Lawmakers able to find lodging by looking early
Legislators who travel from afar say finding place can be costly
For the next 30 days or so, state Rep. Paul Bandy will live out of a suitcase in Santa Fe, trading his comfortable digs in Aztec some three hours away for a hotel room with not much more than a bed and a TV set in New Mexico’s capital city.
The longtime Republican lawmaker is among dozens of legislators from the far reaches of the state who will be calling Santa Fe their temporary home during the 30-day legislative session, which begins in earnest Jan. 16.
“Some people rent little casitas around town,” Bandy said. “People make different arrangements.”
So why wouldn’t Bandy rent a more homey casita over a humdrum hotel room? The
answer is relatively simple.
“I don’t want to make the bed,” Bandy said, laughing.
Conventional wisdom in New Mexico would indicate that finding a long-term (but not too long-term) place to stay in Santa Fe might be a challenging proposition — even for the people who control the state’s $6 billion-plus budget.
But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say that finding a temporary living quarters isn’t too difficult.
The trick, they say, is to start looking early. Just like the tourists.
“That is one thing I do tell new legislators,” said Rep. Doreen Gallegos, D-Las Cruces. “I start telling them to start looking in November, that way you can get something and have a place to go by January.”
Gallegos said some years are harder than others when it comes to find lodging.
“If skiing is good that year,” she said, “it can be even more difficult.”
This year, lawmakers won’t have to compete with an avalanche of skiers because the Sangre de Cristo range is mostly snowless.
Of course, not everyone has to worry about finding a place to stay.
“I am lucky and grateful that I get to go home every night,” said House Speaker Brian Egolf, who lives on Santa Fe’s east side.
Sen. Gay Kernan, R-Hobbs, said she has “pretty much” been renting the same place for years, though she declined to offer any details because of safety concerns.
“It’s not difficult to find a place, and I’ve always said that Santa Fe is a friendly place and a good place to come spend time when you’re not at home, so I don’t have any complaints at all. I’ve been very fortunate,” she said.
Rep. Zachary Cook, R-Ruidoso, said he’s never had a problem finding lodging, either. “It’s just expensive,” he said. Cook said he usually rents a place in Santa Fe, but the birth of his second son Wednesday meant a change of plans.
“Usually, I would go up [to Santa Fe] with my wife and son and mother-in-law, and we would rent a place for the whole session, but this year I’m going to be commuting back and forth a lot,” he said.
Cook said he also plans to stay at his mother’s house in Albuquerque when he can’t make it back to Ruidoso.
“When the committees start firing up and going late, then I’ll have to stay at my mom’s in Albuquerque or get a hotel room,” he said.
Rep. Rebecca Dow, a Truth or Consequences Republican who is serving her first term in the House, said she was advised to stay in a hotel. But she said a hotel didn’t have the amenities she wanted.
“I really wanted a kitchen, and I really wanted a washer and dryer because I didn’t know how many times I would be able to make it home,” Dow said. “Plus, a lot of the hotels, by the time you get laundry service and you pay for food, I didn’t know if my stipend would be enough.”
Lawmakers will receive $161 a day in per diem that can be used for lodging, meals and incidentals.
Sen. Carroll Leavell, a Republican from Jal in far southeastern New Mexico, said his per diem doesn’t cover his lodging. But he’s not renting a room at Motel 6. Leavell said he rents a place at Quail Run, which offers everything from a nine-hole golf course to a 65-foot lap pool.
“If you can’t afford it, you better not be there,” he said.
“I’m not complaining,” Leavell said about having to pay for lodging and other costs out of pocket. “I asked for the job, and I don’t complain about a job I asked for.”
Leavell said he believes he is the lawmaker who lives the farthest from Santa Fe.
“We’re 345 miles from our home to the Capitol,” he said. “That’s about a six-hour drive any way you cut it.”
Leavell and other lawmakers said some hotels and motels offer legislators a special discount.
“We start getting flyers from different hotels, motels, two or three months in advance,” he said. “Most of the ones that I get information from are first-class hotels.”
One hotel that may see fewer lawmakers this year is La Fonda on the Plaza.
Bandy, the Republican from Aztec, said he and other lawmakers decided not to stay at La Fonda this year after protesters interrupted a legislative dinner hosted by the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association.
“Some of my fellow lawmakers are from the southeast in the oil country, and they had a problem with La Fonda when we had the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association at a meeting there. There were protesters that came in and made a scene,” he said. “The La Fonda really kind of blamed the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association rather than the protesters.”
Robert McEntyre, the association’s communications director, said the association expressed its concerns about the safety of its guests to La Fonda and was displeased “with the response the hotel initially offered.” But the association and the hotel have made amends.
“Since that time, we have continued a dialogue with their management staff, and their owner has actually personally reached out to us,” McEntyre said, adding that the association has hosted events at La Fonda since protesters interrupted the dinner.
Ed Pulsifer, La Fonda’s director of sales, said the hotel has made a number of changes, including additional security, for future events hosted by the association.
“We met with them and [communicated] the precautions we will definitely take for any future events to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “It is such a critical industry for us, and we greatly appreciate the relationship we have with NMOGA, and it will continue.”
Despite the flap, Pulsifer said La Fonda is providing lodging for some lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session.
“We do incredible business during the session, whether it’s a 30-day or 60-day,” not just with lawmakers, lobbyists and others staying at the hotel, but with “a tremendous amount of events,” he said.
“For a normally slow time of year in the hotel community — when you look at that first quarter of January, February, March — the legislative session has a tremendous impact,” Pulsifer said, “positive economic impact, for all of us in Santa Fe. It truly does.”