Top Democrat: No rush to judgment on Martinez
SANTA FE – New Mexico’s top-ranking Senate Democrat says leading lawmakers will take a wait-and-see approach to deciding whether Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, who is fighting drunken driving charges, should retain his position as chairman of a key Senate committee.
Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, suggested in a recent interview that Senate leaders will wait for a resolution in Martinez’s court case before deciding whether he should be stripped of his post as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman.
“I think the legal process needs to work itself out,” Papen told the Journal. “We don’t want to jump the gun and act like we have all the answers.”
Martinez, a Democrat who has served in the Senate since 2001, has entered a plea of not guilty to a charge of aggravated DWI. He said last week that he does not plan to resign from the Legislature, even if convicted.
Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/1364095/top-dem-no-rush-to-judgment-on-martine-z.html