New Mexico Democrats finally care about separation of powers and process?

The Albuquerque Journal editorial today has a interesting discussion of Gov. Lujan Grisham’s line item vetoes of numerous provisions in the Legislature-passed tax bill. Numerous (leftists) from Sen. Heinrich to numerous letter-writers expressed various forms of “outrage” over the vetoes.

The editorial essentially answers its own question about the Gov.’s “right” to veto parts of the package as much of the bill was spending and had nothing to do with tax policy. Of the four provisions in the final package both the film subsidies and child tax credit are spending. So, under the law MLG could veto them.

The more interesting issue is the idea that Democrats in the Legislature and environmental groups suddenly claim to care about the Gov. potentially abusing her powers. This is nothing new as in 2021 MLG took it upon herself to spend COVID relief dollars resulting in a lawsuit by then Sen. Jacob Candelaria (a Democrat).

Of course, at the Rio Grande Foundation we have been pushing for three sessions in a row to simply give the Legislature a seat at the table in emergency declarations. Sadly, few Democrats in the Legislature were willing to cross the Gov. on such a basic issue of governance.

All of this only reinforces the somewhat cynical view that many on the left care only about getting their payoff out of Santa Fe. Process and principle are sadly lacking.