When House Bill 134 was sent up to the governor after passing both chambers, mandating that free tampons “and other menstrual products” be placed in boys’ bathrooms in every school district in the state, it felt like a milestone of some sort had been reached. But it was hard to put your finger on just what it was. Did it represent the triumph of identity politics in the legislature? The vote, after all, was 42-20 in the House and 27-13 in the Senate. Or, given the risks for supporting this bill, shouldn’t HB 134 be seen as a potentially costly mistake from the Left? Or should we abandon analysis altogether, and view this masterpiece of public policy simply as an example of the Santa-Fe-Crazy insanity of our contemporary political condition?
Next year’s elections ordinarily would test the public’s willingness to empower this kind of silliness over common sense. But it is not clear the crippled NM Republican Party, or the disorganized moderate Democrats, can muster enough winning candidates in the primaries–who can also win in the general election–to make a difference. Unless a serious effort to motivate the moderate majority emerges soon, the progressive faction will win again by default. The problem for most voters is not the strength of the passionate left or right in New Mexico. It is the weakness of the divided middle.
Most revealing at the session’s end, however, was the familiarity of the outcome. Progressives were fully in charge this year, presumably eager to further a legislative agenda with echoes of Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, and AOC. HB 134 was an extreme example of this. But in the end, the legislative package delivered to the public, with a few exceptions, looked amazingly like the packages of the past under conservative or moderate rule. That is to say, the lobbyists pretty much had their way. Welcome to the Land of Entrenchment.
Tax reform? Progressives kicked the oil barrel down the road again, just as conservatives and moderates have done in the past 30 years or so. Raise the tax on alcohol? The liquor lobby won’t allow it. Crime? Not a peep. Education reform to lift us out of 50? The NEA has told us no, just go on throwing real money into the system, with no strings. Mend our dilapidated health care system, so dysfunctional that 30% of our primary care physicians have disappeared from the system in the past 5 years? Nah, not this year; but toss in a $10 million abortion clinic in Las Cruces to handle women from Texas who want an abortion.
The trial lawyers two years ago slipped in a bill to hoist the cap on medical malpractice suits to $6 million, up from $750,000. It kicked in last year. As insurance premiums for malpractice skyrocketed (one doctor told me his malpractice premium had gone from $8000 to $32,000 just last year) a bill to restore the $750,000 cap was killed when ultra-progressive Senator Carrie Hamblen, acting as chair of the committee, took a walk while hearing the bill, denying the required quorum for action. When she returned to the committee she adjourned the hearing, killing the bill. Slick, huh? Only when independent primary care physicians organized a surprisingly robust pushback did the legislature respond, quickly scaling back the limit to $1 million, hopefully stanching the flow of even more doctors out of the state. For all their posturing as principled neophytes, progressives showed they were surprisingly skilled at balancing the needs of the usual lobby groups, often at the expense of principles espoused in their campaigns for office—just as conservatives and moderates have done in the past. Such is life in our Land of Entrenchment.
Polling shows New Mexicans are impatient for state government to reverse the gradual deterioration in the quality of life in the state: an alarming decline recently in quality health care for most of us; a refusal to improve our status as the worst performing state in public education; a continued disregard for the needs of rural communities; a higher education system that refuses to provide New Mexicans with the workforce we need for economic growth; it goes on and on. After this first session with progressives in control it is clear the temptations to dance with entrenched interests is just as strong for them as it was for the in-groups of the past. Want to reverse course? Tell candidates in your district to show you their specific plans to reverse course, tell them you will expect backbone against entrenched interests who interfere with your interests, and not to hand you another bottle of snake oil, no matter how attractive the label.
Dr. Garcia is a retired professor of politics at NMSU. He also served as Secretary of Higher Education from 2011-2015.