The new ‘Gov. No’?
By killing more than half the bills that reached her desk, Martinez did little this session to cement her legacy and stirred memories of another New Mexican who governed by veto
Former Gov. Gary Johnson was proud of his nickname, “Governor No.” The moniker was bestowed on him for his proclivity for vetoing legislation. In his first year in office alone, he rejected an even 200 bills that had been approved by lawmakers.
Early in his tenure, Johnson even vetoed a bill for which his wife had pushed. By the end of his second term, he had vetoed more than 700 bills.
Gov. Susana Martinez isn’t close to those numbers, but after vetoing 141 bills this year, Martinez could be making a late bid for Johnson’s mantle.
She vetoed more than 51 percent of the 277 bills that cleared the Legislature this year. Johnson’s highest percentage of vetoes in a regular session was 47 percent.
Martinez also line-item-vetoed the entire budget for the Legislature and for state colleges and universities.
“That’s not just mean. That’s nutty,” said one veteran legislative staffer.
And it could lead to legal action against the two-term governor, said Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe.
The barrage of vetoes came in a session in which Republican Martinez initially had appealed to the Democratcontrolled Legislature for unity.
“We have faced down tough challenges,” she said in her annual State of the State address on the first day of the session in January. “We’ve done it the right way — in a bipartisan manner. … Democrats and Republicans, let’s make New Mexicans proud.”
But Martinez’s relationship with majority Democrats worsened soon after. She vetoed five bills during the session without providing any explanation. Wirth and other lawmakers said those vetoes were invalid because the state constitution requires a veto message on bills a governor rejects during the legisla ISTANBUL
tive session. Martinez disagreed, though she began supplying veto messages thereafter on every bill she rejected.
Democrats may have to sue Martinez in the state Supreme Court to revive the five bills that they say she vetoed illegally. One of those measures would have cleared the way for research on industrial hemp, potentially an important crop for New Mexico.
The 2017 Legislature was Martinez’s final 60-day session and perhaps her last real chance to establish a legacy before she leaves office at the end of next year. Despite her call for bipartisanship on the first day of the session, Martinez never really articulated her own agenda beyond the same old crime and education bills that get trotted out and voted down every year.
She also publicly repeated her pledge not to raise taxes, though even a Republican lawmaker said she was open to the idea. Rep. Larry Larrañaga, R-Albuquerque, said Martinez told a group of lawmakers that she would support some tax and fee increases, notably a sales tax for online purchases, to help balance the state’s $6.1 billion budget.
But instead of leading the charge for a positive plan to lift New Mexico out of its economic doldrums, Martinez’s role in this Legislature became similar to that of Johnson — governing by veto.
“I don’t question her constitutional right to veto,” Wirth said. “But just because she can doesn’t mean she should. Her vetoes included many bills that passed unanimously or near unanimously with huge bipartisan support.”
Senate Republican Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales wasn’t as critical.
“Every governor has the right to veto,” he said. “There were things I wish she hadn’t have vetoed, but as far as the budget goes, I suspect we’ll be back for a special session in the next month or so, so we can fix it, hopefully.”
Referring to Martinez’s early call for bipartisanship, Wirth said he’s proud to serve in the Senate, where “Democrats and Republicans really do work together.”
The budget bill and a separate measure to raise revenue through tax and fee increases cleared the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support.
“What is her plan?” Wirth asked. “Where do we go from here?”
In a statement, Martinez said: “The Legislature has disappointed me in the past. But I cannot recall another time where I’ve ever felt that their reckless decisions had left New Mexico hanging in the balance.”
She reiterated that she’s considering furloughing state employees and said again the state could face a government shutdown.
Among Martinez’s vetoes was a bill to gradually convert state buildings to solar power. The sponsor, Democratic Sen. Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces, said state government has more than 750 buildings but only two of them have solar power.
She also vetoed a measure that would have required people using short-term housing rental services such as Airbnb to pay lodgers taxes, which are charged for regular hotel rooms, and a bill that could have consolidated municipal and school board elections.
Several other vetoes by Martinez were of bills affecting workers. One would have allowed employees who collect sick leave to use that leave to care for family members. Another would have required employers to make certain accommodations for pregnant workers. And, as she had promised, Martinez vetoed two bills that would have raised the statewide minimum wage of $7.50 an hour. One bill to increase the minimum wage had bipartisan support and was endorsed by the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.
In three veto messages, Martinez touted her commitment to government transparency. All three of those bills she had vetoed were aimed at increasing government transparency.
One would have required more disclosure of lobbyists’ expenses. Another would have required groups that spend money on election campaigns to disclose their large contributors. And the third would have prohibited state agencies from denying members of the public copies of government databases on the grounds that the requester might use the information for political purposes.
Martinez vetoed some bills that “Governor No” Johnson almost certainly would have signed. One was a bill, sponsored by House Minority Leader Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque, that would have enshrined in law the conditions that make a patient eligible to obtain medical marijuana in New Mexico. These conditions are now listed in rules issued by the state Health Department. In addition, Gentry’s bill would have added opioid addiction to the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana.
It’s also hard to imagine Johnson vetoing bills related to industrial hemp. But, as she did two years ago, Martinez vetoed a bill that would legalize industrial hemp research in the state. Hemp, which is related to the marijuana plant but doesn’t have significant levels of the intoxicant THC, can be used in countless products.
Unlike Johnson, who came to the Capitol as a political outsider with an undisguised libertarian small-government ideology, Martinez didn’t start wielding the veto club when she took office in 2011.
Instead, she focused on passing a narrow legislative agenda that included education reforms and repealing a 2003 state law allowing undocumented immigrants living in New Mexico to obtain a state driver’s license. Martinez finally surrendered on her push for an outright repeal of the law. A compromise measure that continues to give undocumented immigrants driving privileges received her support in 2016.
Until this year, Martinez’s biggest year for vetoes was her first session. She vetoed a total of 41 bills in 2011. Two years later, she vetoed 28. And in 2015, another 60-day session, Martinez vetoed only 18 bills. That low number might be explained by the fact that Republicans controlled the House of Representatives that year, which meant fewer bills opposed by conservatives were able to pass the Legislature.
Johnson’s first year in office, 1995, was his high mark for vetoes. He would never reach 200 vetoes again. But in 1999, “Governor No” spiked 150 bills that reached his desk.
Wirth said Martinez’s line-item vetoes on the budget bill are in a whole different league from Johnson’s legendary vetoes. Eliminating money for higher education and the Legislature via line-item veto raise serious constitutional questions, he said. The Legislature will look at taking legal action, Wirth said.
“We’re in uncharted waters,” Wirth said. “The governor has the right to do this, but it’s a strange way to govern.”