Susana Martinez is a Terrible Governor, Part II
November 15, 2012
I heard a quote the other day that reminded me so much of the governor’s mission to end drivers licenses for illegal immigrants in New Mexico. It’s from Winston Churchill: “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
Ever since she was elected two years ago, Gov. Susana Martinez has been fighting like crazy to repeal the law allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses. She cannot do so, though, because there are more Democrats than Republicans in the legislature. She can’t get a majority of those lawmakers to take her side, so the repeal has died at three separate sessions already.
Yet it keeps coming up. There was no controversy when the law to grant licenses to undocumented immigrants was enacted, under Bill Richardson, in 2003. Why this is such a huge issue for the current governor was perhaps summed up best by essential political blogger Joe Monahan this week (sorry I keep quoting you, Joe, but you’ve been killing it): “The administration is run as a permanent political campaign because its most influential advisers are political consultants. That’s good for getting elected, but not good for governing.”
And it’s not good for governing because this issue should not be at the top of any serious governor’s priorities list. New Mexico is at the very end of the pack, nation-wide, for job growth. We are in the bottom three states, out of all fifty, in income inequality. Our education system is nearing crisis mode as budgets continue to shrink and children in rural districts become less and less interested in school.
Here’s the argument Martinez has made about why repealing the drivers license law is so important, from (my favorite outlet) Fox News Latino: “She maintains that the state’s law has attracted the attention of people who come to New Mexico from other states and even other countries with the sole intention of obtaining a drivers’ license.
“Martinez has said that about 35 percent of the calls made to the motor vehicles agency by people wanting to make an appointment to obtain a driver’s license come from telephones outside the state.”
Some of those are probably folks who are moving here, but whatever. There has been fraud. Three Chinese guys, for instance, were arrested last year on more than 1,150 charges because they were, according to reports, bringing illegal immigrants to New Mexico to get them driver’s licenses.
So she has a case there. Democrats tried to offer a compromise bill, presumably so they could stop talking about this, which required “foreign nationals and illegal immigrants to provide two forms of official photo identification, fingerprints and proof of at least six months residency in New Mexico,” according to the Albuquerque Journal. The compromise bill also would have granted licenses for two years, rather than the usual options of four or eight. Martinez called that a “gimmick bill.”
Why give illegal immigrants driver’s licenses at all? In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama said allowing illegal immigrants to get licenses was a good idea because those drivers could “come out of the shadows, that they can be tracked, that they are properly trained, and that will make our roads safer.”
They’re already here illegally, so they’ll probably just drive without a license anyway if they need to get somewhere. As Los Angeles debated a similar measure this year, L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck said “Why wouldn’t you want to put people through a rigorous testing process?”
Because they’re illegal, I guess would be Martinez’s response. I’m giving you both sides here so you can see that they exist. What’s important for this discussion, though, is that definition of a fanatic. The Republican governor lost on this issue, thrice. She could leave it alone and move on to something else, like addressing a state economy that has withered horribly under her watch. But she won’t. She won’t change the subject and she won’t change her mind. This is a campaign issue, something they slap on those awful attack ads against Democrats like Michael Sanchez: “Sanchez sides with illegal immigrants over New Mexico families,” or something like that.
But the campaigns are over. It’s time to govern, to work out solutions to important problems, then move on to your pet agenda items. Because, again, from New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan: “The administration is run as a permanent political campaign because its most influential advisers are political consultants. That’s good for getting elected, but not good for governing.”
November 15, 2012
I heard a quote the other day that reminded me so much of the governor’s mission to end drivers licenses for illegal immigrants in New Mexico. It’s from Winston Churchill: “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
Ever since she was elected two years ago, Gov. Susana Martinez has been fighting like crazy to repeal the law allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses. She cannot do so, though, because there are more Democrats than Republicans in the legislature. She can’t get a majority of those lawmakers to take her side, so the repeal has died at three separate sessions already.
Yet it keeps coming up. There was no controversy when the law to grant licenses to undocumented immigrants was enacted, under Bill Richardson, in 2003. Why this is such a huge issue for the current governor was perhaps summed up best by essential political blogger Joe Monahan this week (sorry I keep quoting you, Joe, but you’ve been killing it): “The administration is run as a permanent political campaign because its most influential advisers are political consultants. That’s good for getting elected, but not good for governing.”
And it’s not good for governing because this issue should not be at the top of any serious governor’s priorities list. New Mexico is at the very end of the pack, nation-wide, for job growth. We are in the bottom three states, out of all fifty, in income inequality. Our education system is nearing crisis mode as budgets continue to shrink and children in rural districts become less and less interested in school.
Here’s the argument Martinez has made about why repealing the drivers license law is so important, from (my favorite outlet) Fox News Latino: “She maintains that the state’s law has attracted the attention of people who come to New Mexico from other states and even other countries with the sole intention of obtaining a drivers’ license.
“Martinez has said that about 35 percent of the calls made to the motor vehicles agency by people wanting to make an appointment to obtain a driver’s license come from telephones outside the state.”
Some of those are probably folks who are moving here, but whatever. There has been fraud. Three Chinese guys, for instance, were arrested last year on more than 1,150 charges because they were, according to reports, bringing illegal immigrants to New Mexico to get them driver’s licenses.
So she has a case there. Democrats tried to offer a compromise bill, presumably so they could stop talking about this, which required “foreign nationals and illegal immigrants to provide two forms of official photo identification, fingerprints and proof of at least six months residency in New Mexico,” according to the Albuquerque Journal. The compromise bill also would have granted licenses for two years, rather than the usual options of four or eight. Martinez called that a “gimmick bill.”
Why give illegal immigrants driver’s licenses at all? In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama said allowing illegal immigrants to get licenses was a good idea because those drivers could “come out of the shadows, that they can be tracked, that they are properly trained, and that will make our roads safer.”
They’re already here illegally, so they’ll probably just drive without a license anyway if they need to get somewhere. As Los Angeles debated a similar measure this year, L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck said “Why wouldn’t you want to put people through a rigorous testing process?”
Because they’re illegal, I guess would be Martinez’s response. I’m giving you both sides here so you can see that they exist. What’s important for this discussion, though, is that definition of a fanatic. The Republican governor lost on this issue, thrice. She could leave it alone and move on to something else, like addressing a state economy that has withered horribly under her watch. But she won’t. She won’t change the subject and she won’t change her mind. This is a campaign issue, something they slap on those awful attack ads against Democrats like Michael Sanchez: “Sanchez sides with illegal immigrants over New Mexico families,” or something like that.
But the campaigns are over. It’s time to govern, to work out solutions to important problems, then move on to your pet agenda items. Because, again, from New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan: “The administration is run as a permanent political campaign because its most influential advisers are political consultants. That’s good for getting elected, but not good for governing.”