “blasted” bills onto the floor, (listen here) even after they were unanimously tabled on BI-PARTISAN votes in committee. With no mention of those "blasting incidents," it would seem that House members Martinez, Madalena, Garcia, and others still feel that except for the Speaker, nobody else should be able to get a bill to the floor for debate and a vote without Lujan's express or implied permission.

Perhaps the time has long since passed when every single House member should take a very long look in the mirror and admit to themselves that the committee process has very little integrity left. House rules need a major overhaul. Clearly it is in the best interests of New Mexico for the House to make an emergency pitching change by removing the current speaker, nominating a non-partisan member to serve the citizens, and finally get on with the process of “protecting” something actually worthy of protection.

Examining the "Protecting" of the Committee Process