Newspapers aren’t running out of scandals to report. If it seems that New Mexico’s ethical drains are hopelessly backed up, just remember: It used to be far worse.
“New Mexico in the 1950s was not a place you could be proud of,” said David Myers, a history professor at the College of Santa Fe.
The Democratic Party, which controlled state government, was corrupt, and Gov. Ed Mechem, a Republican, wasn’t much of a counterweight during his four terms. “The need for reform was clear,” Myers said, but, presented with recommendations from a reform commission, Mechem took a pass.
Myers spoke during a recent conference of the Historical Society of New Mexico, which was celebrating its own 150-year history.
To clean up Dodge, it took three men with political clout – Fabian Chavez, Bruce King and Jack Campbell.
Fabian Chavez, then Senate Majority Leader, “was a critical person in the process,” Myers said. Campbell, a lawyer in Roswell, became House Speaker in 1959 and governor in 1962. Chavez was a liberal; Campbell and King were moderates.
Reformers drained four cesspools – state personnel, justices of the peace, racial discrimination and liquor sales.
Political patronage was rampant. New Mexico had no civil service system until 1961. Governors served two years, and each governor threw out his predecessor’s employees and brought in his own people. “It cost the state millions of dollars,” Myers said.
The state’s justice-of-the-peace system was a disgrace, said Kim Seckler, a government professor at New Mexico State University. After a cop gave you a ticket, you had to appear before the county JP, who was usually unsalaried. You could insist all you wanted that you were doing the speed limit, but the JP only got paid if you were guilty, and he provided a kickback to the cop.
“Some JPs made a very healthy living and weren’t the least bit qualified,” said Seckler.
Following a constitutional amendment in 1966, lawmakers began cleaning house. New laws prohibited JPs from mingling public money with their own money, participating in bail-bond businesses, and instigating lawsuits in their own courts. Later, the Legislature established a state-funded magistrate system and a judicial standards commission.
New Mexico fancies itself a tolerant place, but back then the state had Jim Crow laws on the East Side, discrimination against African-Americans was blatant, and outdated apportionment made it difficult for Hispanic candidates to get elected. Anglos dominated government.
“New Mexico was one of the most poorly apportioned states in the country,” said Seckler. “Fourteen percent of the state could elect a majority of the Senate and 27 percent could elect a majority of the House. Rural interests ruled.” There was great resistance to the U.S. Supreme Court-ordered reapportionment.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, New Mexico really changed, said Seckler. She credits governors Campbell, Cargo and King. It also helped that governors terms increased from two to four years and that legislative sessions began convening yearly and not every other year.
“In 1967 government was a huge mess,” Seckler said, with 263 separate agencies and no cabinet. “The governor was basically trying to keep the puppies in the box,” she said. A series of reorganizations delivered the present structure.
Finally, reformers took on the liquor industry. New Mexico had the nation’s highest price markups because a few people controlled the industry and the liquor lobby was powerful.
Politics is more important in New Mexico because of its remoteness and small population, Myers said. (And its thin economy, I would add.) Change is slow because it must accommodate such diverse cultures, and our Constitution is extremely difficult to amend.
But reformers succeeded before, so I’d like to think they will again. If you look, you may be able to see the Fabian, Bruce, Jack and Lonesome Dave of this generation.
© New Mexico News Services 2009