By MILAN SIMONICH
The Santa Fe New Mexican
As public speakers go, the late Jesse Louis Jackson was the best I ever heard. State Sen. George Muñoz might be the worst.
These two men from different worlds of politics intersected in the news this week.
Let’s start with Jackson. I once covered a crowd of 3,000 waiting outdoors on a cold, blustery day in Colorado to hear from him. It was 1988. Jackson was running late as he ran for president.
The audience shivered for 40 minutes without complaint. Secret Service agents assessed the scene and positioned themselves to protect the candidate. They referred to Jackson by the code name “Pontiac.” An automobile brand at the time ran fast-paced television commercials that ended with a promise: “We build excitement — Pontiac.”
That fit Jackson. He mangled history on occasion to elevate himself, but he was an orator of unforgettable power. Jackson turned apathetic observers into registered voters every time I heard him campaign.
Jackson, 84, died Tuesday, months after being diagnosed with a neurological disease, progressive supranuclear palsy.
Hours earlier, I had listened to Muñoz publicly admit to secrecy in building the state’s $11.1 billion budget. His slip was unintentional. Muñoz, D-Gallup, rambled while sparring verbally with a colleague, Sen. Bill Soules, regarding the spending plan covering 249 pages.
“I’m very concerned about how the budget was finalized yesterday, and we got it about 20 minutes ago,” said Soules, D-Las Cruces. “And I’m scrambling trying to read through and understand what’s in it, what’s not in it. That’s not a very open way for the whole group to look at and understand [it].”
Muñoz initially disputed Soules’ assessment. “We don’t hide things in the budgeting process anymore. That’s old news. That’s last year,” Muñoz said. ”We have to make tough choices on where we put reoccurring dollars.”
He highlighted several initiatives that received funding, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. “We need to make sure people have food in their freezers, that they’re not going hungry,” Muñoz said.
Soules pressed on: “It sounds like the [finance] committee members were given a list of things to prioritize. Is that what happened?”
Muñoz stumbled into shady territory. “No, we all have discussions. I mean, usually before a committee meeting, after a committee meeting, we talk about things, the issues in the budget.” His explanation has the ring of secrecy, members sidestepping the public meeting in favor of sidebars.
The Senate Finance Committee under the late Sen. John Arthur Smith used to slip into a state administrator’s private office to make amendments to the budget. These changes could add, reduce or redistribute millions of dollars. Smith’s process circumvented public meetings. Muñoz described something similar, budget-making huddles apart from established hearings.
He seemed to catch his admission, leading Muñoz to offer a clumsy elaboration of how Senate Finance Committee members go about the business of appropriating the public’s money. Discussions center on “what they think, where we should target stuff as it comes over. What the needs are. What the House left short. These are some of things we have discussions about before, after, during committee.”
Soules was not swayed. “I guess my concern is that the rest of us are cut out of those choices and decisions. I think you used the term, ‘I had to make tough decisions.’ This budget is the budget of the entire Senate. It’s not the budget of just the Finance Committee. It’s not the budget of the chair.”
Soules veered to a specific change in the budget that seemed autocratic — elimination of a 1% raise for teachers and state employees.
“We all thought until the very last minute the 1% salary increase for state workers was in there. And then it wasn’t. That doesn’t feel like an open process to many of us,” Soules said.
He had it right. The change blindsided many of the state’s 42 senators and probably all 70 members of the House of Representatives.
Legislative hearings are listed as public meetings on daily agendas posted online. Muñoz in a moment of candor said it doesn’t work so cleanly. Dealmaking before and after the announced public hearings can reshape the state budget.
Eliminating the pay increase for teachers and state employees is but one example. There is a larger problem in how the Legislature operates.
Committees often become fiefdoms of those chairing the panels. Smith reigned supreme over the Senate Finance Committee for most of his 32 years in office. Muñoz lacks the encyclopedic knowledge Smith brought to the process. But there is no doubt Muñoz has command of the operation.
Shaking up the leadership of legislative committees would be healthy for the public.
Sen. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, has unilaterally killed legislation in the Judiciary Committee he chairs by refusing to give certain measures a hearing. Muñoz does a poor job of communicating, and he presents the most complicated bill senators vote on annually.
If there’s any upside, he spilled a few lowlights of how the public’s business is being handled.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505.986.3080.