Two New Mexico lawmakers are out of step with changing times
State Reps. Jim Trujillo, a liberal Democrat, and Monica Youngblood, formerly a law-and-order Republican, usually don’t have much in common.
This week is different. Both are feeling heat — and for good reason.
Trujillo, in addition to representing a legislative district in Santa Fe, is a longtime board member of the North Central New Mexico Economic Development District. This board just hired its most controversial member, Thomas Garcia, as the agency’s acting executive director.
Garcia himself is a former state representative who late last year was publicly accused of sexual harassment by lobbyist Vanessa Alarid. She said Garcia, while a sitting legislator in 2009, offered to support a bill she favored if she agreed to have sex with him. Garcia says Alarid’s allegation is untrue.
Incredibly enough, Alarid’s account was not discussed by the board that just hired Garcia.
Trujillo knows the accuser and the accused. He believes Garcia.
“I don’t consider Tom that kind of a man,” Trujillo told me. “Tom is a very well-educated man and a good man.” By that analysis, no man with an advanced degree could possibly sexually harass a woman.
The economic development district Garcia will lead deals with many women. Trujillo said he is confident Garcia will treat everyone appropriately.
Trujillo also said he expects Garcia will hold the executive director’s job only a month or two while the board searches for someone who wants the position on a longterm basis.
The job pays well. Garcia’s salary and benefits have not been negotiated, but the previous executive director made $110,000 a year, Trujillo said.
“Tom’s really doing us a great favor by telling us he would be there for a couple months,” Trujillo said. “I think he will really be an asset.”
Trujillo contends the economic development agency Garcia will lead is private. The evidence says otherwise.
It is subject to state audits. Even Trujillo admits the agency receives public grants and works out loans as sort of a middleman for the federal government.
The idea that Garcia would receive a well-paying job without a thorough review of Alarid’s allegations is boggling, especially because the nation this week is transfixed on Brett Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh is President Donald Trump’s nominee to be an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Kavanaugh has been the object of an FBI inquiry based on
an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman in 1982. Kavanaugh and his accuser were in high school at the time.
Trujillo, 79, grew up in an era when sexual harassment was not discussed by legislators or anybody else. But by simply handing an executive job to Garcia, Trujillo and his board have ignored the changing times.
An allegation of sexual harassment should not be discarded because Garcia seemed like a good fellow in many or even most circumstances.
Trujillo typically is re-elected to his legislative seat without opposition. This year will be no exception, but he can expect plenty of questions about Garcia.
Youngblood, of Albuquerque, has no such free ride at the ballot box. Democrat Karen Bash is challenging her in the November election.
The timing for a contested election could not be worse for Youngblood.
She has seldom had an original idea at the Capitol, but she was a favorite of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez. Youngblood, first elected in 2012, heightened her public profile by carrying Martinez’s bills to reinstate the death penalty and to flunk thousands of third-graders based on standardized reading scores.
Youngblood was especially smug about crime and punishment. At least that was true until her arrest in May for aggravated drunken driving and her blubbering performance on the police video.
She tried to intimidate Albuquerque beat cops by gratuitously mentioning that she is a state representative. All the while, Youngblood botched field sobriety tests.
A judge recently convicted Youngblood and then sentenced her this week. She will have to serve a day in jail in between campaign appearances.
For Youngblood, the greater punishment would be losing her seat.
The Legislature likes to say it works for the people. In Youngblood’s case, people can do something useful for the Legislature.
Come Election Day, they can throw the bum out.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.