Luciano Varela

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Luciano Varela
LVarela.jpg
New Mexico House of Representatives District 48
Incumbent
In office
1987-Present
Term ends
December 31, 2014
Years in position 26
PartyDemocratic
Compensation
Base salary$0/year
Per diem$153/day
Elections and appointments
Last electionNovember 6, 2012
First elected1986
Next electionNovember 4, 2014
Term limitsN/A
Education
Bachelor'sCollege of Santa Fe, 1968
J.D.LaSalle Extension University, 1974
Military service
Service/branchUnited States Army
Years of service1957-1959
Personal
BirthdayFebruary 17, 1935
Place of birthPecos, NM
ProfessionRetired
ReligionCatholic
Websites
Office website
www.CandidateVerification.org

Contents

Luciano Varela (b. February 17, 1935) is a Democratic member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. He has represented the 48th District since 1987.

Committee assignments

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Varela served on the following committees:

New Mexico Committee Assignments, 2013
Appropriations and Finance
Health, Government and Indian Affairs

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Varela served on the following committees:

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Varela served on the following committees:

Issues

Lawsuit against Gov. Martinez

Mimi Stewart, Henry Saavedra, John Arthur Smith and “Lucky” Varela filed two lawsuits against Gov. Susana Martinez over her line item vetoes in an unemployment bill and a housing bill.

Raul Burciaga, the director of the Legislative Council Service, told committee members of the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) May 19, 2011 that in his opinion two line-item vetoes made by Gov. Martinez violate the state’s constitution.

“Some of the governor’s vetoes seem to impinge on the legislature’s appropriation powers and plow new ground in a governor’s exercise of the veto authority,” said Burciaga.

That day, Gov. Martinez firmly said she disagreed.

“I could protest any governor doing this … it’s not partisan,” Sen. Stuart Ingle. “She’s a good governor … but it’s a little bit of stretch to do this.”

Burciaga testified that the veto Martinez made in unemployment bill H.B. 59 is part of a revenue bill and “did not authorize the expenditure of state money because that authorization was already in statute and not amended in this bill.” Burciaga said the veto is “unconstitutional and, hence, unenforceable.”

The second veto came when Gov. Martinez reduced an appropriation the legislature made to budget bill H.B. 2 from $150,000 to $50,000. Burciaga said that while state courts have not addressed the issue specifically, reducing “an item of appropriation is a legislative function that the governor has no power to do.”

“I think we need to challenge this in the courts,” Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela (D-Santa Fe) said.

“The main difficulty I have is changing the figure [from $150,000 down to $50,000 in HB2],” Ingle said, expressing concern that if the current partisan makeup of the Roundhouse were reversed, a future Democratic governor could assume greater power at the expense of the legislative branch. ”We just can’t go there.”[1][2]

Elections

2012

See also: New Mexico House of Representatives elections, 2012

Varela ran for re-election in 2012. He ran unopposed in the June 5, 2012 Democratic primary and was unchallenged in the general election which took place on November 6, 2012.[3][4]

New Mexico House of Representatives, District 48, General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark.jpgLuciano Varela Incumbent 79.6% 9,655
     Libertarian Bob Walsh 20.4% 2,477
Total Votes 12,132

2010

See also: New Mexico House of Representatives elections, 2010

Varela won re-election to the 48th District Seat in 2010. He had no primary opposition and defeated Bob Walsh (R) in the general election which took place on November 2, 2010.[5]

New Mexico House of Representatives General Election, District 48 (2010)
Candidates Votes Percent
Green check mark.jpg Luciano Varela (D) 7,776 78.50%
Bob Walsh (R) 2,128 21.50%

Soundbites from bipartisan forum

Luciano Varela and his opponent Bob Walsh spoke at a forum in late September 2010.[6]

2008

On November 4, 2008, Varela won re-election to the 48th District Seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives. Varela had no challenger. [7]

Campaign donors

2012

Campaign donor information is not yet available for this year.

2010

In 2010, a year in which Varela was up for re-election, he collected $46,032 in donations.[8]

His largest contributors in 2010 were:

2008

In 2008, Varela collected $24,739 in donations.[9]

His four largest contributors in 2008 were:

Donor Amount
New Mexico Hospital Association $1,500
Associated Contractors of New Mexico $1,000
New Mexico Automotive Dealers Association $1,000
New Mexico Medical Society $1,000

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a google news search for the term Luciano + Varela + New + Mexico + Legislature

All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.

Luciano Varela News Feed


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External links

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References

Political offices
Preceded by
'
New Mexico House of Representatives - District 48
1987–present
Succeeded by
NA
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