EDITORIAL: Fundamental change in Santa Fe is the only solution to NM's woes at this point

As we said in August, if excuses solved crime, Albuquerque would be the safest city in America.

But the day of reckoning could be approaching for those who want to study crime to death in the most dangerous state in the nation, while not actually doing much of anything about it.

“These are very complicated issues and not only are we trying our best, we are doing a damn good job of addressing these issues,” House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, told the state Legislature's interim bicameral Courts, Corrections & Justice Committee in August. "This is the kind of process that it takes to really get to a point where you can have a substantive proposal that we can all debate, and that we can all amend, and that we can all work collaboratively on to get across the finish line. But this is how much work it takes, and this is just one group. There have been several processes playing out throughout the state, through a number of different agencies, working their way through whatever process gets set forth.”

The speaker's jeremiad came shortly after the progressive-led New Mexico House and Senate summarily rejected all of Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's proposed public safety measures during a one-afternoon special session in July, without holding a single committee hearing on any of her five proposed bills — including a measure requiring the temporary detention of defendants deemed incompetent to stand trial in serious violent felony cases, and a bill prohibiting loitering on a median no wider than 36 inches in areas where the speed limit is 30 mph or higher.

What has been the Democrats' solution to our revolving door of justice, our catch-and-release criminal justice system, about 1,200 people sleeping outdoors in Albuquerque on any given night, and even the body wash and shampoo being locked up behind plexiglass at drug stores in Albuquerque due to rampant shoplifting?

"We don't have enough evaluators, we don't have enough behavioral health experts," state Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque and president pro tempore of the New Mexico Senate, said at the CCJ Committee hearing in August. "They need treatment, they need housing, they need to pull themselves out of poverty and yet we're going to focus on making sure they understand that they did a crime and they have to help their attorney to get them either in or out of jail. It just seems backwards and crazy making to think that that's what we're going to focus on."

As we said in August: "If excuses for inaction on crime are good campaign issues, Democratic candidates for the Statehouse are poised for another landslide victory in November."

We'll find out if that's so next week when Democrats defend their 45-25 advantage in the New Mexico House of Representatives and their 27-14 advantage in the New Mexico Senate. All 112 seats in the Legislature are up for election Nov. 5. But unfortunately, due to legislative gerrymandering and incumbency protection during redistricting in 2021, only 48 of those races are contested in November — 33 in the House and 15 in the Senate.

In a Journal Poll in August, 82% of likely voters described crime as a very serious problem – a higher percentage than any other issue the survey asked about. With crime top of mind among both Democratic and Republican voters, we are heavily basing our endorsements for legislative races on which candidates want to do something about crime, as compared to those candidates — like Speaker Martínez and Senate President Pro Tempore Stewart — who want more time to research the unintended consequences of crime proposals, more expert testimony, more panel discussions, more deep dives into the root causes of crime, and generally, more inaction.

In general, Santa Fe is in grave need of more ideological diversity, and more moderate and independent voices willing to take the hard steps and bold action needed to remove New Mexico from the top of all the bad lists and from the bottom of all the good lists.

New Mexico House of Representatives

* denotes incumbency

House District 4 (NW NM) – Lincoln Mark (R)

House District 6 (Grants area) – Paul Spencer (R)

House District 11 (ABQ area) – Bart Kinney (R)

House District 16 (ABQ area) – Leland Bohannon (R)

House District 17 (ABQ area) – Joshua Neal (R)

House District 19 (ABQ area) – Janelle Anyanonu (D)*

House District 20 (ABQ area) – Meredith Dixon (D)*

House District 22 (East Mountains/ABQ) – Stefani Lord (R)*

House District 23 (Rio Rancho area) – Alan Martinez (R)*

House District 24 (ABQ area) – David Daffron (R)

House District 25 (ABQ area) – Denis Litvinenko (R)

House District 26 (ABQ area) – Patrick Sais (R)

House District 27 (ABQ area) – Marian Matthews (D)*

House District 28 (ABQ area) – Pamelya Herndon (D)*

House District 29 (ABQ area) – Gregory Cunningham (R)

House District 30 (ABQ area) – Lori Lee Robertson (R)

House District 31 (ABQ area) – Nicole Chavez (R)

House District 32 (SW NM) – Jenifer Jones (R)*

House District 34 (southern NM) – Raymundo "Ray" Lara (D)*

House District 36 (Las Cruces area) – Nathan Small (D)*

House District 38 (southern NM) – Tara Jaramillo (D)*

House District 39 (Silver City area) – Luis Terrazas (R)*

House District 40 (northern NM) – Joseph Sanchez (D)*

House District 43 (Los Alamos area) – Chris Luchini (L)

House District 44 (ABQ/Rio Rancho area) – Ali Ennenga (R)

House District 50 (Santa Fe area) – Kenneth Brennan (R)

House District 51 (Alamogordo area) – John Block (R)*

House District 53 (southern NM) – Elizabeth Winterrowd (R)

House District 54 (southeast NM) – Jonathan Henry (R)

House District 57 (Rio Rancho area) – Catherine Cullen (R)

House District 60 (Rio Rancho area) – Joshua Hernandez (R)*

House District 68 (ABQ area) – Charlotte Little (D)*

New Mexico Senate

Senate District 2 (NW NM) – Steve Lanier (R)

Senate District 9 (Corrales/Bernalillo) – Cindy Nava (D)

Senate District 10 (ABQ area) – Rudy Mora (R)

Senate District 12 (ABQ/Rio Rancho) – Jay Block (R)

Senate District 15 (ABQ area) – Craig Degenhardt (R)

Senate District 18 (ABQ area) – Kurstin Johnson (R)

Senate District 19 (East Mountains/ABQ) – Ant Thornton (R)

Senate District 20 (ABQ area) – Martin Hickey (D)*

Senate District 21 (ABQ area) – Nicole Tobiassen (R)

Senate District 23 (ABQ area) – Terry Aragon (R)

Senate District 28 (Silver City area) – Gabriel Ramos (R)

Senate District 29 (Valencia Co.) – Joshua Sanchez (R)*

Senate District 36 (Las Cruces area) – David Tofsted (R)

Senate District 38 (Las Cruces area) – Carrie Hamblen (D)

Senate District 40 (Rio Rancho area) – Craig Brandt (R)*

One-party domination in the Roundhouse has put the state in the position of having the highest proportion of people on food stamps and Medicaid than any other state, New Mexico ranked the most dangerous state in the nation based on FBI crime data and rankings by news organizations such as U.S. News & World Report and Forbes Advisor, panhandlers in the median of every major intersection in Albuquerque, and drug-addicted homeless people regularly sleeping on sidewalks outside of businesses in Old Town and the Central Avenue corridor.

Fundamental change is the only answer at this point.