Commentary: Responding to reports that on Monday morning the University of New Mexico Board of Regents intends to dissolve and take over the authority of the board that oversees numerous New Mexico medical facilities that serve the public, Senate Democratic leaders today called for the Regents to stand down.
Senate Majority Leader Michael S. Sanchez (D-29-Valencia, Bernalillo) said the power grab by UNM Regents over the UNM Health Sciences (HSC) Board would undermine the body’s ability for impartial decision making, and its freedom to operate without outside political pressure. The HSC has been the target of powerful forces in the state who oppose its plans for a new, needed multi-million dollar hospital that will compete with Lovelace, a private for-profit hospital and insurance company in Albuquerque.
“The UNM Health Sciences Center is one of the important institutions for the public health and well-being of New Mexicans. It must be protected from the outrageous abuse of power on display by the UNM Regents today. There are strong indications that Governor Susana Martinez is behind this flagrant power grab – to what ends, we can only speculate. But this planned intrusion is harmful, and this intrusion into the governance and decision-making of an important public institution cannot occur with impunity,” said Sen. Sanchez.
The HSC – which oversees UNM’s hospitals, cancer treatment and research, children’s psychiatric treatment, intensive care for children and premature infants, and all health sciences education – is currently led by Dr. Paul B. Roth, who serves as Chancellor, and is overseen by the HSC board. “It is certainly upsetting that the justification for the challenge to Dr. Roth’s authority and the HSC board has not been publicly revealed,” said Senate Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen (D-38-Dona Ana). “The HSC board was appointed less than five years ago and has worked as intended. I am not aware of any valid reason to reverse course on this important institution,” she added.
The planned actions of the UNM Regents, a majority of whom are closely tied to Governor Martinez, feels like déjà vu when her administration ordered the takeover of the state’s behavioral health system three years ago. That turned out to be disastrous for many of the clients of the providers who were put out of business, and subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.