Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Ten-year-old Zachary Jennings watches as his father, state Senate President Tim Jennings of Roswell, talks with reporters at the end of the legislative session. The body adjourned at noon Thursday, but Gov. Bill Richardson said he will call members back in a special session focused on health care.

Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Gov. Bill Richardson shepherds members of his staff into his office following a news conference on the Legislature's adjournment. The governor described the 30-day session that ended Thursday as "mediocre at best," and said he will call a special session to deal with unfinished business.

RELATED STORIES

• Summary: What the Legislature approved, killed

More Local Politics

• Red lights, cameras, action: Albuquerque program back on, but so is feud
• New Mexico hopefuls for U.S. Senate tout experience at debate
• Reports: Personal funds help some New Mexico congressional candidates

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

SANTA FE — On the night before the Legislature adjourned, Gov. Bill Richardson was in Rio Rancho taking in a quiet evening — of cage fighting.

He didn't participate, though he probably could have. He'd been sparring with politicians all week.

Thursday marked the end of a 30-day legislative session that was more significant for what the Legislature didn't accomplish — almost everything Richardson wanted.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat my feelings," the bearded and politically bruised Richardson said from his Cabinet room at the Roundhouse just an hour after the session ended bearing little fruit. "After five usually successful sessions and three special sessions, I must say this has been the least successful legislative session since I've been governor.

"I would call this legislative session `mediocre' at best."

And it all started out with such promise.

Richardson ended his presidential bid a month ago just before the Legislature convened, saying he couldn't wait to get to work. He would use the session to spread health care to the masses, reform state ethics laws and give domestic partners the same legal rights as married couples.

So much for that.

A watered-down version of his plan to create a Health Coverage Authority passed in the House, but never got a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee.

The domestic partnership measure died in committee and ethics reform largely withered on the vine.

That left Richardson blaming what he called a "do-nothing" Senate that was thirsty for power. He said the Senate leadership lacked the political will to get the job done, and that he would call a special session, at a time to be determined, just to address his health care plan.

Senate President Tim Jennings, a Roswell Democrat, said the Senate only had his health care bill for three days, which wasn't enough time to give it consideration.

Richardson said hooey.

The Senate wasn't Richardson's only sparring partner this session.

He quarreled with Lt. Gov. Diane Denish over her wish for more security coverage and her willingness Saturday to take delivery of a $348 million capital spending plan on Richardson's behalf because the doors to his office were locked.

Richardson late Wednesday vetoed the entire spending plan, which included hundreds of Legislative pet projects, saying he didn't have enough time to study the bill before his deadline to act.

How ironic that the session culminated on Valentine's Day.

There was even a man dressed as Cupid in the rotunda, shooting arrows at anyone not afraid to be a target.

One must have pierced the governor and the entire House because Richardson lauded the work of House Speaker Ben Lujan, a Nambé Democrat, and even praised House Republican leaders for their willingness to work with him.

That might have something to do with the House handing Richardson the club he might need to pass his health care plan.

In less than a minute Thursday the House approved a spending bill that was nearly identical to the Senate bill Richardson vetoed.

Now Richardson has 20 days to act on the capital outlay requests so important to legislators — all 112 of whom are up for re-election this year.

If Richardson calls his special session within those 20 days, he could wield his line-item veto power and threaten to cut legislators' capital requests in exchange for their support of his health care proposal.

Richardson didn't explicitly say that was his plan. But he came close.

"I have the capital outlay bill," he said. "I'm going to scrutinize it. I'll look at every project and I'll act."

He wouldn't, however, commit to a date for his special session, issuing a Dr. Seuss-like recitation of his options.

"I could do it within 20 days.

"I could do it on Monday.

"I could do it in the spring."

Said Gov. Will-I-am.

That isn't good news for weary legislators, many of whom were eager to leave the circular confines of the state capitol Thursday.

While the end of a session signals relief to lawmakers, it's in the final hours when they can air their grievances.

State Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, an Albuquerque Democrat, stood on the House floor late Thursday morning, bemoaning the fate of her bill to create an African-American Performing Arts Center.

She said it was killed in the Senate Finance Committee, and claimed Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson, a Las Cruces Republican, did so out of racial prejudice.

Rawson, as if he could hear Stapleton a chamber away, rebutted the charge on the Senate floor. "It's an absolute lie," he said.

Sen. James Taylor, a South Valley Democrat, said the session was all about stalling.

He had been pushing to get a floor vote on a bill regarding a tax incentive for SunCal Cos., which wants to build thousands of homes on Albuquerque's West Side.

His problem was with some last-minute strategy employed by Sen. Cisco McSorley, an Albuquerque Democrat, who, saying he was part of a minority that opposed the tax bill, embarked upon a filibuster.

"I'm going to talk for a long time," McSorley declared.

A long time turned out to be 30 minutes of pacing in the corner of the Senate floor and waxing poetic about solar photovoltaic technology at Mesa del Sol, sprawl development and why the Bernalillo County Commission "gave away the farm" to SunCal.

It ended when the bill was tabled, but McSorley later said that using the Legislature's noon deadline to adjourn had worked for others in the past.

"It was my turn to be the minority to stop the work on a bill," he said.

Before 1 p.m. the House and Senate galleries had emptied and the hallways were full of staff members hugging and saying goodbye, like classmates at the end of a term wishing each other a good summer.

Standing on the empty House floor, Minority Floor Leader Thomas Taylor, a Farmington Republican, pondered the near future.

Legislators are familiar with special sessions, he said. "It's not like this is some unusual bird."

And while he would rather not see the session called, he said legislators are now better educated on health care reform than they were 30 days ago.

Richardson said he will travel the state to campaign for his universal health care package. And he pledged to reach out to his Senate antagonists, though with an element of pessimism.

"I will reach out to them," he said, "but their attitude is very negative."

Don't be surprised if they install a cage inside the Roundhouse.