Everyone thought it might come down to a tie breaking vote for Lt. Governor Diane Denish.  As it turns out, the domestic partnership vote in the Senate wasn’t even very close.  10 democrats joined a unified GOP contingency to vote down the measure by a final vote of 25-17.  The final roll call will undoubtedly be scrutinized in the coming weeks and months, as supporters of domestic partnership look for ways to change their fortunes in future years.  The momentum really seemed to be there this year, and with talk of a compromise with the Catholic church swirling, the margin of the final vote has to be surprising to a lot of folks who follow this issue closely.

That vote on domestic partnership came down just a few minutes after we finished taping this week’s segment of THE LINE.  I think the panel still has some great insight on what makes this such a complicated and delicate issue for so many lawmakers.  The final decision on this year’s domestic partnership bill also runs contratry to how folks voted in our most recent online poll.  We asked if this was the year that domestic partnership legislation finally made it out of the Roundhouse, and 59% of you said you were confident this would be the year.  23% predicted the legislation would fail, with 18% calling the vote too close to call.

Be sure to weigh in on this week’s poll, which has to do with our other big topic of the week, the internal strife within the UNM community.  We want to know who you think is most to blame for the problems that led to a faculty no confidence vote this week against President David Schmidly, Regent Jamie Koch and CFO David Harris. 

It will be interesting to see what comes out of those lopsided votes.  The voting faculty were clearly more sympathetic toward David Schmidly, but the vote there was still almost 70% voting no confidence.  Still, Schmidly says he is committed to re-establishing a dialogue with the faculty and rebuilding lost trust. In his response to the faculty he even mentioned somethign about calling for a summit to discuss some of the financial situations at the university that have ruffled so many feathers.  There is also the possibility the faculty will hold another special meeting in April to follow-up on this week’s vote.  There is no doubt they will be keeping the pressure on.  It seems as though the big question right now is will Regent Koch survive this upheaval.  He was clearly the focal point for most of the vitriol at the meeting this week, and the no confidence vote against him was an overwhelming 98%.  Regent Koch says he has no intention of withdrawing his name for another term, and the Governor is standing behind him as well.  Only time will tell if that support continues. One thing that it seems everyone agrees with: the university needs to find some way to get back on track.  It’s in the best interest of the student body at UNM, as well as the state as a whole. For those of you who may have missed the faculty meeeting this week, you can still watch it online.

This week, THE LINE panelists also talked a lot about how our state is weathering the economic storm.  There are so many negative stories out there these days, from Zangara Dodge, to the mine layoffs in Questa, and the collapse of Eclipse Aviation.  But, we also know that New Mexicans are a resourceful bunch.  That’s why we want to hear about those success stories that are out there.  Know of a new business that is thriving in these tough times?  Have you heard about creative and innovative approaches folks are utilizing to try and survive this financial roller coaster? We want to hear from you.  Leave us a comment, or drop us an email at infocus@knme.org.

Up next week on NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS: raising the curtain on the state of the film industry in New Mexico.  We’ll be looking at two recent studies that have conflicting evaluations about the ongoing impact of the film industry, plus proposed legislation that would do away with some of the incentives that are attracting so many film and TV crews to our state.

As always, thanks for watching!

THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM

It’s an interesting question for all of us to ponder: How does Barack Obama’s election win change race relations in the United States? This week’s show tackles that question in a very interesting and challenging way.  Our feeling was the segment also built nicely on Gene’s recent feature story in the Weekly Alibi.

In case you missed any of the show, you can always watch it here:

This week’s show also previews a very enlightening American Experience episode which airs on February 23rd at 9pm (MST). It profiles an important Supreme Court case, which forever changed Mexican American relations in this country. The case was heard just before the famous Brown vs. Board of Education case, and has therefore been largely overshadowed since the ruling came down. In this week’s show, we interview Dr. Michael Olivas of the University of Houston Law Center, who has written a book about the case titled “Colored Men and Hombres Aqui”. In an interesting side note, Olivas is also a finalist to become the new dean of the UNM Law School.

On to this week now, and what will no doubt be an important moment for UNM. On Wednesday the UNM faculty get their one-on-one meeting with President David Schmidly. The meeting could go a long way toward healing some festering wounds on campus, or a possible no-confidence vote in Schmidly. We will be there for that meeting, so be sure to stay on the lookout for coverage throughout the week!

The Public Affairs Team