Sam Bregman's gubernatorial campaign appeared to lose momentum after releasing a lengthy "Blueprint for New Mexico" that was revealed to contain sections copied from state websites and that was denounced by rival Deb Haaland's camp as "absolute gibberish.

After digesting that slice of humble pie the undaunted Bregman went on a November "Common Sense Over Chaos" tour, trying to amplify his policy chops and make up any ground lost to front-runner Haaland.

At his last tour stops in the ABQ and Santa Fe media markets Bregman won attention for his support of measures to "modernize" the state legislature including slapping term limits on legislators, lengthening legislative sessions to 90 days per year and for the first time awarding the 112 lawmakers full-time salaries. 

These might be called shopworn proposals that have been debated and rejected but Bregman hopes to put a new shine on them. Politically, they have appeal. Recent polling places support for term limits at 82 percent with Republicans and Independents most in favor but Dems also giving strong backing. 

Independent voters will for the first time be allowed to vote in state primary elections starting with the June '26 balloting and Bregman seems intent on courting them.

The concept of longer legislative sessions--currently they are set at 60 days for odd numbered years and 30 days in even numbered years--already seems to have been circumvented, argues Libertarian Ed Lopez whose father was a longtime Democratic state senator from Santa Fe:

Joe, unpaid NM legislators have created more than twenty-five (25) interim committees and an unclear number of subcommittees. . .These are on top of the legislature’s existing 23 standing Senate and House committees that meet during regular sessions. This massive interim bureaucracy has “creeped” into becoming today’s de facto full time professional legislature, where specialized, full time lobbyists are paid to influence public policy. . .These elite few keenly understand and easily navigate this complex interim bureaucracy usually away from the average folks who show up during 30 and 60 day legislative sessions, This interim legislative creep has now taken over our Roundhouse. 

We would add that legislators can now have year round staffs and district offices. Does that make what Lopez says is a "shadow legislature" less so? 

(Here is a long list of links to various studies and news reports about modernizing.) 

All of the modernization proposals Bregman supports would require voter-approved constitutional amendments that would first have to be passed by the legislature. That would require the executive to commit considerable political capital to prevail in the face of stiff opposition. Republican Senate Leader Sharer and Dem Senate heavy Joe Cervantes are already expressing skepticism. 

Bregman, the BernCo District Attorney, has already run afoul of lawmakers when he proposed a sweeping revamping of the state that was swiftly rejected. Would he really go to bat for the legislative reform measures or is it campaign rhetoric? 

BREAD AND BUTTER 

Bregman is also pushing out a bread and butter portion of his "Blueprint" that may stimulate more serious debate than reforming the legislature. It would have the state fund down payments to make homes more affordable for first time homebuyers who have been priced out of the market:

(It would) help families buy their first home with $25,000 to $55,000 in homebuyer assistance toward the down payment and closing costs. Eligible first-time buyers earning below 150% of the local median income will receive assistance ranging from about $25,000 to $55,000 - depending on factors like the median home price in their area - and delivered as a zero-interest deferred loan. Families won’t make monthly payments; instead, the loan is repaid only when the home is sold or if it’s no longer their primary residence. 

But this plan would not come cheap and Bregman is now giving himself wiggle room:

We need to study a little bit more as far as what the demand would be. . . but certainly it’ll cost. It’ll be substantial because we don’t want three people to get their $25,000 or $30,000 down payment. We want to actually do this, so that we change the course in which we’re going---in the last five years we have half the inventory for homes than we did. We need to change that.

If 5,000 people each received $25,000 down payment loans it would cost the state $125 million, a substantial amount even in the face of excess oil boom reserves and one that would surely fire up the fiscal hawks soaring above the Roundhouse.  

As with his juvenile code revamp Bregman continues to demonstrate a shoot first style that runs into trouble when he is pressed for details. But the down payment plan is a potentially life changing element element that addresses one of the thorniest challenges New Mexico faces. 

Despite his misstep with his Blueprint and the hasty approach to some of his plans, Bregman has succeeded in putting the gubernatorial campaign on a much higher plane than the standard 30 second "gotcha" TV spot. How long he can hold that ground remains to be seen but voters welcome it for as long as it lasts. 

 THE BOTTOM LINES

The ABQ mayoral candidates will debate tonight at 7 p.m. on KOAT-TV. . . I'll be discussing the race and other matters of La Politica with T.J Trout on KKOB 96.3 FM at 5 p.m. today.

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.