East New Mexico News

House GOP Leader Jim Townsend announced his opposition to a “virtual” legislative session for New Mexico on Facebook on March 24. Townsend posted that the state constitution clearly states that the lawmakers must be in the chambers when the legislature is in session. 

The idea of having the legislature “go virtual” during the coronavirus shutdown was floated in a recent blog by House Speaker Brian Egolf. “I believe the speaker understands the rules and he must follow them,” Townsend posted.

Townsend says that he read that the speaker was concerned with the age of some of the 114 state Legislators, some who are over 60 years old. “The average age of the United States Congress is 57 in the House and the Senate is 61,” Townsend pointed out. “Many (of them are) much older than any of us. They stayed and did their job. Shouldn't we also?”  

New Mexico Constitution | Wikipedia Commons

Townsend said the legislators were elected to do their jobs, and that is what they should do.

Townsend believes that any solutions the New Mexico legislature comes up with for the coronavirus financial crisis must be fiscally responsible. 

“Our responsibility as elected officials is to lead, prepare, protect and represent our constituents. This coronavirus is dangerous and it and our reactions have caused havoc on our financial wherewithal. Our financial capacity limits or prescribes our ability or inability to react and provide protections to our fellow citizens,” Townsend posted. 

Townsend said that legislators have been consulting fiscal and health professionals in an effort to act prudently. He said that just because the state has reserve funds does not mean the legislators should go on a spending spree.

“We had about $1.8 billion in total reserves, but that capacity is no excuse to not act responsibly now. Failure to stop spending money that you know you must (repay) later, potentially to sway the will of the voters, is hardly responsible to New Mexicans who worked hard for every single one of those dollars. They deserve much more,” he posted.

Egolf declared that a special section of the legislature in light of the coronavirus issues is “premature.”

“I wonder why?” Townsend asked. "We certainly have a problem and we need to solve it. Standing in line waiting for President Trump to bail us out isn't what I consider responsible. I am sure he is going to help us but we are partially responsible for the financial mess and we should go to work and help solve it now,” Townsend concluded.