Richardson threatens to call special session

Continued from Page 1

The final totals, released nine days after the Feb. 5 caucus, gave Clinton 73,105 votes and Barak Obama 71,396 votes, a 1,709-vote margin. As a result, Clinton earned 14 delegates to the national convention and Obama 12.

It took scores of volunteers to count more than 17,000 provision ballots by voters who were not on lists at the caucus sites, who voted at the wrong place or just got a ballot to avoid long lines. Some voters in Rio Rancho waited more than three hours, and party officials admitted they were caught off guard by the buzz generated when the top two candidates visited the state in the days leading up to the vote.

Meanwhile Richardson, himself a former presidential candidate, said he could bring the Legislature back into session as soon as Monday.

 “While we had some major accomplishments during this year – tougher domestic-violence penalties and progressive energy-efficiency legislation – I’m not going to sugarcoat my feelings about this session,” Richardson said in remarks released by his office. “After five hugely successful sessions, this is the least productive session since I have been governor. The results are mediocre, at best.

“We can still pass health-care reform. We will pass health-care reform,” Richardson said. “I will not stand by while 400,000 New Mexicans continue to struggle day-to-day without access to health care.”

Richardson said he is willing to work with legislative leaders on the timing of the session, but look for it to happen sooner rather than later. If the special session is called within the next 20 days, the governor still can veto capital outlay spending items, important to legislators in an election year.

Locally, any special session is bad news for Rep. Tom Swisstack, a Richardson ally who had hoped to come up to and gear up his campaign for mayor of Rio Rancho on March 4. Neither Swisstack or his campaign manager, Judi Walker, were immediately available for comment.

Richardson offered praise for representatives who supported his proposals and worked toward getting a bill in the House of Representatives, and was critical of the Senate, which didn’t consider his plan.

“Unfortunately, a handful of senators, including certain members of the Senate leadership and the Senate Finance Committee, were more focused on power, turf and personal agendas,” Richardson said. “We heard it and saw it throughout the session. These senators were more interested in regaining power they feel they have lost to me during the past five years. They were more interested in blocking my proposals than working for what’s best for New Mexicans. The result was no effective leadership in the Senate.”

Richardson said that is why other legislation he supported didn’t pass, things like ethics reform, domestic partner benefits, a regional transit district and stem-cell research.

“But I’m not giving up. I said I will call legislators into special session (if his health-care bill wasn’t approved), and that is what I will do,” Richardson said. “My preference is to do it immediately, but I am willing to work with the leadership on the timing. I have directed my staff to start preparing the proclamation declaring a special session.”

Richardson’s statement came less than an hour after Senate leaders put out their own news release calling the session a because the funding bills that were approved are fiscally responsible.

Richardson said New Mexicans “expect more from us” than funding state government and “pork projects.”

Sen. Steve Komadina, who as the only licensed physician in the Legislature was a key player in the process, said, “I have heard absolutely nothing about a special session. I think it would be foolhardy for there to be a special session.

“We basically did what we were supposed to do. We got a budget. Every bill had a fair chance of going through. Some made it through. Some didn’t make it through. That’s the process.”

STORY WILL BE UPDATED WITH ADDITIONAL QUOTES.