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| Heath Haussamen |
NM Politics - In conversations with several people earlier this year, I suggested that lawmakers should create a state House district during the redistricting session that would be exclusive to the south valley of Doña Ana County. After all, doing so made sense, at least in theory. Lots of people live south of Las Cruces. Many communities are primarily Spanish-speaking. It’s a different world, in many ways, than Las Cruces. And yet, all south-county legislative districts in the House and Senate reach up into Las Cruces and are represented by people who live in or near the city’s second-largest city. That means rural farmers and people who live in suburbs of El Paso are represented primarily by Las Crucens in the Legislature.
The new district I was suggesting would center in Sunland Park and include areas in and around that city, perhaps stretching as far north as Anthony and Chaparral. Giving a legislative district to people with greater ties to El Paso than Santa Fe could help pull them into state government. However, some will view the recent shenanigans in Sunland Park as proof that it doesn’t deserve to be the population center in a legislative district. The most recent incident came during a meeting of the city council last week. Councilors started insulting each other, and, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News, pretty soon the arguing included people in the audience. Allegations of corruption flew back and forth, and police had to stop a physical altercation between Mayor Martin Resendiz and Mayor Pro-Tem Daniel Salinas. That prompted state Rep. Mary Helen Garcia to ask the state to abolish the city and take over management. Read full story here: News New Mexico
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