Published in the Roswell Daily Record, March 13, 2008
Domestic Partnership
I attended the 2008 legislative session as an observer instead of an employee this year, due to Republican objections to a House District 59 "declared candidate" being hired (at least that is my conclusion, as the objections certainly did not come from the two House committee chairs who were interested in hiring me as a committee secretary). My unemployed status did provide me with the opportunity to more closely observe our legislators and to offer testimony about several bills.
Representative Stewart, sponsor of HB 9, at the HCPAC hearing.
Besides testifying against a bill (SB 2) to give legislators salaries that would be 15% of congressional salaries, offering alternatives to the Health Care Authority Board bill (HB 147) and also the bill to reinstate the petition option for primary candidates (HB 190), and in favor of the Pecos River Compact Settlement alternative (SB 227), I testified in favor of House Bill 9, the Domestic Partnership bill. House District 59 representative Nora Espinoza and Roswell Republicans Foley, Spence-Ezzell, and Adair voted against this bill. Espinoza went further and publicly campaigned against it.
In her testimony against HB 9 before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 9, Espinoza stated, "I believe and my constituents believe that we must protect the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman. .... The monetary impact on the state will be great .... There will be new dependents...."
One potential new dependent would have been the partner of Holly Wilson, who is a friend of mine. As she wrote in her letter to the Alamogordo Daily News, published March 2, "In September 2007, we signed a domestic partnership agreement so that he could get health insurance through my employer.... They did not grant it, for this bill [HB 9] had not passed yet in New Mexico."
Her partner, Tom, has died. He was a native New Mexican, who lived and worked here all his life and was a registered Republican. This is a victory for Espinoza, right? She has saved the state money by preventing Holly from insuring the man she loved on her health policy. Voters in District 59 will have an opportunity in November to let Espinoza know what they think of her stand on this bill.