Crime, punishment and other stories from the Capitol
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s speech and counterpoints from her political rivals didn’t tell the whole story of opening day at the New Mexico Legislature. Far from it.
The most striking comment of the day came from a lawmaker who said New Mexico doesn’t need more laws against drunken driving.
“Our laws are some of the best in the country,” said Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces.
Maybe he’s right. Maybe the laws cover all the bases. But punishment for drivers high on booze or drugs is soft based on sentencing habits by judges.
Reporters asked Cervantes about New Mexico’s drunken-driving laws after he received a coveted appointment to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee. He succeeded a recently convicted drunken driver, Sen. Richard Martinez, who resigned from the committee chairmanship to spare himself the humiliation of being removed by fellow senators.
Martinez, D-Ojo Caliente, received a five-day jail sentence from the same judge who found him guilty of aggravated drunken driving and reckless driving.
The maximum penalty for those crimes, both petty misdemeanors, was 180 days in jail.
Cervantes, an attorney who has prosecuted drunken-driving cases, said the amount of jail time Martinez received was much more than is typical for a first offender.
Under the law, Martinez had to serve at least two days in jail for aggravated drunken driving.
He injured two people by plowing his Mercedes SUV into the back of their Jeep while it was stopped at a red light. Then he refused to take a breath-alcohol test.
The minimum sentence for reckless driving was five days, though Judge Francis Mathew had the discretion to lessen it. He did so.
Five days in jail wasn’t much of a penalty, considering the human suffering Martinez caused.
There’s still time for a lawmaker to introduce a bill that would increase the minimum punishment for aggravated drunken driving and reckless driving.
Martinez, who remains a member of the Senate, should have to vote on enhancing the penalties. That would be a bit of justice, something his trial didn’t achieve.
Democrats have so much power at the Capitol that many Republicans can only laugh about it.
Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, provided a good example of this Tuesday.
With Cervantes now leading the Judiciary Committee, that left a vacancy atop the Conservation Committee, which he had chaired.
Ingle told the bipartisan nominating panel that Republican Sen. Pat Woods of Broadview would make a good chairman, given his wealth of experience in agriculture.
Fellow senators asked Ingle if he was nominating Woods.
“I just kind of wanted to see how it would fly,” Ingle said, realizing any nomination of a Republican would be good for comedic value but nothing more.
Democrats then forged ahead with their plan, installing Sen. Liz Stefanics, D-Cerrillos, as the chairwoman.
Ingle, a folksy 72-year-old farmer, has served longer in the Senate than any sitting member.
He took office in January 1985, meaning he has been losing battles in the
Democrat-dominated Senate for almost half his life.
First-time political candidate Lyla June Johnston worked on an empty stomach Tuesday as she prepared to deliver a speech in the Capitol Rotunda.
She hadn’t eaten in two days, and this was only the beginning. She is on a weeklong fast, part of which she is carrying out at the Capitol.
Weather gnawed at her more than hunger pangs.
Johnston, 30, is building much of her campaign against House Speaker Brian Egolf around the climate crisis.
They will compete in the Democratic primary election in Santa Fe’s House District 47. Johnston said the speaker hasn’t been aggressive enough on climate change. One of her campaign planks is that saving the planet starts with state officials, since international and federal executives have shirked the responsibility.
Climate change is not her only issue, but it’s predominant to Johnston.
“If we don’t get that one right, nothing else matters,” she said.
Egolf has reacted to her candidacy by calling on high-profile friends to vouch for him. He recently announced he’d received endorsements from U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Luján and Deb Haaland.
Johnston said she has collected campaign donations from ordinary people in all 50 states. Her promise to forgo food for a week has helped her gain attention while she campaigns.
She had planned to spend the nights she’s fasting on the hard cold cement outside the Capitol steps. The building staff vetoed her idea.
Now she’s mixing church and state.
Johnston will be at the Capitol by day. She says she’s spending nights at a church.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.