LAS CRUCES — Local Republicans lost their only voice in the state Legislature this past November when Steve Fischmann, running for public office for the first time in New Mexico, defeated veteran senator and Minority Whip Lee Rawson.

Fischmann's victory in 2008 follows wins by Democrats Nathan Cote and Jeff Steinborn in 2006, when Cote defeated former House Minority Whip Terry Marquardt and Steinborn beat Scott Witt for the seat vacated by former Republican Rep. Ed Boykin. Except for a tiny sliver of Doña Ana County in the district of Sen. Dianna Duran, R-Tularosa, all of the county is now represented by Democrats in the Roundhouse.

Fischmann will be one of eight new senators sworn in Tuesday, all but one a Democrat. The majority party picked up three new seats in the Senate to increase its advantage to 27-15, and added three seats in the House, where it now has a 45-25 margin.

Much has been made of the new "progressives" joining the Senate.

Former Democratic Party Chairman John Wertheim wrote, "... not just Democratic voters, but plenty of independents and moderate Republicans helped win elections for Democrats up and down the ballot and send new progressive leaders to Santa Fe."

Fischmann, a former executive for Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco before he retired and moved to Las Cruces, said people are too quick to hang a label on him that may not fit.

"There seems to be, oftentimes, a desire to cast all the new senators into this liberal, progressive cadre. I really want to shun labels," he said.

He said that during the campaign, he consistently referred to himself as a fiscal conservative.

"A couple of my campaign staff would get mad at me for using that word "conservative,'" he said. "They'd say, "you should say fiscally responsible.' Well, you know, actually I'm pretty fiscally conservative.

"As a business executive for 20 years, I come at it from a business perspective. We can't do the public's business well if we don't come at this from a business perspective. That takes a lot of discipline and a commitment not to waste the taxpayers' money."

Fischmann first came to attention for most local voters as a member of the Quality Growth Alliance, which pushed for better planning in city growth and questioned land deals between local developers and the State Land Office. He said he would pursue some of those same issues in Santa Fe.

"There seem to be a lot of loopholes around requiring competitive bidding," he said. "You should never have a loophole that gets you around competitive bidding on a large transaction. Beneficiaries of state trust don't have any kind of formal second opinion on whether a specific deal treats them fairly."

Fischmann said he was also speak out against Tax Increment Development Districts, which he said, "seems to choose winners. You give a whole bunch of money to one outfit, and another outfit doesn't have that money and can't compete."

He said he will also advocate for economic development opportunities in renewable energy, and changes in education to better prepare graduates for the workplace and real-life situations.

One issue Fischmann didn't want to discuss will come on the opening day of the session, when Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, challenges Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, for the president pro tem post. Jennings recorded robo calls during the campaign in support of Rawson, who he said was being unfairly criticized by a third-party group not affiliated with the Fischmann campaign. Those calls angered Wertheim and other Democratic leaders.

"There's all kinds of tensions that goes on, and there's sort of a history there that involves me," he said. "But what's going to happen there will happen there, and what I want to keep the focus on is solving issues."

He said he has had discussions with both Cisneros and Jennings, and will be able to work with either.

"There was tremendous resentment about Tim helping Lee Rawson," said Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana. "My desire would be that we could heal and bring the whole caucus together. Our state has received a mandate. Our nation has received a mandate. The people of this nation want Democrats in charge."

Walter Rubel can be reached at wrubel@lcsun-news.com; (575) 541-5441