» At the Roundhouse: Dopey rope tricks?

At the Roundhouse: Dopey rope tricks?

Senate Democratic leaders sound frustrated. attheroundhouse-150x150

Sounds like they’re calling out Republican Gov. Susana Martinez. Trying to rope her in. Or is she roping them in?

Get a load of this:

“The legislative session is down to its final weeks and there is a mix of compromise and contrast. The Senate as an independent body is weighing a wide range of policies that will benefit more hard-working New Mexicans. With the 2014 election just around the corner, the Governor appears to be separating herself from the staunch conservative platform she has embraced in the past. She has been unwilling to compromise until this session. Her spokesmen have implied that she might be willing to compromise on some issues, which raises the question: Are recent decisions and comments being made in an effort to look more favorable to voters?

“The Governor’s education policy is misguided and based on divisive messages that mislead voters. She used social promotion to attack Democrats up for re-election and the time has come for the Senate to differentiate its agenda from the Governor’s.”

It’s an announcement for a press conference this morning with Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, Majority Whip Tim Keller, Education Committee Chairman John Sapien and Sens. Linda Lopez, Howie Morales and Bill Soules.

I’m not sure what it’s all about, but the Journal will be there to cover it .

The press release came on the same day as Senate Democrats said they finally would hold a confirmation hearing Friday on Martinez’s education secretary designee, Hanna Skandera, whom they’ve refused to vote on since the administration took office in 2011.

The “social promotion” reference in the press conference announcement refers to Martinez’s equally long-running push to hold back third-graders who have trouble reading.

Sapien’s education committee tabled the governor’s proposal last Saturday while advancing two Democratic alternatives. We duly reported the action in the Sunday Journal, with prominent mention of the Democratic alternatives. We followed up on it here.

While Democrats have been aggressive in forwarding their own propositions this year, Martinez has been pretty quiet in responding.

No news conferences at the Capitol since the session started. No going out of her way to bash Democrats.

I am perplexed by the Democrats’ question of whether Martinez’s behavior is “an effort to look more favorable to voters.”

I’m a little foggy today and the response that keeps coming to mind is, “Well, duh.”

And, if I were a Senate Democrat and thinking of the public view of all this, I’d be leery of a political version of Ali-versus-Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle” and the “rope-a-dope” gambit.

Rumble in the Roundhouse? Rope a D?

Check back on ABQjournal.com later today and see tomorrow’s Journal for our reports on the Democratic leaders’ news conference.

-- Email the reporter at jrobertson@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-823-3911

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