Law and Government
See also: New Mexico local government| State of New Mexico Elected Officials | |
| Governor | Susana Martinez (R) |
| Lieutenant Governor | John Sanchez (R) |
| Secretary of State | Dianna Duran (R) |
| Attorney General | Gary King (D) |
| State Auditor | Hector Balderas (D) |
| State Treasurer | James B. Lewis (D) |
| State Land Commissioner | Ray Powell (D) |
| Public Regulation Commission |
|
The Constitution of 1912, as amended, dictates the form of government in the state.
On March 18, 2009, then Governor William Blaine Richardson signed the law abolishing the death penalty (although the repeal is not retroactive to capital crimes committed before it took effect) in New Mexico following the assembly and senate vote the week before, thus becoming the 15th U.S. state to abolish the penalty.
Current Governor Susana Martinez and Lieutenant Governor John Sanchez, both Republicans, were elected in 2010. Their terms expire in January 2015. Governors serve a term of four years and may seek re-election for one additional term (limit of two terms). New Mexico has had more governors than any other state in the United States. Juan de Oñate was appointed by the Spanish crown as the first governor of New Mexico in 1598. Since then, New Mexico has had Spanish, Mexican, and American governors. For a list of past governors, see List of New Mexico Governors.
Other constitutional officers, all of whose terms also expire in January 2015, include Secretary of State Dianna Duran, Attorney General Gary King, State Auditor Hector Balderas, State Land Commissioner Ray Powell, and State Treasurer James B. Lewis. King, Balderas, Lewis, and Powell are Democrats. Duran is a Republican.
The New Mexico State Legislature consists of a 70-seat House of Representatives and a 42-seat Senate. Currently, both houses of the Legislature have Democratic majorities (27 Democrats and 15 Republicans in the Senate. 36 Democrats, 33 Republicans, and 1 independent caucusing with Democrats in the House of Representatives).
New Mexico's members of the United States Senate are Democrats Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall. Democrats Martin Heinrich, and Ben R. Luján represent the first and third congressional districts, respectively, and Republican Steve Pearce represents the second congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. See New Mexico congressional map.
Read more about this topic: New Mexico
Famous quotes containing the words law and, law and/or government:
“They are the lovers of law and order who observe the law when the government breaks it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It will be seen that we contemplate a time when man’s will shall be law to the physical world, and he shall no longer be deterred by such abstractions as time and space, height and depth, weight and hardness, but shall indeed be the lord of creation.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“[T]he people seem to have deposited the monarchical and taken up the republican government with as much ease as would have attended their throwing off an old and putting on a new suit of clothes.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)