New Mexico Governor Rushes to Undo the Agenda of Her Predecessor

Tuesday, August 30, 2011
By MARC LACEY, The New York Times

Ms. Martinez, who grew up along the border, is also Mexican-American, with news reports since her election revealing that her paternal grandfather came to the United States as an illegal immigrant.

That fact has made it all the more difficult for some Hispanic activists to understand Ms. Martinez's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, like when she signed an executive order directing the state police to check the immigration status of all those who are arrested.

"People ask, 'Why would someone who came from where we came from do this?'
SANTA FE, N.M. -- When Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico handed over the keys of a state-owned jet to a wealthy businessman and his wife for $2.5 million last week, she was eliminating one more remnant of her predecessor, Bill Richardson.

"Last year, when I was running for governor, I not only promised taxpayers that I would not use this state jet as a personal air taxi, I promised New Mexicans across the state that I would get rid of this symbol of greed and excess in state government," she said at a news conference on Thursday, with Richard and Linda Felland, the new owners of the plane, a 2005 Cessna Citation Bravo, by her side.

In her first eight months in office, Ms. Martinez, a Republican, has rarely wasted a chance to differentiate herself from Mr. Richardson, the once-popular Democrat who wound up two terms as governor last year with an approval rating in the weeds.

"We have our own agenda," Ms. Martinez, 52, said in an interview in Mr. Richardson's old office, while acknowledging that "some of it has been to undo his."

She has signed executive orders reversing policies dear to Mr. Richardson and pushed the Legislature, with mixed success, to eliminate others. Along the way, she has sought to put her own conservative imprint on a state that has long been a Democratic sure thing.

On the environment, she pulled New Mexico out of a federal program to reintroduce Mexican gray wolves into the Southwest and suspended global warming regulations. "You couldn't have a stronger contrast between Richardson and Martinez," said John Horning, executive director of WildEarth Guardians, a conservation group in Santa Fe that often butts heads with the Martinez administration.

Ms. Martinez would not disagree with that. "I don't see myself as someone who doesn't understand the need to protect the environment," said the governor, who is a skeptic when it comes to man-made global warming.

Ms. Martinez has quickly learned the limits of her power. The State Supreme Court overturned the climate change order she issued days into her term and the Democratic-controlled Legislature has refused to go along with her in other instances.

Nonetheless, Ms. Martinez has made her presence known through dramatic gestures like sending aides with video cameras into the Legislature to post on the Web what she sees as the lawmakers' penchant for private deal making.

While critics call her pro-business to the extreme, Ms. Martinez has fashioned herself in some respects as a populist, a strategy that seems to be resonating with voters, political analysts say.

With the state's finances in crisis, she urged the public to e-mail her suggestions on trimming costs, and adopted some of them. When record low temperatures caused gas shortages last winter, the governor lashed out publicly against the New Mexico Gas Company, which she felt did not respond quickly enough.

Attracting more jobs to the state is high on her agenda but Ms. Martinez was proud to let go the two personal chefs who had been working at the Governor's Mansion while Mr. Richardson lived there. Asked who prepares meals these days, she put up her hand. (In her State of the State address in January, she received laughs by saying of her husband, Chuck Franco, a longtime law enforcement officer, "The first gentleman will just have to help out with the cooking.")

"She has been effective at convincing the public that she is on their side," said Heath Haussamen, the editor and publisher of nmpolitics.net, a political Web site.

Mr. Haussamen, who covered Ms. Martinez when she was a district attorney, said she has described herself as a "control freak" who enjoys hurling herself into the minutiae of politics. In that respect, she is different from Mr. Richardson, who was more prone to setting the grand vision of his administration.

Despite the contrasts, some point to similarities between the two, like their aversion to compromise. "She digs in her heels," said Joe Monahan, a political analyst and blogger. In the case of Mr. Richardson, who has been on the lecture circuit since leaving office, it was his cowboy boots that were often firmly planted.

Both leaders are strong backers of New Mexico's concealed weapons law. Mr. Richardson was a gun owner and Ms. Martinez boasted on Twitter on Monday that she requalified for her concealed weapon permit and was a better shot than her husband. As evidence, she posted a video of herself at a firing range.

The two also have family ties to Mexico. Mr. Richardson's mother was Mexican, and he lived and worked in Mexico City. Ms. Martinez, who grew up along the border, is also Mexican-American, with news reports since her election revealing that her paternal grandfather came to the United States as an illegal immigrant.

That fact has made it all the more difficult for some Hispanic activists to understand Ms. Martinez's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, like when she signed an executive order directing the state police to check the immigration status of all those who are arrested.

"People ask, 'Why would someone who came from where we came from do this?' " said Rachel LaZar, executive director of El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, an immigrant rights group.

Ms. Martinez has pushed hard to undo Mr. Richardson's policy allowing illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses. Her initial attempt to repeal the law narrowly passed the House but failed in the Senate. She has vowed to press the matter again in a special session that begins Sept. 6.

"I understand as a Latina not all Hispanic people are criminals," Ms. Martinez said of the criticism that she is out of touch with the Latino community. "Of course. I understand that. This isn't an immigrant issue. It's a public-safety issue."

It is also a popular issue, with public sentiment among most New Mexicans clearly with the governor, political analysts say.

As Ms. Martinez put it: "I was elected by the state of New Mexico to do the people's business. I may be a Latina but I am governor to everyone."

But even as often she plays down her background, the fact that she is the nation's lone Latina governor has led to talk in political circles of her strong future in the Republican Party, and maybe even as a vice-presidential nominee.

"It's very humbling," Ms. Martinez said of the attention, before quickly committing herself to her current job. She knows that New Mexicans grumbled when Mr. Richardson, her nemesis, spent long stints during his governorship running for president.

GOV. SUSANA MARTINEZ

AGE: 52

BIRTHPLACE: El Paso

DISTINCTION: First female governor of New Mexico and first Latina governor in the United States

HUSBAND: Chuck Franco, former undersheriff of Doña Ana County in southern New Mexico

FATHER: Former deputy sheriff in Texas and boxer who won three straight Golden Gloves titles in the 1950s

RECENT ACTION: Sold the governor's private jet and dismissed the governor's two personal chefs

Dan Frosch contributed reporting from Denver.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11242/11 ... z1WYtPU2ZY