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I got a glimpse of both the promise and peril of webcasting the New Mexico Legislature standing in the hallway just outside the Senate chamber Tuesday afternoon.
First it was something I saw, followed by something Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez said.
About 20 minutes before I got those glimpses, I was with KNME-TV ace cameraman Antony Lostetter attempting to gain access to the Senate floor. Lostetter needed to record some video of the proceedings, which will later be used for cutaways and b-roll for a segment in this Friday’s episode of New Mexico In Focus, a weekly show I co-host.
The 42-member Senate was in session, the parliamentary back-and-forth droning down from the hallway speakers overhead. Inside the chamber, senators were talking on phones, talking amongst themselves, reading at their desks, and maybe a few were closely following the body’s presiding officer — Lt. Gov. Diane Denish — and the recognized senator with the mic.
Maybe a few.
From what I could make out, the debate wasn’t hot and heavy. In fact, you really could call it sleepy. Literally.
I scrambled around the corner to the members-only hallway just off the side of the Senate floor and peeked in the side entrance. With my very own eyes, I saw a duly elected New Mexico senator sleeping in the back row. His eyes were shut, his mouth slightly open.
This year’s legislative webcasting travails — will or won’t the body allow it? — has actually pivoted on a related argument.
State Rep. Ray Begaye said it best back on January 27: “If I am sleeping and I am being recorded, that can be used as political gain,” the Shiprock Democrat was quoted as saying.
Oddly enough, the bill approved yesterday by the full Senate — Senate Resolution 3, sponsored by Sen. Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque — clearly aims to reassure the Begayes of the Legislature.
From the last paragraph, section “h” of the three-page bill:
… the stream shall carry a notice to the effect that the stream is being produced for the benefit of the public and any political use is prohibited…
Staring at that sleeping senator on Tuesday, I asked myself, Is there a good reason why a would-be political opponent should be prohibited from telling voters — “Hey, this guy sleeps on the job! And here’s the video to prove it.”
A reason — incumbency protection — comes to mind, but that’s not a good reason.
Boitano’s bill also explicitly prohibits archiving of the new Senate floor webcast.
The Senate floor session had just finished debating and voting on the 10 bills on its agenda and was now moving through a lengthy list of Senate joint memorials — motions that don’t carry the force of law even if enacted but do express the opinion of the Senate.
Now at the back main entrance to the Senate floor, Lostetter and I were told we weren’t permitted on the floor by a professional but stern legislative staffer.
Feeling defeated, I walked over toward the members-only hallway in between the Senate floor and the Senate lounge and spotted Majority Leader Sanchez, a Belen Democrat, in the lounge.
I asked if I could ask him a question and he motioned for me to enter the lounge.
“Is it possible for our KNME cameraman to get some video on the floor?” I asked.
“Sure,” he replied.
He immediately crossed the short hallway, entered the Senate floor, walked down to his first row desk, signaled with his hand to get Lt. Gov. Denish’s attention and about three seconds later was recognized to speak.
“Madam president, I move that we allow a television camera on the floor for about 10 minutes.”
By my count, a fraction of a second of silence passed until Denish intoned, “Without objection, so ordered.”
The staffer at the side entrance where Lostetter and I were standing also heard Denish’s pronouncement and quickly motioned for Lostetter to enter the chamber.
I loitered in the hallway waiting for Lostetter to come out as we had a few interviews to knock out as soon as he finished on the floor.
Several minutes had passed and Sanchez walked out of the chamber back to the lounge. He stopped to tell me he had asked Lostetter to make sure to venture over to the other side of the chamber — where the Republican members sit — so there was no perception that he was there only to document the majority Democrats.
At that moment, I heard the Senate take up Senate Joint Memorial 26, entitled “Behavioral Health Services Delivery Report,” and a Republican senator from the far side of the chamber was recognized to speak on the non-binding resolution.
I couldn’t make out the words very clearly from the hallway, but the senator sounded pretty exercised.
Sanchez heard him too.
“There’s a TV camera and so now they’re debating,” he said, eyes darting up in mock disbelief.
Healthy debate is a good thing, of course, but might a webcasting future for the Legislature entail quite a bit of grandstanding as well? That’s what Sanchez was clearly implying.
But even senators motivated to debate even a non-binding motion by the presence of TV or webcams is clearly better than no debate.
In many ways, the New Mexico Legislature has been much too sheltered for years and years from a truly open and public process, in which voters can truly keep tabs on the lawmakers they elect.
Sanchez may worry that posturing for the camera could complicate the difficult business of molding consensus.
I worry that no cameras will allow bad lawmaker behavior to continue.
Like (but not limited to) sleeping in the back row.
