AG: Budget cuts could create a ‘crisis’
SANTA FE — Attorney General Hector Balderas says he would have to lay off 20 percent to 30 percent of his staff under budget proposals by the Legislature and Gov. Susana Martinez.
“It’d be a public safety and constitutional crisis,” Balderas said Monday in an interview.
His 160-person office handles appeals of criminal convictions, prosecutes child porn and other internet crimes against children, and pursues major civil litigation on behalf of New Mexico — all of which might be hampered by staff cuts, Balderas said.
It isn’t clear yet, of course, how the state budget for next year will shape up.
The Legislative Finance Committee and governor have recommended about $17 million in funding next year for the attorney general, a substantial decrease from what the office has spent in past years, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The office is on track to spend about $21 million this year, after $24 million in spending in 2016 and $23 million the year before.
OPEN PRIMARIES:
A bipartisan pair of lawmakers is pushing to open New Mexico primary elections to unaffiliated, independent voters.
The goal is to force candidates to appeal to the broadest number of voters, not just their party’s base of liberals or conservatives, supporters say. Right now, only Democrats can vote in the Democratic primary and only Republicans in the GOP primary.
Supporters say the proposal would give unaffiliated voters a voice in choosing the candidates who make it to the general election. That’s important, they say, because many races are decided in the primaries.
Reps. Stephanie Garcia Richards, D-Los Alamos, and Jim Dines, R-Albuquerque, are sponsoring House Bill 206, the proposal to open the primaries to unaffiliated voters.
An increasing number of voters, especially young ones, are choosing to register without a party affiliation, they said.
“This is telling us we need to readjust the sails,” Dines said.
About half the states in the nation have open primaries of some kind.
“TOP TWO”: Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, has an even more ambitious proposal. It calls for amending the state Constitution to create a “top two” candidate system.
Every voter in the primary would get the same list of candidates and they’d pick the one candidate they like best. Then the top two votegetters would advance to the general election — regardless of whether it’s two Democrats, two Republicans, one of each or some other combination involving Libertarians.
Nebraska, California and Washington have a similar system.