Rep. Lundstrom (Daily Times)

Beware the perils of remote legislative sessions. There were major snafus when the NM Legislature did most of their business remotely during the recent special session because of the coronavirus. They continue to do so and continue to suffer technical breakdowns that are a red flag if the Legislature must continue this way of business.

At a hearing Tuesday of the House Indian Affairs Committee Gallup area State Rep. Patrica Lundstrom was embarrassed when she was called on to speak remotely before the committee that was discussing Native voting rights. Instead she was caught talking on the phone for over two minutes about a project she was pursuing in her role as director of the Gallup Economic Development Corporation (GEDC). She chatted on unaware that because of technical issues her private conversation was not private at all

The full Lundstrom conversation is here starting at about 11:57.

(After our posting the Legislature edited out the Lundstrom conversation.)

The committee chair repeatedly interrupted as Lundstrom discussed intricate details of the closing of the Escalante Generating Station in McKinley County, anxiously asking, "Representative Lundstrom, can you hear me?" But Lundstorm was oblivious that her call had an audience of the full committee and the public at large on the net.

Fortunately for her, Lundstrom, chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, wasn't caught saying anything exceptionally controversial or using  coarse language. But she did get in a dig at McKinley County government that's ruffling feathers. She pointed out that GECDS "doesn't get one dime, not one dime" from the county and she wasn't going to be "pushed around" by the county.

Now imagine the entire 60 day session of the legislative session that starts in January being done remotely? If they can't get a simple committee hearing right, what about dozens of hearings? Then there’s the matter of public participation. Often because of technical issues the public was shut out at the special session.

Legislative leaders are discussing the chance that they will again be forced into a remote session. One suggestion is to have some committee hearings conducted away from the Capitol to accommodate the public, perhaps at large venues like the Convention Center. But Santa Fe first needs to better accommodate the technology that continues to baffle it--just ask Rep. Lundstorm who is thankful she wasn't embarrassed right out of her legislative seat.

By the way, in what she thought was a private call, Lundstorm was discussing the shutdown of the Escalante Generating Station in McKinley County and the loss of hundreds of jobs. She won approval of a bill in the January session that would have the county create an authority to focus on redevelopment. As the call revealed, she is having trouble getting the county government to do that.

KELLER PUSHBACK

Mayor Keller

It's been a good week for US Attorney John Anderson who pushed back against the city's accusations that 35 federal agents dispatched to ABQ by the Trump administration to aid in crime-fighting will be akin to secret police. Mayor Tim Keller took the brunt of his pushback and now a senior staffer for the Mayor does some pushing back of his own:

No surprise the former lawyer for the NMGOP is making this about politics instead of crime fighting. The US Attorney’s overblown 8-page response to our deputy city attorney is 90% bluster. The only part that matters is where he does exactly what we asked him to do: guarantee in writing that Operation Legend won’t be what we saw in Portland.

Our concern isn’t a regional Trump appointee. It’s the President’s own words. Mayor Keller stood up for Albuquerque and against those attacks on people of color, immigrants, and protesters. Keller was elected to reform APD and get back to effective community policing, and he’s not going to be intimidated by the President’s rhetoric.

The controversy over the federal agents is covered extensively on our Tuesday blog.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020