As the “right to work” legislation continues to stir up debate and discussion, there has been input from members of Congress of both parties. The four liberal Democrats weighed in against it in a published opinion piece and Udall went so far as to decry “right to work” in an ill-advised and inappropriate speech to the entire Legislature.
Democrats were not the only ones weighing in, however. According to former Republican state senator and blogger Rod Adair, Republican Steve Pearce may or may not have had direct input in the recent vote on “right to work,” but to his credit (unlike his Democrat colleagues), he has not published op-eds on the issue.
Whatever one’s feelings are on “right to work,” I would like to see New Mexico’s Congressional delegation (or Congressmen and women in general) to stay out of the issue as best as possible and not weigh in strongly and publicly on what amounts to an exclusively state level issue over which they have no say. We elect the Governor and legislators to make decisions on issues like “right to work.” Congress is supposed to represent New Mexico’s interests (or the interests of their respective districts) in Washington, DC, not attempt to persuade New Mexicans of their views on state issues, no matter how strong those feelings may be.
Congress has enough to deal with in Washington (like reining in an imperial presidency and overreaching, unelected bureaucrats).
*UPDATE: A representative with Congressman Pearce’s office contacted us to clarify that Rep. Pearce did not weigh in with Republicans in the New Mexico House to influence floor votes on the “right to work” bill and this was confirmed by two Republican House members. Kudos to Pearce for his understanding the separation of federal and state powers.
Udall & Heinrich need to keep their noses out of STATE politics. They can’t even represent the majority of their own people. Really getting fed up with the Democrats pulling this state down further than it already is.
Yes, I’d be offended if I were a legislator. In fact, I think the State’s should be in charge of paying and should set the pay for Members of Congress because these guys are supposed to represent them. Legislators should be more powerful and should have more prestige than our “representatives” in DC.
Udall comments from ‘on high’ to the lowly plebians about ‘leadership’. Here is a guy who is economically illiterate, introduced a constitutional amendment that would allow congress to regulate free speech, and supports the disaster that is Obamacare. He was part of the majority party of the dysfunctional senate that did not produce a single budget for five (?) years and he lectures on leadership and partisan bickering?
Read his address to the NM Legislature: full of trite sayings and simple bromides for complex problems. Here is a bloviating windbag – who keeps getting elected for his ‘leadership’. No wonder NM is in such dire shape – look who they choose to represent them. Elections have consequences, so does stupidity.
Udall is not only economically illeterate as someone stated, neither he nor Heinrich have any real experience in the world of business. They have not been managers nor have they been real workers. The same goes for Ben Ray Lujan. He seemingly has never been anything but what he is now. While I have not researched Michelle Lunan-Grisham, I do understand that Steve Pearce has been in the Oil industry. The point I’m trying to make is that all too often we have clueless politicians making decisions favoring their donors rather than the citizens of our state.