New Mexico Republican lawmakers are pleased that their Democratic counterparts are looking to address crime in the state but feel the latter should have stepped up sooner.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and her fellow Democrats are urging new legislation to help tackle the crime problem.
“We diligently, in a bipartisan, nonpartisan fashion work to do everything we can about the incredible public safety issues that require immediate attention,” Lujan Grisham said, according to KRQE.
Several GOP legislators have been working on anti-crime bills for years.
“You know, for, golly, for the last several years, we have been ridiculed about being for crime all the time,” Rep. Jim Townsend (R-Chaves, Eddy and Otero counties) told the station.
Rep. Bill Rehm (R-Bernalillo County), who asserted that he’s been introducing crime-fighting legislation for 15 years, appeared at a press conference with the governor earlier this month.
“She invites him to come stand silently as she introduces bills that she thinks are important enough this legislative session, and they’re bills that Bill has been carrying for years and years,” Townsend said, according to KRQE. “So, I thought that was disingenuous.”
Rehm insinuated that the Democrats’ newfound focus on crime is a political ploy.
“It’s an election year and all of a sudden … they’re deciding that hey … we better make crime part of our package. Well I’ve been shouting that ever since 2007,” he told the station.
Rehm is sponsoring a measure to create harsher penalties for individuals who conspire to rob retail stores.