As lawmakers continue their redistricting work in the special session, both parties are getting fed up.
On Sept. 14, Democratic House members met in private for hours before unveiling their redistricting plans. The next day, Senate Democrats did the same thing.
Throughout the week, golf clubs could be seen resting next to seats of Republican lawmakers on the House floor. At one point, some of them left the Roundhouse to play a round, prompting a tongue-in-cheek good luck wish from House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Santa Fe.
The theatrics continued through the weekend, with Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, bragging that Republicans’ redistricting plans were trying to kick him out of the House. “Badge of honor?” he tweeted.
Through it all, former Democratic Rep. Andy Nuñez, I-Doña Ana, pledged he wouldn’t support any redistricting plan that didn’t have bipartisan input. Republicans were left out of Democratic plans, and Nuñez was only partially involved, he says.
“The thing is, we have 33 Republicans and one independent that ought to be involved,” he says.
That still leaves House Democrats with a slight edge at 36-34, enough to pass their own redistricting plan.
In 2001, then-Gov. Gary Johnson, a Republican, vetoed redistricting plans passed by the Democratic legislative majorities, prompting a court case to decide the issue. Jay Miller, who writes the syndicated Inside the Capitol column, says that’s likely to happen again.
“The two sides just can’t seem to agree,” Miller tells SFR.
