The bill now goes to the House of Representatives.

While senators overwhelmingly supported the legislation, the debate sometimes reflected the anger that lawmakers felt at watching money stripped from projects in their district.

“This is painful to each and every one of us,” said Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, the sponsor of the legislation.

Lawmakers are struggling to close a budgetary shortfall estimated at several hundred million dollars. The gap is between the amount of revenue coming in and the cost next year of keeping services at their current level.

And the bulging capital outlay bill is a piece of the budget puzzle. The plan is to take the money clawed back from the more than 1,500 projects around the state, including some high-profile priorities for Gov. Bill Richardson, and place it in the state’s reserves, or rainy day fund.

Some members complained Saturday that their projects were targeted more than other lawmakers.

“All day long and from the beginning of the session I keep hearing money vs. pork,” said Sen. Lynda Lovejoy, D-Crownpoint. “I have to dispute you. Because capital outlay is about people. It provided money to communities that provided infrastructure for our people.”

Added Sen. Clint Harden, R-Clovis: “I think this process was unfair to the small, rural municipalities in southeastern New Mexico.”

Lovejoy and Harden were among the four senators to oppose the legislation. Democrats John Pinto and George Munoz also voted against the bill.

The list of targeted projects in the bill is primarily made up of smaller projects less than $1 million in value around the state: gyms, senior centers, town hall renovations, animal shelters, domestic shelters, water system improvements.

But it also includes big-ticket items, including a highway interchange in Belen already under construction; film/media production facilities and a proposed equestrian facility in Albuquerque. State money meant to help a solar plant in Belen also was targeted.

Each year the state has doled out money for small and large projects around the state. In some years New Mexico handed out more than $1 billion to pay for such construction. By late last year about $1.4 billion was assessed as tied up in thousands of projects in various stages of progress, meaning the projects had stalled.

Many of those had sat for years without contracts, and in some cases repeated requests to local governments for documentation of contracts – evidence that the project was moving – resulted in no response.

Photo by Jeffica

Hundreds of people turned a cavernous hearing room into cramped quarters Thursday to hear how more than 1,500 brick-and-mortar projects wound up on a 60-some-odd page list of projects targeted to lose state money.

The state plans to apply $150 million pulled from the targeted projects to its rainy-day fund to beef up its reserves at a time that the state is struggling financially.

The bill, in many ways, could become a linchpin to this year’s 30-day session, and threatens to go from sideshow to main attraction if enough state lawmakers don’t set aside their reservations and support the bill. State lawmakers often are very protective of brick-and-mortar projects they’ve gotten money for.

Legislative leaders tried to remind everyone attending Thursday’s meeting why the bill was important and what was at stake.

“People here need to know, we need to come up with $150 million to $180 million for our reserves,” Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, told the room.

“The state doesn’t have enough money,” he continued. “Anybody who thinks that everybody is going to get what they want, that’s going to be pretty tough.”

Some have suggested if the money isn’t pulled out of the projects, the state may have to cut more from services and programs.

“We’re flat out of options,” added Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming.

But if the large crowd of real people and dogged questioning by state lawmakers were any indicators, the legislation that would pull money from more than 1,500 projects around the state isn’t winning any popularity contests.

“I question the process,” Rep. Donald Bratton, R-Hobbs, told his fellow lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee. “There are some inequities involved.”

In addition to lawmakers like Bratton questioning how projects they support wound up on the list, a long-standing tension between state lawmakers and the governor also re-surfaced.

Legislators asked the staff members who compiled the list whether Gov. Bill Richardson’s favored projects made the cut and were on the list.

“Is there a contract on the equestrian center?” asked Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces.

Richardson favors putting a multimillion-dollar equestrian facility at the Expo New Mexico state fairgrounds in Albuquerque.

Staff, who had exempted projects with contracts – proof that they weren’t stalled — told lawmakers that they had disagreed on whether a contract was in place for the equestrian center.

At that point in the hearing, Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, asked that several projects be added to the bill.

According to a state document reviewed by The Independent, the amendment would sweep more than $12 million from several projects to beef up the state reserves. More than $6 million of that would come from the proposed Albuquerque equestrian facility, $200,000 for rodeo facilities statewide and money for a local fair/arena, the document showed.

While the big-ticket projects dominated early lawmakers’ discussion Thursday, the list of targeted projects is primarily made up of smaller projects less than $1 million in value: gyms, senior centers, town hall renovations, animal shelters, domestic shelters, water system improvements.

“We have all these projects that don’t seem like a lot but they are to these little communities,” said Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park.

State lawmakers and local government officials showed up to try to get their projects removed from the list.

The small town of Tatum could lose $504,000 for renovations to its town hall, Sen. Gay Kernan, R-Hobbs, told lawmakers.

The town attempted repeatedly to contact the state Department of Finance and Administration to get an agreement in place, but there was no response, Kernan told her fellow lawmakers.

“Those agreements were held at DFA in anticipation of the situation we find ourselves in, which we believe is not a fair process, “ Kernan said, referring to the state’s current budgetary troubles.

Other lawmakers described projects mistakenly on the list, saying that construction had started or that the project had been completed and the bill needed to be paid.

Thursday’s hearing highlighted the haphazard way New Mexico doles out money for brick-and-mortar projects and the lack of a centralized tracking and auditing process.

Each year the state has doled out money for small and large projects around the state. In some years New Mexico handed out more than $1 billion to pay for such construction. By late last year about $1.4 billion was assessed as tied up in thousands of projects in various stages of progress.

Many of those brick-and-mortar projects have sat for years without contracts, and in some cases repeated requests to local governments for documentation of contracts – evidence that the project was moving – resulted in no response.

But representatives of local governments responded Thursday that a “no response” didn’t mean that they hadn’t kept lines of communications open with the state. They often dealt with multiple state analysts, they said, which added to the confusion.

Local officials showed up en masse to defend their projects; so many, in fact, that Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, asked officials to hand over documentation proving contracts were in place to speed up the hearing, which threatened to extend into the evening.

It is unclear how many projects in coming days will be removed from the list of targeted projects due to Thursday’s hearing.

It’s also unclear how many legislators, who are unsuccessful in removing their projects, will clamor for a different bill or to dump the bill altogether.

The gyms, senior centers and bridges built with state money are often viewed as tangible evidence of what the lawmakers are doing for the districts.

If enough state lawmakers become upset over the bill, it could divert the Legislature from its No. 1 goal — reaching a state budget deal, numerous veteran legislative observers say.

Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa said Thursday he didn’t know about the 48-hour reporting period and supported changing the statute.

“If you are involved in automobile accident, clearly the law mandates that you should not leave the scene of the accident,” Cisneros said in a phone interview with the Independent. “I think it is imperative that individuals report immediately, not one or two days afterward.”

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Dona Ana County District Attorney and Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez also urged a change in the law:

This incident … raises the bigger issue of how boating crashes are handled under current law. The legislature should seriously consider strengthening the boating laws to close any loopholes that allow operators to leave the scene of a crash before law enforcement is contacted, arrives, and investigates. Investigations into boating crashes should not be handled any less seriously than those involving motor vehicles.

The law that Cisneros and Martinez referenced allowed Gov. Bill Richardson’s chief of staff, Brian Condit, to wait two days before he called an officer to discuss a boat accident at Elephant Butte State Park over the Labor Day weekend.

State officials have cited Condit with operating a vessel in a negligent manner and damaging another person’s property. He was at the helm of a houseboat that sideswiped one houseboat and damaged another, according to the incident report.

One eyewitness told NMI that the governor, Condit, state budget chief Katherine Miller and others in their party left the scene of the accident within minutes of the houseboat docking.

A change to the law might have to wait a year or more, however. The coming 30-day legislative session in January 2010 is reserved for only budgetary and financial matters. Richardson, however, could alter the session agenda to allow state lawmakers to consider such legislation.

“It would not be germane to the session–unless the governor puts it on the call,” Cisneros said, adding, “I think it makes sense.”

The governor’s office did not respond to an e-mail sent Thursday morning by the Independent asking whether Richardson supported such a change to the law.

State officials cited the statute on Wednesday in response to questions from the media about why Condit had called the officer investigating the boat accident two days after the Saturday accident, even though the officer had spoken to many witnesses the same day.

There is no explanation in the incident report of why Condit left the scene or why it took him two days to contact the officer.

Bolen and another officer investigating the incident at Elephant Butte State Park interviewed several witnesses, with many of them recalling the same sequence of events, according to the incident report:

A man later identified as Condit was seen operating “Bloody Mary,” a houseboat owned by Leon “Skip” Fay of Rio Rancho. Condit piloted the houseboat into the marina, but came too close to C-dock, sideswiping Shaw’s houseboat. Then the “Bloody Mary” accelerated. At this point Fay took control from Condit, but it was too late, witnesses said. The houseboat, thrust by momentum, headed across the slip toward D-dock and smashed into a second houseboat, “The Floating Irish.”

The incident report estimates the damage to “The Floating Irish” at more than $10,000. The reporting officer writes also that the owners of the Dam Site marina told him that underwater structures below D-dock were damaged. Shaw’s houseboat suffered very minimal damage.

Democrats who had backed Sen. Carlos Cisneros‘ unsuccessful campaign to unseat state Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings retained their committee chairmanships.

Some Cisneros backers had worried Tuesday that they might be stripped of their chairmanships because of their support for the Questa Democrat in the tumultuous state Senate leadership battle. Jennings defeated Cisneros by putting together a coalition of eight Democrats and 15 Republicans. Cisneros, meanwhile, had the backing of 19 Democrats.

The leadership shuffle never happened, though.

Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, one of Cisneros’ most avid supporters, remained chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, meanwhile, retained her chairmanship of the Public Affairs Committee.

The committee staffing decisions were made by the 11 members of a newly appointed panel, whom Jennings named.

Jennings addressed the Senate after the names of the committee chairmen had been read out loud on the Senate floor.

“Whichever side or whatever you might have been on or appeared to be on, we tried to be fair,” Jennings said. “If you look at it, I think it is a very respectful list for the Senate.”

There is much interest in who is selected as chairs to Senate committees after the Senate Democratic caucus was divided over a battle for the Senate president pro tem post. Some lawmakers have publicly worried that they might lose their chairmanships because they backed the wrong candidate.

Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, named an 11-member panel, including the Senate’s five Democratic and Republican leaders — Jennings, Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia, Republican leader Stuart Ingle and Republican Whip William Payne.

Jennings also named six other members — five Democrats and one Republican. They are: Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa; Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington; Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming; Sen. Cynthia Nava, D-Las Cruces; Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup; and Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque.

Jennings defeated fellow Democrat Carlos Cisneros by a vote of 23 to 19 shortly after noon Tuesday to keep the New Mexico Senate’s top job.

But questions remain on how the fallout of their contest will affect the upper chamber during the 60-day legislative session.

Will the divisions exposed in Tuesday’s vote, which saw 19 of the chamber’s 27 Democrats back Cisneros, continue to fester throughout the next two months? If so, will that lead to a fractured Senate too weakened to stand up to Gov. Bill Richardson as in the past?

Jennings is considered more conservative than Cisneros on many social issues. Prior to Tuesday’s vote, many advocates for domestic partnerships, for example, privately predicted that the legislation would hit rougher sledding with Jennings in leadership than Cisneros.

Many lawmakers said it’s too early to tell what effect the Democratic infighting will have on the chamber as a whole.

As for those Democrats who openly opposed him, will Jennings exact retribution, as some predict?

Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, for one, was preparing for the worst Tuesday afternoon.

Minutes after the Senate had adjourned for the day, Feldman and three staff members huddled on the chamber floor, next to her desk. Feldman had supported Cisneros, an act of open defiance that she said likely would cost her the chairmanship of the Senate’s Public Affairs Committee.

“Those are my staff,” Feldman said of the three people with whom she met. “They are out of a job.”

A second later, Feldman retreated from her statement. “I’m not sure I’m going to lose [the chairmanship],” she said. “But they [the staff] don’t know. And I don’t know either. They are in limbo.”

A call to Jennings to ask if plans were in the works to strip some Democrats of committee chairmanships was not immediately returned Tuesday night.

Earlier in the day, Jennings had appeared ready to put the divisiveness of the leadership battle behind him. Moments after he had bested Cisneros for the Senate post, Jennings said to the 42 senators sitting in the chamber: “While there might be a little divide, that’s over. I am a Democrat, and I am here to represent this body.”

He went on to explain that it was his job “to make sure this chamber is run in a fair and equitable way.”

As president pro tem, Jennings has the power to name members to a legislative committee tasked with the responsibility of selecting committee chairmen and to fill out each committee with its membership.

It was unclear when that panel, called the Committee on Committees, will make its decisions. But it likely will come in the next few days.

Jennings’ strategy Tuesday of relying on a bipartisan coalition — the Republican Senate caucus and a smattering of his fellow Democrats — to keep his post is not common in legislative workings, but it’s not rare either. The New Mexico state Senate has a history of such scenarios, the last time it happened being in 2001, when ex-Sen. Richard Romero ousted then-President Pro Tem Manny Aragon with the help of the Republicans.

And while Cisneros corralled 19 Democratic votes, Jennings found support in an unlikely place: Two of the seven freshman Democrats sided with him — Sens. George Muñoz and John Sapien.

Feldman said she hoped that time would heal the divisions in the Democratic caucus.

But there were signs that it might take some time.

Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City, acknowledged Tuesday afternoon that he likely had angered some of his Democratic colleagues by supporting Jennings in his bid to keep the Senate president pro tem job.

“It may not have been the most popular vote that I had to go with, but I thought it was the right vote for my constituents,” Morales explained.

His vote came down to two things, he said: his loyalty to Jennings and regional representation.

Jennings helped him get up to speed during last year’s 30-day session when Morales joined the Senate shortly after being chosen to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Senate President Pro Tem Ben Altamirano.

Altamirano’s death left the state’s southwestern edge without one of it most powerful champions in the Legislature, Morales said. And that led to his second concern.

If Cisneros had won the Senate president post, Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, could have been turned out as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Morales said. That could have cost the southwestern edge of the state much-needed seniority in the Democratic leadership.

“I’m not sure there would have been a change, but I know the way I voted would has ensured that [Sen. Smith] would still continue” as Senate Finance chairman, Morales said.

Jennings won the seat by a vote of 23 to 19, fending off a challenge from Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa.

“While there might be a little divide, that’s over. I am a Democrat and I am here to represent this body,” Jennings said as he addressed the chamber moments after his victory. He added that it was his job “to make sure this chamber is run in a fair and equitable way.”

The coalition of 15 Republicans and eight Democrats chose to go with a bipartisan coalition that has been the only real check on the governor’s power. Cisneros’ challenge was seen by some as possibly taking the Senate in a new direction under leadership that many believe would have been friendlier to Gov. Bill Richardson and his agenda.

Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, accused the governor of doing exactly that Monday, a day after Senate Democrats nominated Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, instead of Jennings to be Senate President Pro Tem, a post Jennings has held for a year.

“Everybody tells me that he did,” Jennings said of Richardson. “Whether they have the courage to tell you I don’t know. People tell me he called people up to the office.”

Two calls to Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos seeking response were not immediately returned Monday afternoon.

Tales of Richardson calling senators up to his office to lobby them on the leadership battle have circulated for weeks around the Capitol and were heard by more than a few lawmakers, including Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, a Jennings supporter. Papen said Monday she heard the same thing, although she didn’t know the names of those summoned to the governor’s fourth-floor Roundhouse office.

If the governor did inject himself into the fracas, it would contradict his statement shortly after the Nov. 4 election that he doesn’t get involved in legislative business or leadership fights.

“I don’t interfere in legislative leadership races. But I think the Sen. Jennings is going to have to answer to his caucus in how he interfered in race that the Democrat won,” Richardson said a day after the Nov. 4 general election. The governor was speaking of a robo-call Jennings made for the Senate’s second-highest ranking Republican, Sen. Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson. Rawson ultimately lost to Democratic challenger Steve Fischmann.

There was no love lost between Jennings and Richardson before the robo-call, but that episode escalated tensions, leading Richardson to blast Jennings for the Rawson call immediately and say he would have to answer to the Senate Democratic caucus.

Despite the Democratic caucus’ nomination of Cisneros, it appears that Jennings won’t accept the verdict. He told the Independent on Monday that he will attempt to reach across the aisle for GOP support to keep his post.

Unlike the Senate Majority Leader, who represents the majority –- in this case, the Democrats — the president pro tem post is voted on by the full 42-member Senate in January.

Whoever becomes president pro tem must secure 22 of the Senate’s 42 votes on Jan. 20, the first day of the legislative session.

With 27 Democrats and 15 Republicans expected to be in the Senate for next session, Jennings would need to get pledges of support from seven Democratic senators as well as all 15 Republicans to keep the post. And Jennings is feeling bullish about his chances.

It is unclear how many Democrats each man has lined up behind his bid for the Senate President Pro Tem post, and their supporters gave competing versions on Monday following this weekend’s caucus.

Sen. Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia, D-Dona Ana, a Cisneros supporter, said she believed Cisneros had “the bulk of the Democratic votes in the caucus.”

“He’s a very good legislator,” Garcia said.

Papen, the Jennings supporter, meanwhile, said she felt confident “that there was a quite a large number of votes that went to Sen. Jennings.”

Coming after an election in which Democrats handily won at every level, Senate Republicans being asked to pick a top Democrat would present an irony, some say.

“The New Mexico Senate is the last stand for Republicans,” said Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque. “They’ve lost every other office in the state, and so now they have a chance to gain the New Mexico Senate and they’re going to go for it, and they have their allies.”

NMI’s Heath Haussamen contributed to this story.

So is it possible that the GOP could play the role of kingmaker in an ongoing state Senate leadership battle?

Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, believes so.

The Senate Democratic caucus nominated Sen. Carlos Cisneros over the weekend as president pro tem, effectively pushing Jennings aside.

But Jennings said Monday he is reaching across the aisle for support to keep his job and that the battle for the post is far from over. Jennings acknowledged that he has solicited support from Republicans and Democrats over the past few weeks to keep his post.

Unlike the Senate Majority Leader, who represents the majority –- in this case, the Democrats — the president pro tem post is voted on by the full 42-member Senate in January.

Whoever becomes president pro tem must secure 22 of the Senate’s 42 votes on Jan. 20, the first day of the legislative session.

With 27 Democrats and 15 Republicans expected to be in the Senate for next session, Jennings would need to get pledges of support from seven Democratic senators as well as all 15 Republicans to keep the post. And Jennings is feeling bullish about his chances.

“I think I have the votes,” Jennings told NMI on Monday.

In an interview, Cisneros acknowledged that Jennings could conceivably keep his post by forming a coalition of Democrats and Republicans.

“It’s been done before. And that can indeed happen,” Cisneros said. But the Questa Democrat said he would not reach across the party aisle to find support. Instead, Cisneros said he would focus on solidifying his support among the 27 Democrats in the Senate.

Might Tim Jenning get the Roundhouse boot from his fellow Senate Dems?

It is unclear how many Democratic Senators supported Cisneros over Jennings in this past weekend’s caucus.

“I’ll stick to the party line,” Cisneros said.

Sen. Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, the Senate’s top Republican, wouldn’t say Monday whether Jennings had the support of every Republican in the Senate. But he indicated that the Roswell Democrat might be a better fit in leadership than Cisneros given the state’s difficult financial situation.

“He’s a known quantity,” Ingle said of Jennings, adding “he comes from a more conservative district in the state than Senator Cisneros… This year there are some money problems and we will have to deal with them in a conservative nature.”

New Mexico is struggling with a deficit estimated at around $500 million.

The Senate president pro tem is the Senate’s top-ranking leader and officially oversees the Legislature’s upper chamber when the lieutenant governor is not present. He or she works with the Senate majority leader, who controls the legislative pipeline and timekeeping in the body.

But over time the post of Senate president pro tem has accrued power and it is not uncommon for the senator filling the post to sit in on all kinds of back-door negotiations on important legislation. The last time a bi-partisan coalition elected a state Senate president pro tem was 2001, when three Democrats joined all the Republicans to oust longtime, powerful Senate President Pro Tem Manny Aragon and gave the top job to another Democrat, Richard Romero.

That caused a rift that was felt in every subsequent session, until Aragon and Romero, both of Albuquerque, left the Senate in 2005.

Jennings has not been afraid to court controversy or to challenge Gov. Bill Richardson’s power. Jennings came in for Democratic criticism last month for a robocall he made for Sen. Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, days before the Nov. 4 election. Jennings’ calls prompted Gov. Bill Richardson to blast Jennings, saying that the Roswell Democrat might pay for his perceived disloyalty with the loss of his leadership post.