Sen. Harold Pope
By MILAN SIMONICH
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Give state Sen. Harold Pope credit. Unlike so many legislators who have come before him, he’s not interested in using his seat as a springboard to a lucrative career as a lobbyist.
His position isn’t going to win him any popularity contests at the Capitol.
That’s because Pope, D-Albuquerque, has filed a bill to bar legislators from accepting compensation as lobbyists for two years after their political service ends. The measure also contains a two-year prohibition on employers of lobbyists. Businesses and organizations could not compensate former legislators as lobbyists, also for two years after lawmakers leave office.
Violators of the law Pope proposes could be prosecuted for a misdemeanor. It would carry penalties of up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
Pope’s bill does not yet have a number. It also doesn’t have a chance of passing.
For starters, there will be arguments about whether the bill is constitutional. Can a beer company, the oil industry or any other organization be blocked from hiring the lobbyists of their choice?
Many of Pope’s fellow legislators will close ranks to argue a second point. They will say it would be indecent of them to prevent former lawmakers from making a living.
The possibility that sitting legislators might one day lose a lot of money if Pope’s bill passes won’t be discussed, at least not in public.
Pope, 48, served in the Air Force for 21 years. He said legislative work is so consuming he hasn’t taken another job.
“I can get by on a military pension and a VA disability,” Pope said. His back and left knee are the worst of his ailments.
The first Black state senator in New Mexico, Pope has lost none of his idealism after two years in office. Pope told me he and Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, will introduce another reform bill. It would establish statewide standards in use of force by police officers.
Lopez carried a similar measure in 2021. It died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
No legislator on opening day likes to think about his or her bill landing in a legislative graveyard. The start of a session is all about ceremony, speeches and expectations, many of them unrealistic.
Partisan lawmakers took an oath Tuesday to serve impartially. This incongruous pledge is ingrained in biennial swearing-in ceremonies.
The 42-member Senate elected Sen. Mimi Stewart by acclimation as the chamber’s president pro tem. Stewart, D-Albuquerque, spoke of the Senate as a family, though an often unruly one.
Any talk of bipartisan goodwill usually evaporates by Groundhog Day. That’s the time minority Republicans see their agenda tanking as Democrats strangle their bills.
But the single biggest issue for the Senate in this 60-day session should be bipartisan.
Famous for dawdling and then doing little of consequence during confirmation hearings, the Senate should commit to thorough reviews and expeditious votes on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s three appointees to the state Public Regulation Commission.
Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, favors the acquisition of Public Service Company of New Mexico by Connecticut-based energy giant Avangrid. The new regulatory commissioners might revisit that issue this year, knowing the previous elected commission displeased Lujan Grisham by rejecting it.
The Senate deserves a failing grade if Lujan Grisham’s appointed commissioners do not receive confirmation hearings and votes on whether they should remain in office. Any unconfirmed commissioners would still be free to handle utility regulation cases as they wait for next year’s confirmation hearings.
Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque, has been the most diligent member of the chamber in confirmation hearings. Moores many times was the only senator to ask hard questions of gubernatorial appointees to high offices.
Sporting long, flowing hair tinged with gray, Moores on Tuesday didn’t look like the button-down Republican congressional candidate of years gone by. He drew lots of attention as he strode around the chamber like a heavyweight on way to the arena.
The mood in the Capitol remained light into the afternoon. The workload will be heavy soon enough.
Pope faces an impossible lift. Legislators have developed a sense of entitlement about shifting from to public office to lobbying. Pope knows it, but he will take any heat that comes his way on his bill to change the system.
Moores never attracted much notice for being the conscience of the Rules Committee by interrogating appointees in confirmation hearings. The Senate has been so perfunctory in waving through gubernatorial nominees that his efforts weren’t necessarily noticed or appreciated by colleagues.
Contrary to what Stewart said, the Senate isn’t a family. But if it pulls together for the most important hearings in a generation, the Senate might give politics a good name.
