Martinez, citizens get into it in Taos
Gov. Susana Martinez did something earlier this month that she’s not used to doing — but ought to do more often. She appeared before a crowd of actual citizens, not all of them friendly, and faced critical questions.
This happened April 18 in Taos, which was one of the last of 10 communities around the state she chose to “discuss vetoing the massive tax increase passed by lawmakers during the legislative session that would have hurt New Mexico families.”
Like nearly all the other towns where she did her “veto tour,” the event took place in front of a state police headquarters — where I guess Martinez, a career prosecutor, feels most comfortable. A couple of others took place at a Motor Vehicle Division Office.
I went to one of these, in Española, in the parking lot of the National Guard headquarters there, basically in the middle of nowhere. I was one of three reporters and a photographer covering the appearance. The only other people there were the governor’s security detail and a couple of her staffers. Martinez gave a short statement explaining once again why she vetoed massive portions of the budget bill — the entire budgets for the state’s higher-education system and all the funds for the legislative branch, to be exact. Then she took questions from reporters and said goodbye. The whole thing lasted less than 10 minutes.
There hasn’t been much news coverage of these Martinez appearances. I assume most of the other whistlestops were similar — only a handful of people showing up and all of them, whether reporters or Martinez’s people, being paid to be there. That’s virtually assured by Martinez’s policy of giving only a two-hour notice before her public appearances. That’s right, I get two-hour notices whether the event is in Española or Ruidoso.
And I’m assuming Martinez was expecting the same thing when she went to Taos. But that wasn’t the case. The Taos News reported, “More than a dozen people turned out, some heckling her and peppering her with questions.” (You can see the newspaper’s report of the event, as well as a video, at http://taosnews.com/stories/ governor-to-speak-in-taos,39936?/).
Again Martinez gave her reasons for her budget vetoes, how she was trying to protect New Mexico families from tax increases. This time her opening remarks were lengthy. About six minutes in, while the governor was talking about struggling rural families, someone in the audience piped in, “Raise the minimum wage.”
The governor replied, “I have offered to do that.” When audience members reminded her that she had just vetoed two minimum wage bills lawmakers passed this year, Martinez said “9.25 [an hour] and $9 does not make us competitive with our surrounding states.” Nobody, not even her hecklers, brought up the fact that Arizona has a $10-anhour minimum wage — which will rise to $10.50 next year, while Colorado’s is $9.30 and is scheduled to increase to $10.20 in 2018.
Martinez had a friendly exchange with David Maes of the Ranchos Neighborhood Association, who said that he and two other neighborhood people with him were “three of the 10 Republicans in Taos County.” Maes was disappointed because Martinez had pocket-vetoed House Bill 111, which would allow more communities to qualify as as “traditional historic communities” and be protected from encroaching development.
But other questions — about education, about the governor vetoing funds for the Legislature but not her own office — became more pointed. At one point, a man criticized her for the 2013 behavioral health system shake-up, saying Martinez made “false accusations of fraud that turned out not to be true. Now we have no mental health care in this state.”
As Martinez began to mock that accusation, one of her staffers stepped in, saying Martinez would “spend some time with the press now.”
During a reporter’s question about oil and gas revenues, the governor responded to an unintelligible comment from an audience member. “Excuse me, can you be polite?” she said indignantly. Someone in the audience commented, “You’re very long-winded with your self-aggrandizing. …”
This undoubtedly isn’t how Martinez wanted to spend a Tuesday afternoon. But ever since her 2014 re-election, Martinez has spent less and less time facing the public outside of highly controlled situations. And as her approval level shrinks, she seems to become more isolated. I can’t help to think it would be healthier for everyone involved if she engaged in more of these conversations with citizens, even if it does get a little tense at times.