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Sunday, December 20, 2009
Progressives Gain Strength Among State's Lawmakers
By Sean Olson
Journal Staff Writer
They've been dubbed progressives.
These Democratic lawmakers have defined themselves as a new breed in New Mexico. Most are young, all are dedicated and idealistic. They tend to ignore the tiptoeing tendencies of newly elected officials, recently speaking out boldly — often in direct opposition to the wishes of party leadership — in favor of tax increases to protect spending for public schools and social programs.
They're likely to do so again in January, when the Legislature will be confronted with another budget crisis.
And, with wins in the past two elections, their numbers have grown enough to make them an influential bloc in Santa Fe.
So, who are they?
The progressives number about 20 in the 112-member Legislature, although their assertiveness in the recent special session made their numbers seem greater. Their ranks include longtime incumbents from liberal-leaning districts and nearly a dozen freshly elected faces, some of them winning their seats in 2008 as millions of younger voters showed up at the polls to help elect Barack Obama president.
There are just enough of them to make the leaders of the 45-25 Democratic majority in the House and the 27-15 majority in the Senate think twice before going for votes. The progressive muscle is not yet great enough to take the reins from the moderate Democrats running the show, but leaders now often need their support.
"Before, if we wanted to block something we simply couldn't," said Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, a progressive. "Now we can block things. We can't necessarily pass things."
"Progressives, however they are labeled, have come into their own ... and they are now a force to be reckoned with," said Rep. Ben Rodefer, D-Corrales, who often votes with the progressives but says the label shouldn't be applied to him.
Moderates and Republicans call the progressive wing nothing more than liberals under a new banner and question whether they're doing anything more than posturing on issues that have widespread support, such as public education.
"I think they are the liberal side of the party and they have always been there," said Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell. "They just sit there and say they are gaining strength, but no one wanted to cut education (in the special session)."
House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, and Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, top leaders who have butted heads with progressives, did not respond to Journal messages for this story.
Links to organized labor
The progressives are known for their aggressive advocacy of spending on schools and teachers, support for universal health care, the environment, ethics reform and expanding social service programs. They haven't been shy about their support of higher taxes if it means protecting cuts to education, Medicaid and other services.
Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, who includes herself in the progressive group, summed up the progressive philosophy as empowering the "little guy."
Some progressives also have ties to organized labor, most visibly through alignment with the American Federation of Teachers, which argued against any education spending cuts during the special session.
Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, a retired Albuquerque Public Schools teacher and former member of the AFT, said that progressive ideology puts it in a natural alignment with some unions, but that progressives aren't directed by union calls for action.
"Those that I think of as solidly progressive have those values already and don't need anybody to tell them what to do," Stewart said.
The progressives don't operate in an organized coalition or with a set platform and often find their strength when winning moderate support on some issues.
Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, said the 70-member House has about 10 core progressive votes, including himself, but will grow to 15 on any given issue as a variety of other Democrats sign on for certain social or geographical reasons.
"It's not the same group, but it's about the same number (of lawmakers)," Egolf said, adding that many progressive bills pass by a "happy coincidence."
Sen. Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque, said his fellow progressives can have as many as 18 of the Legislature's 42 senators supporting some progressive issues and often have a majority in the Democratic caucus.
Growing numbers
The progressives won at least three seats in 2006 and added at least five more in 2008. Journal pollster Brian Sanderoff said progressives have increased their ranks with a new model, mostly challenging fellow Democrats rather than taking away Republican seats.
Fear of primary election challenges, which tend to draw more liberal voters, has moved some moderates farther left, Sanderoff said.
"I think there are some moderate Democrats feeling the pressure and the heat of the progressive Democrats, who are trying to imply that they are the conscience of the Democratic Party," Sanderoff said.
Feldman said the newer members contribute to the enthusiasm of the group and its willingness to take on the power hierarchy.
"Last year's election gave us some new progressive voices in the Senate. It has made a difference in more than just the numbers ... because these are younger, more energetic and more forceful folks," she said.
In the Senate, Democratic leadership has shown it can still cobble together the needed votes to pass its top priorities, as long as it doesn't interfere simultaneously with Republican and progressive agendas.
House leaders are beginning to feel pressure from progressives to their left, but, unlike the Senate, leadership has enough rank-and-file votes to keep it free of the need to rely on accommodating Republicans or progressives to push its legislation most of the time.
The special session, however, turned into a several-day deadlock as progressives railed against proposed education cuts they deemed too high — to some, any cut was too high — and Republicans called for higher cuts in all departments for a more permanent fix to the state's $650 million budget shortfall.
Senior Democrats finally moved to shave education cuts down to about 1 percent this year, which was just enough to bring progressive holdouts on board and pass one of the key parts of the plan to ensure that state government didn't go bankrupt before the end of the fiscal year.
"We decided to exert some extreme measures because they just weren't taking us seriously," Griego said. "And the leadership gave in because they were facing a train wreck."
Lost last round
Progressives ultimately lost their bid to introduce tax increases during the special session as leadership, and Republicans joined to stifle the idea until January's longer, regular session.
Sanderoff said the loss on tax increases shows the limits of the progressives' reach. "Although they have a voice and their pressure is felt, (progressives') clout became somewhat thwarted by the existence of a coalition of conservative Democrats joining forces with Republicans," Sanderoff said.
House Minority Whip Keith Gardner, R-Roswell, said that the few times Republicans have found themselves on the same side as progressives has been a matter of coincidence, not parallel ideology. He said Republicans are taken aback by the big government principles — more taxes, support for government-run options for health care — that progressives have adopted.
Nonetheless, Gardner said the Democratic factions have been more of a bane to the Democratic leadership than to his own party.
"The dynamic of this movement has been really interesting to watch," the Republican leader said. "It hasn't had a huge impact on us. We've been more unified than ever."
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