On Monday morning, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham visited a problematic area in downtown Albuquerque to highlight the need for the upcoming special legislative session aimed at addressing public safety and mental health issues.
Governor Lujan Grisham criticized some legislators for canceling critical meetings, lunches, and hearings ahead of the special session, stating, “Which tells me they were never serious about supporting any of these issues in the first place. My message for them on behalf of the business owners and the people living here is, ‘Shame on you.’”
Amid pushback from Democrat leaders, the governor declared, “Enough is enough.” She emphasized that legislative and city leaders, including Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, are committed to tackling these pressing issues. “I’ve got legislative policy markers, lawmakers who have a sense that the mayor and I, and others, aren’t really considering this issue from an affordability and a place of compassion,” Lujan Grisham said, aiming to prove her critics wrong.
During her visit to 1st Street and Prospect Avenue, an area plagued by homeless encampments, Mayor Keller noted, “We had 3,000 calls for service for encampments, and as I mentioned, we clean about 200 encampments a month.” Both the governor and mayor believe the proposed bills could bring much-needed relief. “You can’t walk on the sidewalk. You can’t enter these businesses. These business owners can barely keep their doors open. They spend more time on their own public safety and the environment around their business,” Lujan Grisham added.
One proposed bill would change how courts handle offenders found incompetent to stand trial. “If these individuals will not seek care and break the law and come right back to the streets, there is nothing we can do to interrupt this chaos,” the governor stated.
Local business owners, like William Johnson of ABQ’s Best Equipment Service, are frustrated with the situation. “We’re scared to be out there sometimes because they are throwing needles over the fence while we are back there working. Same thing, they are out there smoking whatever,” Johnson said.
Governor Lujan Grisham urged New Mexicans to support the special session, stating, “The climate is so harsh that you are not safe anywhere. I would say to those legislators, ‘I don’t believe New Mexicans think you can wait, and I don’t frankly understand why you think you can.’” She called on citizens to contact their lawmakers and hold them accountable for either addressing the issues or allowing the chaos to continue.
The special session, set to begin on Thursday, has sparked significant debate among lawmakers. Democrat leaders held a news conference on Monday, arguing that the session is a waste of time and taxpayer money. They claim there has been insufficient time to reach a consensus on the proposed bills.
“We appreciate the important issues that the governor has raised, calling this special session, particularly around the nexus of behavioral health care and public safety,” said House Speaker Javier Martinez. However, he emphasized the need for thorough legislative consideration, stating, “As state lawmakers, we also have a constitutional duty as a separate and coequal branch of government to fully consider the legislation that comes before us and the potential impact it may have on New Mexicans.”
Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth criticized the timing of the special session, stating, “Special sessions only work when the bills are cooked. We thought we had an agreement with the governor that she wouldn’t proceed unless there was consensus. The governor went ahead and called this session before we had even started working on these bills; that’s certainly her prerogative.” He added, “We have worked hard to try and find bipartisan consensus on the bills that were proposed. As the speaker said, we’re just not there.”
Senator Mimi Stewart expressed concern about rushing the process, stating, “We do not believe these concerns can be effectively remedied in a very condensed special legislative session. It’s simply too important to rush into this and risk harming that will take up more of our time down the road to unwind and repair.”
Republicans, meanwhile, are eager to address public safety issues. House Republican Leader Rod Montoya said, “Once again, progressive Democrats have failed to take the New Mexico crime problem seriously. House Republicans are prepared with a tough-on-crime package and are ready to work. New Mexicans are relying on their elected officials to ensure their safety. However, this chaos in the Roundhouse is disheartening and leaves New Mexicans feeling less secure than ever.”
Senate Republican Leader Greg Baca echoed this sentiment, stating, “Despite all of the voices of detractors on the prospect of improving our state, anything we can do to make our families safer is worth our time. We have many bills we are ready to introduce during this special session that we believe would make a measurable impact in the lives of the people of our state and we are ready to work with anyone to meaningfully address public safety.”
Governor Lujan Grisham’s spokesman released a statement criticizing Democrat legislative leaders for not engaging meaningfully with the governor’s proposals. “The governor’s proposals to improve public safety in New Mexico in a special session should have come as no surprise to any lawmaker who was paying attention. Legislators had competency legislation on their plate beginning in January, and they rejected it. Gov. Lujan Grisham then began signaling her intent to call a special session before the end of the regular session in February.”
The statement continued, “Democratic legislative leaders have failed to meaningfully engage with the governor and her team on the substance of her proposals to help keep New Mexicans safe. Over the past several months, they’ve resisted productive discussions of what would be possible to accomplish in a special session and refused to offer any viable legislative alternatives. If lawmakers adjourn without taking up the governor’s proposals to make our state safer this week, the decision will come at the expense of New Mexicans who are demanding public safety reforms. Just today, the governor met with two business owners in Albuquerque who have been assaulted and burglarized at their place of business. Crime is a serious problem in New Mexico. This can’t wait.”
MLG is bound and determined to destroy NM. She isn’t listening to her own party or anyone else of sound mind in New Mexico. Her orders are coming from Washington and she is glad to obey.
MLG is not interested in making New Mexico wealthy, safe, educated, or employed. It will be very important to see how the Democrat dissenters vote in the special election since MLG is mandating they all report to Santa Fe to waste more tax payer dollars.
It is not just MLG destroying NM. Keller has all the power he needs to clean up the streets and get tough on crime. Illegal aliens are allowed into our State and welcomed by the Dems. Homeless drug addicts are not roundd up and put in facilities. (maybe jails; could be barracks type facilities). Criminals should be jailed and stop giving “free stuff” to people who refuse to work. This “special session” would do nothing unless they are ready to enforce the laws already on the books. Yes! DC and the progressives are in control and all they want is to destroy our Republic. MAGA!!! 2024!!!!
This Governor is a prime example of a Marxist dictator! She has consistently tried to destroy the constitution of New Mexico as well as the constitution of America!
She has turned New Mexico into the abortion state of America. She has driven businesses away from New Mexico. She is single handedly destroying New Mexico. She needs to be impeached.
When are democrats in New Mexico going to realize that she is destroying their lives as well.
The only way for any democrat in Santa Fe to regain trust or integrity would be to impeach MLG. However, they will never do such a thing.
To compound the problem, democrat voters will not vote outside their party. Which is the actual problem…
They know a lame duck when they see one.
She’s loosing ground, her own party is turning against her
But these same people will vote Democrat every time!!
so true and unfortunate.
Democrats have ruled New Mexico for over forty years!
I bet the tough-on-crime packages offered by the Republicans are worth considering in this upcoming session.
Likely anything socialist proposed by MLG or Keller not worth much.
MLG is in panic mode, she isn’t going to carry NM for Biden. Her political career will be over if she doesn’t just like Bill Richardson.
MLG IS ZILCH LEADERSHIP. IMPEACH HER.
Well, MLG you evil person, “shame on you!” for making yourself rich on the taxpayers money. Shame on you for celebrating the law that you can murder (abortion) a baby in the womb up to birth! And shame on you for thinking and trying to implement “climate change” crap.
Yes there is climate change, summer, fall, winter and spring.
It’s great to see some in her own party push back on her. Will it last? Hard to say. In the meantime, I love seeing the little tyrant throw a hissy fit. 😂
DITTO! She created this mess and now she’s acting concerned. Let her cohorts keep putting pressure on her to fix this problem, they created it together!! Shame on her!
Now that she realizes she has gone against common sense and protecting NM to begin with, she expects legislators to clean things up to make her look legitimate! Uhh— what happened to the Behavioral Health Collaborative, a BIG entity created for the purpose of addressing mental health and substance abuse issues?? A lot of money was put into this. Has it been syphoned out to the members and lobbyists??
She needs to answer and dig deep into all the other pockets that have it. It was partially funded by SAMSHA. So how are the legislators to trust anything if there’s been no accountability for the use of money and services established in prior years??
Do you think the open border has anything to do with what is going on in Albuqueque? Is she looking for a way to expand the NM border for more open-ness.
See https://abqcrimeblues.com/ for a discussion of the problems in our criminal justice system.
We should consider the following legislation:
1) We should replace Constitutional Amendment Number One (bail reform) from 2016 with the Federal Model for Pre-trial Detention, 18 US Code Article 3142, which has been constitutionally tested and makes protection of the public first priority. Page 2-8 of “ABQ Blues” (on the website above).
2) We should codify Protective Custody for mentally ill (including homeless) law breakers, where they could/would get court mandated treatment.
NMs are conservative not far leftists, the democrats know it , they want to be elected. They should impeach the governor during the session this week!
Michelle Lujan Grisham, you have created the problems that exist on our streets today. Your heavy-handed lockdown policies (which surpassed all other states in the nation) shuttered sixty percent of small businesses and caused the homeless problem we have here today. Sanctuary city and state policies invite the homeless into our borders, but we don’t have the infrastructure or manpower to handle them, nor do we have the political will to manage them.
Grisham, you have made a shambles of our state; you fully know that you were re-elected by a corrupted election system, and you maintain a dictatorship here.
Worst of all Michelle, everyone knows your dark secret, Bruja.