By David J. Schmidly
UNM President
Back in civics class, we all used to hear a lot of talk about the virtues of "citizen-legislators"— individuals who, on a part-time basis, would be elected to represent their communities for a time in the state capital or in Washington.
Our Founding Fathers, the history books tell us, envisioned a part-time legislature comprised not of professional politicians, but of farmers, physicians, tradesmen and teachers. They would give of their time to the legislature, returning home at the end of the session to resume their full-time occupations.
The founders believed such individuals would provide a valuable perspective on the real problems being faced by the people in their communities— and a check against an uncaring, unfeeling professional political class.
Sadly, it hasn't worked out that way. From Washington to the respective state capitals, legislating has become more or less a professional occupation, and legislators themselves are increasingly removed from the people they were elected to represent.
I ought to know: as president of three different universities in three different states, I've worked closely with legislatures in Texas, Oklahoma and, now, New Mexico.
As you might expect, each of the three legislatures reflects the unique political and social cultures of its respective state.
Texas, of course, likes to claim that everything is bigger there, and "the Lege" (as it's called in Austin) is no exception. With 31 senators and 150 House members representing 23.5 million people, you're more likely to have coffee with the governor here in New Mexico than you are to even get to meet your Texas state senator.
What impressed me most about my first session of the New Mexico Legislature was the accessibility New Mexicans have to our representatives and the willingness of elected officials to receive them.
In the Roundhouse, I was surprised to see that there aren't any security checkpoints or other restrictions to keep citizens from their elected representatives, and it was refreshing to see the citizens actively button-holing their legislators to express their views.
We New Mexicans follow the politics of our Legislature carefully, and media coverage is both intense and comprehensive. Other states could take a lesson from us, because this kind of access is unheard of in the other places I've worked.
Even though I was privileged to preside over major universities in each state, I never had the kind of access to the governor and the legislative leadership in Texas or in Oklahoma that I enjoyed here during the session just completed— and I have never taken part in a legislative exercise as intense as the last 30 days in Santa Fe.
Because New Mexico's citizen-legislators don't have the professional staff other states provide, they rely instead on lobbyists for the information they need to make informed decisions. I was very proud— and frankly surprised— by the ability of our government relations team to answer legislators' questions literally on a moment's notice. Without them, our legislators would be hard-pressed to do their jobs.
Our legislators, I'm pleased to report, take their responsibilities seriously, and their questions and requests for information were both intelligent and thought-provoking. They kept our team on its feet.
I was more than impressed with what I saw in Santa Fe this month: I witnessed levels of personal dedication and commitment that renewed my faith in politics, and I was especially pleased by the leadership of my adopted state in higher education.
Like all legislatures in all democracies, New Mexico's has room for improvement, but in the final analysis I found it to be a citizen legislature in the finest sense of the term.
If the founders could see what I observed this month, I think they'd be pleased.
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