Walter K. Martinez

Walter K. Martinez
Born	16 November 1930 Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, USA
Died	11 May 1986 (aged 55) Grants, New Mexico, USA
Nationality	American
Occupation	Lawyer and politician
Known for	Ouster in bipartisan coup

Walter Kenneth Martinez, Sr. (16 November 1930 – 11 May 1986) was an American lawyer who was a member of the House of Representatives of the state of New Mexico for many years. He was a liberal member of the Democratic Party from a Hispanic background. He was speaker of the House for eight years before being removed from that position in 1979 in an unusual bipartisan coup when conservative Democrats allied with Republicans to elect a conservative Democrat as speaker.

Early years

Martinez was born in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, one of eleven children in poor but well-educated family.^[1] He studied law at the University of New Mexico and graduated in 1955.^[2] He became a general legal practitioner with the firm of Tibo Chavez and Boucher and set up office in Grants, New Mexico. At this time the area was booming due to the recently discovered uranium deposits. Martinez married Dolores Nolasco. They had three children, a girl and two boys, all of whom became lawyers.^[3] His daughter became a district judge.^[4] Martinez became a member of the Grants Board of Education.^[4]

Legislator

In 1966 Martinez was elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives on the Democrat platform to represent Valencia County, New Mexico.^[3] He served in the House for eighteen years.^[2] He was a liberal Democrat. Until 1971 the House had been dominated by conservative Democrats, mostly from the south and east of New Mexico.^[5] That had begun to change after the Supreme Court "one man, one vote" decision in Baker v. Carr (1962), which forced electoral districts to be more balanced in size and led to growing numbers of liberal Hispanic and urban intellectual representatives.^[6] In 1971, when Martinez was in his first term, the position of speaker came open. After a tie on the first vote, Martinez was elected speaker by a one-vote margin.^[5]

For eight years Martinez was one of the leaders of the liberal "Mama Lucy Gang", which controlled the house and prevented conservative "Cowboy Democrats" from the ranching areas in the south of the state from controlling the main committees.^{[7][lower-alpha 1]} Another leader was Raymond G. Sanchez.^[8] Martinez's achievements included equalizing school district funding across the state and developing New Mexico's severance tax permanent fund. The fund aims to smooth out state revenues which would otherwise fluctuate based on demand for mining products.^[2]

In 1977 Martinez was chosen as candidate for speaker of the Democratic caucus by 26-22, going on to reelection as speaker.^[9] The Cowboys did well in the 1978 election and demanded a strong presence in the committees.^[10] Martinez refused, which turned out to be a mistake.^[11] He was then chosen the Democratic caucus by 30 votes to 11 for Gene Samberson.^[9] During the opening session of the house on 16 January 1979 eleven Democrats allied with twenty six Republicans to elect the Cowboy Democrat Gene Samberson as speaker by thirty seven votes against the thirty Democrats and three rogue Republicans who voted for Martinez. The Mama Lucy Gang was out of power for the next four years.^{[10][lower-alpha 2]}

Martinez and Joseph Fidel worked together to obtain funding for many projects in the Grants area.^[4] In 1981 Martinez was the main force behind the legislation that split Cibola County, New Mexico, out of Valencia County. Grants was the seat of the new county.^[3] In the 1982 election the liberal Democrats formed a solid majority of the forty seven Democrat members, and the Martinez candidate Raymond Sanchez was elected speaker without opposition from the Cowboys.^[10]

Last years

Martinez was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) and left the House in 1984. He died in 1986 aged fifty five. An enclosed walkway linking the Capitol and the newly built Capitol Annex was dedicated to Martinez in 2001. The University of New Mexico School of Law gave him a posthumous Distinguished Achievement award.^[2] His son Walter Kenneth Martinez, Jr., a lawyer, became a New Mexico representative in 1999.^[13] W. Ken Martinez, Jr. was made speaker of the house in 2013.^[14]

References

1. The Mama Lucies were named after Mama Lucy, a lady who ran a coffee shop and helped out poor students at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, Nevada. A group of future state legislators were at the university at the time, and learned from Mama Lucy's compassionate example.^[6]
2. Samberson appointed nine Democrats to committee positions. Martinez refused to chair the Votes and Elections Committee, effectively giving control of this committee to the Republicans. Five of the Democrats who had backed Martinez refused appointments as vice-chairs of committees.^[12]

1. Martinez 2009, p. 127.
2. Walter Martinez (posthumously), UNM.
3. Peña 2009.
4. Jaramillo & Milan 2013, p. 61.
5. Hain, Garcia & Clair 1994, p. 61.
6. Martinez 2009, p. 126.
7. Kousser 2005, p. 62.
8. Sharp & Sharp 1997, p. 15.
9. Hain, Garcia & Clair 1994, p. 40.
10. Kousser 2005, p. 63.
11. Hain, Garcia & Clair 1994, p. 43.
12. Hain, Garcia & Clair 1994, p. 65.
13. Lenderman 2005.
14. Boyd 2013.

Sources

• Boyd, Dan (January 15, 2013). "Breaking: Rep. Ken Martinez Elected House Speaker". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
• Hain, Paul L.; Garcia, F. Chris; Clair, Gilbert K. St. (1994). New Mexico Government. UNM Press. ISBN 978-0-8263-1508-3. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
• Jaramillo, Donald; Milan, Paul (2013-10-28). Grants-Milan. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-9964-9. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
• Kousser, Thad (2005). Term Limits and the Dismantling of State Legislative Professionalism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54873-1. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
• Lenderman, Andy (January 28, 2005). "Rising Star: Father's Example Looms Large for House Majority Leader". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
• Martinez, Ken (2009). "Common Geographies". Moving Beyond Borders: Julian Samora and the Establishment of Latino Studies. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07656-5. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
• Peña, Abe (2009-06-25). "Walter Martinez - The Speaker of the House". Cibola Beacon. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
• Sharp, Nancy Weatherly; Sharp, James Roger (1997-01-01). American Legislative Leaders in the West, 1911-1994. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-30212-1.
• "Distinguished Achievement Honorees". University of New Mexico School of Law. Retrieved 2014-07-29. |chapter= ignored (help)