Proposed constitutional amendment would end 'patronage' in regent selection process
A constitutional amendment that would partially strip the governor of New Mexico of the power to nominate university regents cleared its first legislative hurdle Friday with unanimous approval from the Senate Rules Committee.
But Senate Joint Resolution 7 faces a potentially more challenging assignment next: the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"This bill has had an interesting history," Sen. Jeff Steinborn, a Las Cruces Democrat who has carried similar measures nine times before between 2013 to 2021, told members of the Senate Rules Committee.
"It has passed the Senate before, it has passed the House before, just not in the same session," he continued. "It has passed this committee. It has not passed this committee. I won't give you the reasons why. But there's a lot of insider influence, frankly."
But Steinborn said he's not giving up, and a recent scandal at Western New Mexico University in Silver City is helping his case, at least in the court of public opinion.
The board of regents at Western signed off on a $1.9 million payout to the university's former president, Joseph Shepard, amid ongoing investigations over alleged improper use of public funds involving Shepard and the regents themselves.
"Let's stop treating [these positions] as patronage jobs and let's start treating them as very important executive jobs where we need to actually recruit people who have something to bring to the table to our universities," Steinborn said. "It seeks to raise our game, frankly, as a state and for these schools. ... The way it works now is only people who are really politically connected to a governor probably are ever considered. Oftentimes, it's people who've supported a governor."
Under the proposal, which Steinborn said could go to voters next year if approved by the Legislature, nominating committees for each higher education institution in the state would vet and interview candidates and then recommend the top contenders to the governor for appointment. Under the existing system, the governor has sole authority.
"The governor would still get to make an appointment, [it] doesn't take away the governor's power," Steinborn said. "The Senate still gets to confirm these appointments. What it does do, though, is set up a professional interview process of ... a nonpartisan group of people so that we can actually try to get the best pool of people."
Steinborn said unqualified candidates have been selected to oversee the state's higher education institutions in the past.
"Right now, quite frankly, it's been a patronage basis, and I hate to say that," he said.
"Not totally," Steinborn quickly added. "Sometimes people who are supporters of governors are excellent candidates."
But during his time in the Legislature, Steinborn said politics — not qualifications — have influenced the selection process.
"I've served now with three governors. Previous two, it was unbelievable," he said. "It just really does a disservice to maximizing the performance of our schools for our kids, for making them relevant so that we can move forward as a state."
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