Senate Democrats pick former state agency director as new floor leader as part of leadership shakeup
– Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico Senate Democrats overhauled their leadership team Sunday, picking a former state agency director who helped launch the state’s adult-use cannabis program as their new floor leader.
Sen. Linda Trujillo of Santa Fe beat out two other senators — Bill Soules of Las Cruces and Linda Lopez of Albuquerque — for the majority leader post in a closed-door caucus meeting.
The first woman to be elected Senate majority leader, Trujillo said Democrats would focus largely on affordability issues during the 60-day legislative session that begins in January.
“My experience is pretty deep,” Trujillo said in an interview after the Sunday leadership vote. “I’m not afraid to get in and do the hard work.”
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
New Mexico group seeks to ban all corporate, ‘dark’ money spending on politics
– Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
A new coalition concerned about money’s growing influence on New Mexico politics is urging state lawmakers to consider legislation this January that would ban corporations from political spending.
The newly formed group, Money Out of Politics New Mexico, announced Thursday that it was launching a campaign modeled after similar efforts in Montana and Hawaii. Chair Natalie Wright Curley told Source NM that eliminating corporate and “dark” money from politics is a key step in returning democracy to the hands of regular people instead of the wealthy.
The “Corporate Money Out of Politics Act” would revoke corporations’ power to donate to political campaigns or ballot measures.
Wright, a patent attorney, argues that states have constitutional authority under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution — which grants all powers to states that are not explicitly granted to the federal government — gives the Legislature authority to regulate state-issued corporate charters. That includes revoking corporate ability to spend money directly on campaigns or political action committees.
The legislation aims to bypass the 2010 Citizens United ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, which held that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited funds on campaigns.
In May, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed Act 11, which established new restrictions on political spending activities by corporations and other “artificial persons” and limited the powers granted to those entities.
Groups including the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce have already challenged the law in court on First Amendment grounds, citing the Citizens United ruling.
Montana voters this November will also have a chance to pass a similar law through a ballot initiative known as the Montana Plan.
According to Wright’s group, corporations and businesses have spent at least $3.7 million on various political campaigns so far in 2026. The group, citing news reports and Secretary of State’s Office filings, has totaled at least $2.6 million in “dark or otherwise opaque” spending this year, as well.
So-called “dark” money refers to donations from corporations or others funneled through Super PACs, a practice that leaves the public unable to determine donors’ identities.
Wright said her group has already received tentative interest from lawmakers interested in carrying the bill, though the coalition is still securing a sponsor for the 60-day session beginning Jan. 19.
The bill is necessary to begin to undo the damage of unfettered corporate spending in politics over the last 16 years, she said.
“After Citizens United came out in 2010, I think it totally changed how our democracy operated,” she said. “It just really concerns me, how that’s continued to grow and be a problem, and how it affects the voices of everyday Americans.”
The group’s proposal follows a suite of legislative ethics reform proposals unveiled earlier this week by the think tank Think New Mexico, including several aimed at closing loopholes around “dark” money in state politics.
Retired federal judge named hearing examiner for Project Jupiter permit
– Algernon d’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney appointed retired federal judge James Browning on Friday as the new hearing officer to preside over the crucial air quality permit application for the data center known as Project Jupiter.
Browning succeeds Max Shepherd, who recused himself from the matter in August. Shepherd made the move after controversies over decisions he made about the hearing schedule and pre-hearing filings.
The state Supreme Court temporarily paused the proceedings while it reviewed petitions filed by opponents of the project, but lifted its stay last month, allowing the hearing to proceed. An opening date has not been announced.
Browning will preside over permits sought by Yucca Growth Infrastructure for emissions from planned microgrid power generating facilities at the Santa Teresa data center under construction for tenants Oracle Corp. and OpenAI.
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
New Mexico open government group sues state Livestock Board official
– Matt Mondschein, Source New Mexico
A public records watchdog sued a New Mexico Livestock Board official on Friday alleging that the board violated state public records law by illegally redacting investigative reports about former board employees.
The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government on Aug. 3 requested records under the state Inspection of Public Records Act regarding a private investigation that was conducted on former Livestock Board employees April Riggs, Ray Baca and Priscilla Peña over alleged misconduct.
The lawsuit does not specify what misconduct the trio are alleged to have committed or what the investigation found.
Livestock Board record custodian Julie Gauman, according to the complaint filed in the First Judicial District Court, then provided fully redacted documents of the investigation’s findings on Aug. 18.
Gauman, according to the lawsuit, said redacting the document is legal due to IPRA’s “catchall” exemption, which allows records to be redacted if their release violates other state laws, and a provision in IPRA that prohibits release of records in personnel files expressing a “matter of opinion.”
However, NMFOG contends the Livestock Board’s justification is wrong and outdated. First, they argue that the “catchall” provision does not apply because no other state laws regarding employee confidentiality apply.
The organization also cites a recent New Mexico Supreme Court ruling in a case between the Albuquerque Journal newspaper and the Albuquerque school board. The court ruled in late May, after a 12-year legal battle, that an investigation into former Superintendent Winston Brooks could not be withheld in its entirety even though portions of it expressed “matters of opinion.”
“Instead of following the New Mexico Supreme Court’s mandate, the Livestock Board is doubling down on their efforts to keep the investigations secret, in violation of the public’s right to know,” NMFOG said in a news release.
Livestock Board officials told Source NM on Friday that they do not comment on pending litigation. Gauman also declined comment.
NMFOG asked the court to issue an order directing Gauman to satisfy IPRA requests and award damages and attorney fee costs to Henry, the prior litigant.
Levin added that NMFOG doesn’t necessarily have an interest in the records themselves, but that their legal complaint is over upholding IPRA.
“A landmark decision comes out saying you have to produce these records,” Amanda Lavin, NMFOG legal director, told Source NM. “So we have a public agency flagrantly disregarding that. We want to make sure that public bodies are following the law.”
Volcano Vista English teacher earns New Mexico 2027 Teacher of the Year honor
– Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
When Kristin Garletts was called to the principal’s office Friday morning, she thought she was in trouble.
Instead, Garletts was led inside the gym at Volcano Vista High School, in which the whole school, plus her husband, two daughters, elected officials from the school board and the state legislature waited to crown her Teacher of the Year.
“I started to piece it together,” Garletts said. “I noticed my students were sitting in the middle, and a kid spilled the beans and said, ‘Congratulations.’” So I put it all together. I’m pretty smart — I figured it out eventually.”
Garletts is in her seventh year at Albuquerque Public Schools and her third at Volcano Vista, where she teaches freshman English, sponsors the LGBTQ student club and feminist student union and resurrected the school newspaper, Hawkwatch.
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
