The marquee legislative issue for much of the public this year is the proposal (HB 160) to legalize recreational marijuana but there's good reason to believe the lights on the marquee will dim quickly.

Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima stunned the pro-cannabis crowd when he flatly rejected legalization just days before the start of today's session.

Full legalization makes him worried about crime increasing, the higher potency of the drug compared to the past and teens using it while pregnant as a way to deal with nausea.

Cruces is one of the "Big 3" Dem cities along with ABQ and Santa Fe. If you can't get the unanimous support of their top leadership on a key progressive issue, hope fades fast.

Even MLG, who touts legal marijuana as a big job creator, cast doubt on its chances this session saying it could be "a heavy lift."

So what happened? Legalizing marijuana had more momentum at last year's session. Well, the ongoing. much publicized and mostly drug-related violence in ABQ, including lat year's record-setting murder rate (82), is giving key senate marijuana foes more courage to just say no.

To them and other opponents, legalizing marijuana while a large swath of the state's population remains mired in a drug epidemic is counter intuitive. Senate Majority Leader Wirth, who supports legalization, puts it this way:

"There’s an economic side of this, but I think the real heart of it is the focus on the health impact and the societal impact of adding this in a state with the challenges that we have,” Wirth said, referring to already high rates of drug and alcohol abuse across New Mexico. “It’s one more substance being added.

The pro-marijuana forces try their best to explain that pot is benign compared with meth, heroin etc. but when blood is staining the streets and drug rehab beds fall far short of what's needed, it's a high hurdle to jump.

Republicans like ABQ Senator Mark Moores softened up on legal pot at last year's session. Now Moores has turned away, saying the current bill is defective. With many rural Dem's still in the opposition and no GOP support, any Martini/Marijuana happy hours could be on hold.

THE GRIP OF NO

Sen. Smith

Reader Richard Flores calls him the "de facto Governor." Once again Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith looms large at a legislative session. His mostly conservative politics clash with the majority of his Democratic Party but his fellow senators have never had the stomach to create a competing citadel of power in the 42 member chamber, allowing Smith's financial views to hold sway.

Readers like Ken Tabish, who unlike Smith's fellow senators are not dependent on his goodwill, expresses the frustration many Dems have over another year under the thumb of "Dr. No:"

Joe, As an advocate for funding early childhood education from the $19 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund, I see that the conservative senate Dems, led by Dr. No, John Arthur Smith, have won the day with  the Early Childhood Education And Care Fund proposal. This "trust fund" is now supported by the Governor as she has capitulated to the conservative leadership of the party. We really do not need this new fund as there are mega-resources to be tapped from the Permanent Fund, without damaging the fund itself.

HJR 1 (the constitutional amendment that would ask voters to tap the Permanent Fund for early childhood education) is on the docket but it is clearly not supported by the Governor. As always as it passes through the House, it will again be buried by the Senate Finance Committee as Senator Smith will gladly support the meagerly funded new trust fund. When will New Mexico adequately fund the human capital, mainly our young children, of this poverty stricken state? To do so Dr. No has got to go. As a progressive Democrat, I will be supporting and contributing to his primary opponent Neomi Martinez-Parra. 31 years is enough!

That early childhood trust fund Tabish writes of would be funded with $320 million from the oil surplus and is projected to generate about $30 million annually. The Permanent Fund plan would generate over $175 million a year for early childhood education to aid in reversing the state's perennial standing as last in the nation or near last in child well-being rankings;

Early childhood supporters generally back both the trust fund and the Permanent Fund proposals to meet a need experts put at $400 million a year.

Smith has signed on to only the trust fund as he faces a primary challenge from progressive Martinez-Parra. His supporters believe it could give him political cover as he again kills the Permanent Fund proposal. Other conservative leaning Dems are also expected to use their support of the trust fund to fend off progressive June primary challengers of their own.

AFTER SMITH

The Deming senator's fiscally conservative legacy could outlast Smith, who at 78 is probably seeking his last four year term. Here's the play.

The vice-chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee is vacant as a result of the passing last September of Senator Carlos Cisneros. Smith works his will and the #2 spot is given to fiscally conservative Senator Bobby Gonzales who was appointed by MLG to fill the Cisneros vacancy. When Smith leaves the legislature Gonzales is positioned to take over as Senate Finance chair and continue Smith's conservative policies.

A Roundhouse Wall-Leaner says if that occurs expect this:

Joe, There could be fissures in the Democratic Senate caucus if Senator Bobby Gonzales is made vice chairman of Senate Finance. Albuquerque still has only one vote on the body's most powerful committee, yet ABQ has one-fourth of the state's population. Rural interests rule. Something to watch for.

UPDATE: The Senate is now poised to name Sen. George Munoz of Gallup, a fiscal conservative like Gonzlaes, as the new vice-chairman of Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Joe Cervantes will be  chairman of the Judiciary Committee. (Sen. Gonzales will serve a regular member on the powerful committee).

MAYOR AND MACHINE HEAD

ABQ Mayor Tim Keller isn't "aging out" when it comes to his well-known passion for heavy metal music. Here he is posing with "Machine Head" at their recent stop in the city.

Keller, 42, looks pretty tough there. You wonder if he'll have the same look after a month of dealing with grumpy rural legislators who he's asking to approve $14 million for a city homeless shelter.

One of the Alligators joked after seeing the pic:

Finally, we get a look at the APD analysts who came up with the city's latest crime stats!

Have your own photo caption? Email it in.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020