Argument for
no rhetorical technique found
1. Governance of the state educational institutions is an important and challenging task that requires specialized knowledge in multiple fields. The state educational institutions serve the wide range of cultural, economic and social configurations of New Mexico's communities and, for the specialized schools, meet the unique needs of New Mexico students who are blind, visually impaired or deaf.
Through establishing regent nominating committees by law, the legislature will ensure that a nominating committee provides to the governor a list of nominees who would best serve the interests of the institution as a regent.
Presuming that the regent nominating committees will comprehensively vet the best qualified prospective regents, there could be more accountability in the governance of the state educational institutions. 2. Regent nominating committees may limit or remove the influence of politics from the appointment process.
Without requiring substantive qualifications for regents to guide the governor's appointments to boards of regents, the current appointment process allows for outsized political influence on the membership of the boards of regents.
By requiring the establishment of bipartisan or nonpartisan regent nominating committees, the amendment could insulate the appointment process from politics or other partisan considerations and ensure that the people appointed to the boards of regents are qualified to serve. This could enhance the governance of the state educational institutions.
From nmlegis.gov, the official voter guide.
Argument against
no rhetorical technique found
1. The amendment would alter the checks and balances between the legislature and the executive regarding the appointment of state officers. Traditionally, the executive has the power to appoint, and the Senate has the power to advise and consent to the governor's appointees or reject the governor's appointees.
The existing language of Article 12, Section 13 of the Constitution of New Mexico reflects this distribution of powers and clearly assigns responsibilities to the governor and the members of the Senate who are accountable to the voters for poor appointment decisions. Constitutional Amendment 3 obscures the responsibility for appointment decisions by diluting the governor's authority.
Additionally, in establishing the nominating committees, the legislature further obscures the governor's and Senate's appointment-related responsibilities as currently provided by the Constitution of New Mexico. 2. The amendment may dilute the governor's or the Senate's accountability in appointing regents.
The Constitution of New Mexico currently places the responsibility of appointment and confirmation on the governor and the Senate, respectively. By creating a nominating committee, the proposed amendment would remove some of that responsibility from the governor and the Senate, which are both accountable to the voters. A nominating committee, on the other hand, is not accountable to the voters.
The governor can argue that he or she can only consider the nominees provided by the nominating committee, thus lessening the governor's accountability for the selection. The governor, and to some extent the Senate, is confined to the slate of nominees provided by the nominating committee.
From nmlegis.gov, the official voter guide.