Diane Snyder

State lawmakers should have judged Neri Holguin on her professional qualifications, not her past political work, Gov. Bill Richardson said Tuesday, after the Senate rejected his nominee to the state Environmental Improvement Board by a vote of 17 to 25. “I think there were some personal issues. She is a very dedicated environmentalist,” Richardson said [...]

A political battle over control of New Mexico’s dominant party played out on the Senate floor Tuesday over an unexpected issue: an Albuquerque woman’s nomination to a state board. Confirmations in the Senate are usually uneventful and state lawmakers usually speak glowingly of the nominee. But that wasn’t the case Tuesday, when the state Senate rejected the [...]

A potential showdown is emerging between state lawmakers and Gov. Bill Richardson over where to look for cost savings. State lawmakers, grappling with a projected half-a-billion-dollar budget shortfall, were told Tuesday they could limit the pain by retrieving nearly $200 million in unspent money on unfinished brick-and-mortar projects around the state.