Session visit instructvie, chaotic

If you’re looking for an instructive experience that is also a lesson in balancing control and chaos, I would suggest a visit to New Mexico’s State Capitol while the Legislature is in session.

The Roundhouse, as the building is known because it resembles a four-story doughnut, lies a few blocks beyond the history and luxury around Santa Fe Plaza.

I was there to represent the Quay County Health Council at the Legislature’s Public Health Day. I hoped that others would go but ended up going alone.

I came to the Roundhouse armed with a display that showed both health council successes and Quay County’s urgent health needs, and a box of star-shaped clips emblazoned with “Quay County Health Council.”

I couldn’t keep the magnified clips on the table for more than few seconds. Only a few takers, however, asked about health councils.

I then learned I was chosen to be present while the Senate approved a commemorative “memorial,” praising health councils, which have not fared well in recent Roundhouse budget-cutting.

To prepare, we were ushered into the hallways behind the Senate chamber.

As we were stage-managed through the backstage corridors, we met some equally bewildered adults and a lot of wide-eyed teenagers and children also headed for the Senate floor.

One group included students at an Islamic school in Albuquerque.

A group of teenage boys wearing identical jerseys turned out to be a football team that another senator recognized and made honorary pages for the day.

Finally, our time came. As we sat facing the Senate and the public gallery above, Sen. Howie Morales read the memorial and the Senate approved it by acclamation. Then we left quietly.

At the same time, other health council representatives testified at a House committee hearing for a bill that would appropriate $700,000 for health councils statewide. It passed through that committee and headed for the appropriations committee, where it meets an uncertain fate in a time of severe austerity. A similar bill in the Senate was awaiting a similar committee vote.

We returned to the Rotunda, the center of the Roundhouse doughnut, for a rally of sorts, to generate support for health councils.

I then set out to deliver literature to the offices of Rep. Dennis Roch and Sen. Pat Woods, who represent Quay County.

My path through the corridors around the Rotunda was clogged by hundreds of people who had suddenly jammed into the Roundhouse.

I found the offices in corridors that buzzed with quietly intense people in dark suits carrying briefcases.

My delivery done, I squeezed my way through the sudden crowd to my display in the main corridor.

The multitude had gathered for a “Keep Your Hands Off Public Lands” rally in the Rotunda to protest the proposed opening of federal lands to mining and drilling. The near capacity crowd watched Native American dancers and heard quite a few outraged speakers.

Health councils were already yesterday’s news, so I cleared my area and headed back to quiet, uneventful Tucumcari.

Steve Hansen writes about our life and times from his perspective of a retired Tucumcari journalist. Contact him at: [email protected]