Share on WeChat
https://www.powervoter.us:443/mary_papen
Copy the link and open WeChat to share.
 Share on WeChat
Copy the link and open WeChat to share.
 Share on WeChat
Scan QRCode using WeChat,and then click the icon at the top-right corner of your screen.
 Share on WeChat
Scan QRCode using WeChat,and then click the icon at the top-right corner of your screen.
Quick Facts
Personal Details

Professional Experience

  • Car Dealer, retired

Political Experience

  • Car Dealer, retired
  • President Pro Tempore, New Mexico State Senate, 2013-present
  • Senator, New Mexico State Senate, 2001-present

Former Committees/Caucuses

Former Member, Indian & Cultural Affairs Committee, New Mexico State Senate

Current Legislative Committees

Member, Capitol Buildings Planning Commission

Chair, Committees'

Member, Corporations & Transportation

Member, Interim Legislative Ethics

Co-Chair, Legislative Council

Member, Public School Capital Outlay Oversight Task Force

Member, Rules

Religious, Civic, and other Memberships

  • Car Dealer, retired
  • President Pro Tempore, New Mexico State Senate, 2013-present
  • Senator, New Mexico State Senate, 2001-present
  • Member, Board of Directors, Border Book Festival
  • Member, Board of Directors, First Step Clinic for Prenatal and Pediatric Care
  • Member, Board of Directors, La Casa Domestic Violence Shelter
  • Member, Board of Directors, Saint Luke's Health Clinic

Other Info

— Awards:

  • Outstanding Legislator, New Mexico Alliance for the Mentally Ill, 2003;
  • Governor’s Award for Outstanding New Mexico Women, 2000;
  • Luminaria Award, New Mexico Community Foundation, 1997;
  • Citizen of the Year, Las Cruces Hispano Chamber of Commerce, 1995;
  • America’s Outstanding Women, 1967

Policy Positions

New Mexico State Legislative Election 2000 National Political Awareness Test

Abortion

Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning abortion.

1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer

2. Abortions should always be legally available.
- No Answer

3. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer

4. Abortions should be legal when pregnancy results from incest, rape or the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer

5. Abortions should be limited by waiting periods and notification requirements as decided by each state government.
- No Answer

6. Support prohibition of the dilation and extraction procedure, also known as "partial-birth" abortion.
- No Answer

7. Support "buffer zones" at abortion clinics by requiring demonstrators to remain a certain distance from doorways and driveways.
- No Answer

8. Support prohibition of public funding for abortions and organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- No Answer

9. Allow only physicians licensed by the state to perform abortions.
- No Answer

10. Other
- No Answer

Budget and Tax

State Budget: Indicate the funding levels you will support for the following general categories.

1. Education (Higher)
- No Answer

2. Education (K-12)
- No Answer

3. Environment
- No Answer

4. Health care
- No Answer

5. Law enforcement
- No Answer

6. Transportation and Highway infrastructure
- No Answer

7. Welfare
- No Answer

8. Other
- No Answer

State Taxes: Indicate the tax levels you will support.

1. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Beer taxes
- Maintain Status

3. Capital gains taxes
- No Answer

4. Cigarette taxes
- Slightly Increase

5. Corporate taxes
- No Answer

6. Gasoline taxes
- Maintain Status

7. Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
- No Answer

8. Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
- No Answer

9. Inheritance taxes
- Eliminate

10. Property taxes
- No Answer

11. Sales taxes
- No Answer

12. Severance taxes (on petroleum drilling)
- No Answer

13. Vehicle taxes
- No Answer

14. Other
- No Answer

15. Should Internet sales be taxed?
- No Answer

16. Do you support a flat tax structure for state income taxes?
- No Answer

17. Would you support returning any operating surplus to New Mexico taxpayers?
- No Answer

18. Would you support placing any operating surplus into a "rainy day" fund?
- No Answer

19. Do you support requiring state approval for local governments to raise property taxes?
- No Answer

20. Do you support reducing fees and taxes collected from Indian casinos?
- No Answer

Crime

Indicate which principles you support (if any) to address crime.

1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and for hiring of additional prison staff.
- No Answer

2. Support contracting with private sector firms to build and/or manage state prisons.
- No Answer

3. End parole for repeat violent offenders.
- No Answer

4. Support the use of the death penalty in New Mexico.
- No Answer

5. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X

6. Inform communities when a convicted sex offender moves into the community.
- X

7. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- No Answer

8. Decriminalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
- No Answer

9. Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
- No Answer

10. Support the .08 blood-alcohol-content limit defining drunk driving.
- No Answer

11. Prosecute as adults, youths accused of a felony.
- No Answer

12. Increase penalties for crimes committed on school grounds.
- No Answer

13. Require that crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, or disability be prosecuted as hate crimes.
- No Answer

14. Support programs that provide job training and placement services for at-risk youth.
- X

15. Ban the use of racial profiling by law enforcement officers.
- No Answer

16. Support time limits on appeals in death penalty cases.
- No Answer

17. Expand New Mexico's "three strikes" policy to impose 30 year mandatory minimum sentences on repeat offenders.
- No Answer

18. Require those convicted of child molestation to undergo chemical castration.
- No Answer

19. Other
- No Answer

Education

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.

1. Increase state funds for professional development of public school teachers and administrators.
- X

2. Encourage private or corporate investment in public school programs.
- No Answer

3. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any participating school (public, private, religious).
- No Answer

4. Support charter schools where teachers and professionals receive authorization and funding to establish new schools.
- X

5. Increase state funds for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
- X

6. Increase state funds for hiring additional teachers.
- No Answer

7. Endorse teacher-led voluntary prayer in public schools.
- No Answer

8. Support posting the Ten Commandments in public schools.
- No Answer

9. Require public schools to administer high school exit exams.
- No Answer

10. Support national standards and testing of public school students.
- No Answer

11. Support teacher testing and reward teachers with merit pay.
- No Answer

12. Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
- X

13. Require state control of schools continually placed on probation by the Department of Education.
- No Answer

14. License substitute teachers who are employed for more than 30 days.
- No Answer

15. Support linking school funding with academic performance.
- No Answer

16. Other
- No Answer

Employment and Affirmative Action

Employment: Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning employment.

1. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
- X

2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- No Answer

3. Support limits on cash damages in lawsuits against businesses and professionals for product liability or malpractice.
- No Answer

4. Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers or teach skills needed in today's job market.
- No Answer

5. Raise the state minimum wage.
- No Answer

6. Provide state funds to build technology infrastructure.
- No Answer

7. Other
- No Answer

Affirmative Action: Which of the following state agencies should take race and sex into account when making employment decisions?

1. College and university admissions
- No Answer

2. Public employment
- No Answer

3. State contracting
- No Answer

4. Other
- No Answer

Environment & Energy

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.

1. Encourage further development and use of alternative fuels to reduce pollution.
- X

2. Support "self-audit" legislation which creates incentives for industries to audit themselves and clean up pollution.
- No Answer

3. Require a cost/benefit analysis to determine the economic impact of proposed environmental regulations before they are implemented.
- No Answer

4. Require states to fully compensate citizens when environmental regulations limit uses on privately owned land.
- No Answer

5. Support funding for recycling programs in New Mexico.
- X

6. Request added flexibility from the federal government in enforcing and funding federal environmental regulations.
- X

7. Suspend participation in un-funded, federally-mandated environmental protection legislation.
- No Answer

8. Provide state aid to timber industry workers displaced by federal regulations.
- No Answer

9. Other
- No Answer

10. Should state environmental regulations be stricter than federal law?
- No Answer

Government Reform

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding government reform.

1. Do you support the current limit on terms for New Mexico Governors?
- No Answer

2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for New Mexico State Senators and Representatives?
- No Answer

3. Individual
- No Answer

4. PAC
- No Answer

5. Corporate
- No Answer

6. Political Parties
- No Answer

7. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes

8. Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?
- No Answer

9. Do you support partial funding from state taxes for state level political campaigns?
- No Answer

10. Do you support voting on-line?
- No Answer

11. Do you support on-line voter registration?
- No Answer

12. Do you support performance based budgeting for state governmental agencies?
- No Answer

13. Do you support opening legislative conference committee meetings to the public?
- No Answer

14. Do you support using a mediator to resolve budget disputes between the governor and the legislature?
- No

15. Other
- No Answer

Gun

Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning gun issues.

1. Ban the sale or transfer of semi-automatic guns, except those used for hunting.
- No Answer

2. Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer

3. Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer

4. Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer

5. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- No Answer

6. Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks on guns.
- No Answer

7. Require background checks of gun buyers at gun shows.
- X

8. Require a license for gun possession.
- No Answer

9. Other
- No Answer

Health

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health issues.

1. Provide tax incentives to small businesses that provide health care to their employees.
- X

2. Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state funded care where necessary.
- X

3. Transfer more existing Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
- No Answer

4. Use state funds to continue some Medicaid coverage for legal immigrants.
- No Answer

5. Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer

6. Support a patient's right to sue his or her HMO.
- X

7. Support a patient's right to appeal to an administrative board of specialists when services are denied.
- X

8. Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- No Answer

9. Require health insurance plans to provide coverage for contraceptive drugs.
- No Answer

10. Other
- No Answer

Social

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.

1. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for their employees.
- X

2. Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- No Answer

3. Deny or suspend state-issued permits and licenses to parents who are delinquent in paying court-ordered child support.
- X

4. Increase state funding for Head Start in order to serve additional children and/or increase services from a half to a full day.
- X

5. Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
- No Answer

6. Support state funding of programs for at-risk youth such as guaranteed college loans, and job training and placement.
- No Answer

7. Support telephone deregulation.
- No Answer

8. Place interest limits on payday loans.
- No Answer

9. Increase vehicle registration fees to fund multiple-language driver's license tests.
- No Answer

10. Other
- No Answer

11. Should physician assisted suicide be legally available in New Mexico?
- No Answer

12. Should New Mexico include sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination laws?
- No Answer

13. Should New Mexico recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- No Answer

14. Should New Mexico restrict marriage to a relationship only between a man and a woman?
- No Answer

Welfare and Poverty

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding welfare.

1. Maintain current time limits on welfare benefits.
- No Answer

2. Maintain the requirement that able-bodied recipients work in order to receive benefits.
- No Answer

3. Increase employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- No Answer

4. Provide tax incentives to businesses that hire welfare recipients.
- No Answer

5. Provide child care for welfare recipients who work.
- No Answer

6. Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
- No Answer

7. Allow welfare recipients to remain eligible for benefits while saving money for education, starting a business, or buying a home.
- No Answer

8. Limit benefits given to recipients if they have additional children while on welfare.
- No Answer

9. Eliminate government-funded welfare programs.
- No Answer

10. Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations.
- No Answer

11. Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to expand state services to include the working poor.
- No Answer

12. Provide state funding for a wage subsidy program to move TANF recipients into private sector employment.
- No Answer

13. Other
- No Answer

Legislative Priorities

Please explain what your two main legislative priorities will be if elected. Please explain how you would obtain any additional government funding needed to implement these priorities.
- No Answer

State Bills
Speeches