I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Ben Luján
Ben Luján, D-Nambe, remained Speaker of the House, defeating Tom Taylor, R-Farmington, in a Tuesday morning vote. An expected challenge from Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, based on a support of a coalition of Republicans and southern New Mexico Democrats, did not materialize.
While backers of Cervantes believed they had enough votes to pull off the change in leadership, tea party pressure on Republicans not to vote for Democrats appears to have allowed Luján to retain his position.
When Cervantes was not nominated for Speaker of the House, the decision was all but decided. Cervantes supporter Rep. Andy Nuñez, D-Hatch, voted “present” instead of voting for either candidate, bringing the final total to 36-33.
Tea party groups from around the state issued a statement in which the groups “strongly recommend[ed] that the New Mexico Republican Legislators nominate, from within their own caucus, a candidate for Speaker of the House and vote in unison for that candidate.”
Fearing tea party challenges in two years, some Republicans balked at a coalition which would have put the more-conservative Democrat Cervantes in charge of the chamber instead of Luján.
The tea party groups did not make a similar statement on the Senate leadership, where state Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, has been voted Senate president pro tem by a coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats for the past two sessions.
