Area pols gear up for session

By Kristen Davenport
For The Independent

SANTA FE — Gallup lawmakers went back to work Tuesday at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, and nearly across the board say they support Gov. Bill Richardson's agenda for the 2007 session. Richardson is hoping for a raise in the minimum wage, more health insurance for the poor, more money for teachers, money for stem cell research, tax cuts and running water for eastern Navajo checkerboard lands.

"He's on track, and he's ambitious," said Leonard Tsosie, a long-time Democratic Senator from Whitehorse Lake. "But that part about supporting stem cell research, that is something we've never heard before. Sounds to me more like a presidential speech."

Indeed, the Capitol building is abuzz with talk about whether Richardson will announce soon that he intends to seek the 2008 presidential nomination.

Tsosie, for one, is pretty sure he will.

"This will be the first time we have a New Mexico governor running for president," he said. "Whether we like him or not, we should take pride in that. And that would be nothing but good for New Mexico." Tsosie says he shares Richarson s agenda for the state, but also has an agenda of his own this session: road and water projects for the reservation, and getting high-speed wireless Internet to every hogan.

Sen. Lidio Rainaldi, the senator from McKinley County, said his main priority during this session is $2 million for a new dialysis center in Gallup.

"This is a crisis in Gallup that has to be addressed immediately," Rainaldi said. Rainaldi also plans to introduce some legislation to get money for the Eleventh Judicial District in Gallup.

Although Rainaldi said he "absolutely" supports Richardson's agenda, as well as Richardson's potential bid for the presidency, he is hesitant about the proposed minimum wage increase.

"Something is needed, but we can't punish merchants," he said. "I prefer a graduated increase, something more slow." He also reserves judgment on efforts to ban cockfighting in New Mexico a plan that Richardson announced he will support this year. "I have to see how that is written up," Rainaldi said. "It doesn't really matter to me. I'm not a gambler especially on chickens."

Rep. Patty Lunstrom, from Gallup and also a Democrat, said she "entirely and absolutely" supports the ban on cockfighting.

Although she has plans for several financial requests, such as $5 million for an upgrade to Red Rock State Park, Lundstrom says much of her energy will be taken by her sixth attempt to pass legislation limiting payday lending in New Mexico.

Gallup, which has the highest rate of payday loan businesses in the state, is in desperate need of the legislation, she said. Lundstrom has introduced similar legislation five times in the past, and each time gets closer to passing the legislation.

Last year, in the 2006 session, Lunstrom's bill died on the Senate floor when Sen. Tsosie filibustered the proposed law because he said it didn't go far enough. But Lundstrom said her payday loan bill is the one supported by a task force convened specifically to look at the issue of how to limit this type of predatory lending.

"I'm really confident we'll pass it this year," she said.

Only a handful of lawmakers from the Navajo area are Republicans, mostly from Farmington, and none from Gallup. Rep. Tom Taylor, a Republican from Farmington, said his party intends to keep close tabs on Richardson this session.

"A booming economy is not an excuse for excessive spending," Taylor said at a press conference in response to Richardson s opening-day speech. Taylor and other Republicans say they hope the legislature will be able to take back some power from the governor this year.

"We have to be careful what we do with those dollars," Taylor said. Taylor and other Republicans say they support much of Richardson's agenda tax cuts, money for roads, and pushing for renewable energy; however, the Republican caucus likely will not support Richardson's efforts to raise the minimum wage to $7.50 an hour, he said. But, Taylor said, he doubts that Richardson's race for the presidential nomination will really affect this year's 60-day session, which adjourns at noon on March 17.

"He says he has an open-door policy when he's here (in Santa Fe)," he said. "The governor has always spent some time away. I don't imagine it will be any more than in the past."

Gallup-McKinley County day at the legislature will be on Feb. 8, and will include a breakfast for lawmakers and several chances for McKinley County residents to put their issues before legislators.