Tempest Over Senate Leader Stewart's Temper Tantrum Raises Questions Over Her Remaining Time In Power; Plus: Her Outburst Reveals Major Flaw In State Capital Outlay Program

Sen. Stewart

The tempest over state Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart's verbal abuse of a legislative staffer raised questions at the capitol about Stewart's future atop the legislative heap. 

 At 78, Sen. Stewart's time may be dwindling but Senate Democrats appear unlikely to give her the boot from leadership over the incident.

Reacting to the Friday hearing of a legislative ethics subcommittee over the complaint filed by the abused staffer, one senator told us:  

There’s really s no alternative right now. Those who have run for Pro Tem before the caucus reviously are not positioned. The real power in this place is now with Senators (George) Munoz and (Joe) Cervantes. They represent an odd mix of  pragmatic and liberal politics that has sidestepped Mimi's progressive impulses which are now considerably more tame. 

Munoz is chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee and Cervantes holds sway over the important Judiciary Committee. It is those panels presided over by moderate Dems where power has solidified--even after progressive Democrats in the 2020 Democratic primary ousted five conservative Democrats. Those conservative Dems had formed a coalition with Senate Republicans to keep the chamber under conservative rule. The progressives inched forward by taking them out but did not leap. 

The Pro Tem's ultimate power is the ability to fashion the membership of senate committees. Stewart has not moved to upset the Munoz-Cervantes applecart. Her temper tantrum, for which she has now apologized, will probably result in little more than a letter of reprimand. 

WHAT IT REVEALS 

The senate leader's outburst was triggered when the staffer emailed her during the last legislative session asking Stewart about submitting a funding sheet for her requested capital outlay projects for her District 17 seat centered in the ABQ SE Heights. Stewart responded with an all caps email tirade, saying the document had already been submitted. In a later phone call she called the staffer "stupid."

Capital outlay, commonly referred to as "pork," is crucial to the political identity of legislators who run for election on the approved construction projects as evidence of their effectiveness. 

Stewart's loss of temper reveals the major flaw in the current system. It lets the governor and the 112 politicians in the legislature determine what projects are funded with billions of dollars in capital outlay dollars currently coming from booming oil fields in SE NM.

That system sets up a “three-way split” where the governor and legislators divide the capital outlay, often resulting in political decisions and minimal vetting of projects. Other states take the politics out of the process by going the data-driven route and providing a higher degree of transparency. 

Stewart now awaits any sanctions she will be subjected to by the ethics subcommittee. To avoid future raging, the leader may want to direct her anger at the serious inefficiency in the system and team with Senator Pete Campos and other longtime reform advocates to take politics out of capital outlay decision making. 

THE STEWART FILE

A retired APS special ed teacher and mother of two, Stewart was first elected to the state House in 1995 where she was a tireless advocate for education, including teacher salaries. That gave her a firm political base but led to critics saying she was a tool of the teachers' unions. In 2014 she was appointed to the Senate to replace Tim Keller who had been elected State Auditor. In 2016 she won election in her own right.

Her long prominence in education legislation is her chief accomplishment but as the state continues to rank last in the nation in public education, that leadership has been called into question. 

Her well-known temper exhibits her passion for her beliefs but also has made her a target. Former ABQ GOP state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, reacting to the incident that drew the ethics complaint against the Pro Tem, said on the socials:

When Senator Stewart was serving in the House, she exhibited the same behavior. Sad then. Sad now.

Leadership elections for the Senate Democratic Caucus are conducted before or at the start of the legislative session following an election. That would put the next Pro Tem following the 2028 election when senators next stand for election.

If Stewart seeks re-election to her senate seat in 2028 she would be 81 years old. This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.        

E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com)

Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.