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House Republicans are willing to work on public safety

Posted on by Vaseline

Representative Gail Armstrong
| Las Cruces Sun-News

There has been a lot of commentary following the most recent special legislative session. If you are confused by what happened, you are probably in good company. Based on media reports and statements from the governor’s office, the illusion was created that the entire legislature was rebuffing the governor in her attempt to address New Mexico’s crime problem. The governor said, “The legislature as a whole walked away from its most important responsibility: keeping New Mexico residents safe.” That statement is only half true.

The reality is that Democrats have failed to protect New Mexicans, and the proof is in the fact that Democrats who control the legislature have not passed a single bill that would address our rampant crime problem. Republicans in the House, on the other hand, are laser-focused on keeping criminals off our streets and out of our neighborhoods. So much so that Democrats have derided Republicans as “always criminals” for their continued efforts to hold criminals accountable for their actions.

The recent special session was no different. Republicans in the House of Representatives drafted nineteen bills to address our state’s highest crime rate in the country. Legislation ranging from pretrial detention and bail reform, to stopping the flow of fentanyl across the border, to protecting children in abusive situations was offered to protect New Mexicans. Not only were all of these bills defeated by the Democratic majority, they did not even allow them to be officially introduced in public. In other words, Democrats not only avoided passing legislation on crime, they also did not want anything on the record to show that Republican members were willing to work and reduce crime in New Mexico.

The only bill passed during the special “public safety” session was a bill to help the people of Ruidoso with the recent wildfires, and a small appropriation for the Administrative Office of the Courts to run pilot projects. Since this was the only bill Democrats were allowed to consider, House Republicans proposed an amendment to the bill that would appropriate $10 million to the Department of Public Safety to improve border security and help stem the disastrous flow of fentanyl into our communities. Not surprisingly, every member of the Democratic majority voted against this amendment.

Why anyone would vote against a budget to stop the flow of dangerous drugs into our state is a question every New Mexican should ask the majority. However, the rejection of this amendment is a perfect example of why New Mexico is such a dangerous place. If members of the majority legislature can’t bring themselves to vote to stop the flow of fentanyl into our communities, how can we ever expect them to address other crime problems like ending catch and release, increasing penalties for violent offenders, and protecting vulnerable children from abusive caregivers?

The governor is right to be frustrated with the Democrat-controlled legislature. She was even quoted as saying, “It is remarkable that a majority of Republicans would have passed many or all of the bills” that made up her agenda for the “public safety” special session. The governor is only now discovering that the people she helped put into office are the same people who created the problem and now refuse to fix it. The citizens of New Mexico have a choice. We can continue to vote the same people into office, or we can replace those responsible for ignoring the problem. Either way, the power to create change is in the hands of the voters.