It's not a perfect storm but close enough. The multiple scandals afflicting higher education opens a window of opportunity for legislators looking to make substantial changes in the governing of the state's universities.

The WNMU scandal is widely known with former President Joseph Shepard awarded a nearly $3 million hyper-controversial buyout by the school's regents. He resigned after getting called out for misspending school funds. The outrageous buyout is being challenged by the Attorney General. 

Then there's the con job at NM Tech in Socorro where the regents placed over $46 million in school funds in a very low yielding account at First State Bank. It was the attorney for that bank who was also a NM Tech regent who engineered a whistle blower's firing as president. The sweetheart deal has cost taxpayers millions in interest income. Ex-President Stephen Wells is fighting his firing in court.

NMSU in Cruces had a whopper of a scandal in their athletic department that dragged on for years and was not resolved until a new president took over. 

While not a scandal, unconfirmed word is now circulating at the Roundhouse that MLG has appointed her 64 year old brother, a part-time student, as the new student regent at NM Highlands University in Las Vegas. If so, that is a PR black eye whose timing is kind of jaw-dropping coming as it does on the heels of the WNMU disgrace.

Eliminating some of the state's universities is a goal discussed for over 100 years but it's not going to happen. However, streamlining the governance of the schools is seen as possible by one Santa Fe Wall-leaner long on experience and wisdom:

Joe, there are dozens of Regents and the state Senate doesn't have a vetting process that is thorough enough before their appointments by the Governor are approved. Reducing the number of regents to a dozen to supervise all the schools would get us that needed vetting. This plan is superior to measures that would require Regents to receive training. That is not the issue. The problem we are seeing with the Western and Tech scandals is not training--it is too many Regents appointed who shouldn't be. And that's because they're being approved without enough probing by the Senate. 

Fewer Regents. Better legislative oversight. Let's see if there are any takers. 

TOSS-UP OR LEAN D?

Herrell and Vasquez

It's still a nail-biter, says the in-the-know Cook Political Report in DC of the state's southern congressional seat. Dem US Rep. Gabe Vasquez was re-elected there last November by a margin of 10,000 votes over Republican Yvette Herrell. (Monahan post-election analysis here.)

CD 2 is among just 18 districts that Cook ranks as a toss-up going into the 2026 cycle. 

We moved the seat from toss-up to "lean Democratic" during the heat of the '24 campaign. In '22 Vasquez won over Herrell by only 1,350 votes. His increased margin this time was due to his better performance in the Dem counties of Bernalillo and Dona Ana. 

Vasquez is an improved candidate and that means the Republicans are going to need a stronger act to hold the Dems back. Not that the next race won't be close or that an upset is long odds. However, unseating a first-termer is one thing but with two elections under this belt, Vasquez has improved his weight class from lightweight to middleweight. We'll stick with "lean Dem."

SANTA FE SILLINESS

Yikes! After the legalization of marijuana turned into a quagmire the legislature is now looking at legalizing psilocybin, a hallucinogenic drug used for "therapeutic purposes." 

That's just what the doctor did not order--more drugs unleashed on a population vulnerable to drug abuse and a state bureaucracy that is barely managing to regulate legal pot. 

Maybe the sponsors of this bill ought to have some therapy?

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.