You gotta love Santa Fe. Only hours after the House Sunday unanimously approved a bill that would prohibit legislators from taking any free food or drinks from lobbyists during the session, there they were at their desks Monday munching away on itsaburgers from Blake's Lotaburger--courtesy of a lobbyist. Well, the itsaburger is that little burger at Blake's not the big double patty so at least they're trying. Right.

One of the biggest bills awaiting state Senate action--the constitutional amendment passed by the House that would ask for voter approval to tap the state's nearly $18 billion Land Grant Permanent School Fund for early childhood education--met its Waterloo yet gain Monday. Gov. Lujan Grisham had equated the battle over the amendment as the "fight of my life" but Roundhouse wall-leaners opined that she bit off more than she could chew and thus took a hit.

Instead of Senate Finance, where the amendment in the past has died at the hands of Chairman John Arthur Smith, this time it was conservative Dems on the Senate Rules Committee who took it down.

Clemente Sanchez of Grants, Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces and Sen. Bill Tallman of ABQ--all voted to table the measure which passed 7-4. Tallman took out a Republican four years ago and appears to fear defeat in 2020, although it's a presidential election year and all but one of the BernCo House R's were wiped out in the recent election. A tea leaf reader he isn't.

Now the game is on to see if other legislation favored by the Governor will be ignored or killed in the Senate, which continues to be run by a coalition of R's and conservative D's. If they can buck her on early childhood, will it embolden them even more?

Sometimes Governors are glad to see the Senate become a graveyard for more liberal legislation but MLG put her fingerprints all over the early childhood amendment. If she had managed to twist some arms and get it through her power and prestige would have skyrocketed to the levels held by Dem Guv Bill Richardson in his first year. She is still on her way to having some solid success this session, but the honeymoon is now over and the administration takes on a more pedestrian aura. One of the Roundhouse Alligators took a bite:

The fight of her life it was not. Maybe the flight of her life.

Well, she did stand up and be counted. Whatever happened to Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth? When it comes to crossing the coalition Wirth is as scarce as a glass of milk at the Bull Ring.

The Governor came with a new proposal after Senate Rules knocked down the amendment, saying instead of one percent a year being taken from the Permanent Fund for early childhood she would now settle for one half percent. But this poker game is over. The Senate read the Governor's cards and decided they weren't strong enough to make them fold. She needs new players at the table and the only way she may be able to get them is to not discourage primary foes who may be preparing to take on some of the conservative Dems in the 2020 June primary.

While losing on the ECE amendment, MLG did score a win when that background check bill for gun sales made its way through the House and to her desk Monday night. The popular bill was stalled for eight years because Republican Governor Martinez was opposed.

VOX POPULI

Now on to Reader Vox Populi and Stephen Spitz who chimes in on that amendment with this:

What is the state actually spending on Early Childhood Education (ECE)? Unfortunately, legislators who oppose the Constitutional Amendment to fund ECE from the Permanent Fund have taken to fudging the numbers.

(1) Opponents include in the state's ECE funding numbers federal dollars not appropriated by the state, and (2) opponents also include as ECE funding about $160 million in K-5 funding for such things as a longer school year which, by definition, are not 0-5 pre-kindergarten programs. With these "fudges" excluded, proposed ECE spending on pre-natal to 5 programs this year is just over $130 million. And, while its true that the state's spending on ECE has grown over the last 8 years, that is in part because state funding was dramatically cut back in response to the Great Recession. 

NM's ECE programs remain minuscule. For example, the state's Home Visiting program, for children prenatal to 3, presently serves 3500 kids out of total client population of 70,000. Numerous studies have found that home visiting gets the biggest bang for the buck, particularly for "at risk" children, such as the 82% of NM births which are Medicaid qualified. In short, ECE needs to be dramatically expanded if we hope to address the state's economic, education, and social crises.

VOX POPULI MARCHES ON

Reader Steve Snyder disagrees with our take that because of the big surpluses accumulating and that look likely to continue for several years, raising the tax on cigarettes and vaping, as proposed in the House tax bill, is not necessary.

If your goal is public health first, revenue second, I think such a tax increase is welcome, even necessary, especially with vaping and the fact that nationally, youth smoking is on the rise. Better yet? How about a mime age of 21 for vaping?

XOCHITL'S WORLD

Reader Mitchell Freedman of Rio Rancho writes of the controversy over gun control laws that is turning up the heat on southern NM Dem Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small:

Does Congresswoman Torres Small really think she will get more Republican voters to vote for her by placating the gun lobby? She won the fall election by sounding like a liberal. Her strategy should not be backtracking but embracing the voters who voted for her, and move to expand the voting base of those who support her.

I don’t claim to know her district well but she won with a big turnout and there should be a bigger one in the presidential year of 2020, and one may find she will have more liberal voters. Why then placate “moderates” in the Republican Party who essentially no longer exist in any significant demographic, even in a closer election?

I make these points more as a question than a declarative statement. I just find the usual bromides from national strategists, which tend to make regular folks feel as if “Well, they are the experts,” is often wrong advice. And I fear for Torres she is making an error of judgment in political strategy here. Am I wrong?

Good points, Mitchell. You're right. In the end it's all about getting your vote out. The tough question you raise is whether Xochitl is aiming her turnout efforts at the right crowd. The southern CD is no longer the easy read it was just a few years ago, having gone from reliably conservative to more of a swing seat.

Michael Corwin writes:

Joe, Although the vehicle of this article is about Jewish food, it sums up why Denver is a destination place to live and why people are flocking there. One of the main reasons is optimism. Much of that comes from trying to make a better future instead of accepting a lesser one. Food for thought (ha!)

Reader Dago Martinez bats clean-up:

As a person in his late 20s, it is refreshing to read unbiased news/opinions regarding NM politics. Thank you for your work. I make it a point to read you daily to keep me in the know of what is going on locally.

Thanks for that, Dago, While we can be quite opinionated, we take your comment to mean we tell it like we see it regardless of what the politicians on either side are saying. And to all the twentysomethings tuning in we declare with sincerity: "Youth Must be Served!"

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019