Paul Gessing's Archive
What is Government Costing You?
The truth is, you would probably be a millionaire right now if it weren’t for the government. Instead, all Americans are struggling under the ever-increasing burdens of taxes and government regulations. Our friends at the Independent Institute have put together a website that attempts to calculate for each person, based on detailed (but anonymous information) [...]
In: Uncategorized
Diane Denish Wants Poor/Your Kids Trapped in Failing Schools
I happened to be watching the local news last night when a story ran about the ongoing scheduling debacle at Rio Grande High. It has been more than two weeks since the APS school year started and the school doesn’t even have student schedules worked out.
Heading into the first commercial break was this lovely [...]
In: Uncategorized
New Mexico Ranks High in Unemployment Fraud
An astonishing $7.1 billion was lost nationwide during 2009 in unemployment benefits fraud. Our Capitol Reporter, Rob Nikolewski found the story, followed up on it, and has found that New Mexico ranks third in the nation in terms of percentage of unemployment overpayments, with some 28.68 percent ($97.8 million) of the total benefits sent to [...]
In: Uncategorized
Albuquerque’s Bike Bridge to Wal-Mart Unveiled
Today saw the unveiling of Albuquerque’s $7 million stimulus-funded bike bridge over the Rio Grande. Being a West-Sider and something of a bike enthusiast myself (although I have been and remain a critic of the bridge), I decided to ride over to witness the ceremony.
Aside from the cost, one big problem with the bridge [...]
Rio Grande Foundation Transparency Site Goes Live
With Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry having recently announced the City’s transparency site, ABQ View, transparency in government has taken center-stage. We at the Rio Grande Foundation share concerns about open government and transparency and are pleased to launch NewMexicoSpending.com. The site includes payroll data and vendor transactions from several of New Mexico’s school districts. Unfortunately, [...]
New Mexico Remains Low on Economic Freedom Measure
Like, the US-based Heritage Foundation does its annual Index of Economic Freedom (Canada ranks higher than the US nowadays), the Canada-based Fraser Institute — a free market think tank based north of the border — ranks economic freedom of the states and provinces of North America.
Not surprisingly, New Mexico performs rather poorly on this index [...]
In: Uncategorized
Convention Center: I couldn’t have said it better myself
It seems that other Albuquerque leaders are finally speaking out in opposition to the idiotic idea of wasting $400 million tax dollars (or more once cost overruns are factored in) on a convention center expansion. I’ve written about it before here and more recently here, but this week saw hotelier Jim Long call the project [...]
Update: New Mexico Republican Congressional Candidates Support ObamaCare Repeal
Yesterday, I urged voters to get Congressional candidates on the record in favor of appealing ObamaCare. Well (thanks to the Mullins campaign for this), it turns out that the good folks at the Club for Growth have already been doing this.
They have a website set up which displays the names of candidates for [...]
In: Uncategorized
Before you vote for that congressional candidate, get them on the record
Repeal of ObamaCare won’t happen as long as Obama is President, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be repealed when he’s gone and that opponents shouldn’t actively push repeal while Obama is still in office.
Currently, the legislative vehicle for repeal is H.R. 4972: Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is gathering signatures on a discharge [...]
Kudos to Mayor Berry for new transparency website
Mayor Berry’s Administration has released the city’s new transparency website. This is a great step forward for Albuquerque and Berry deserves praise for getting it done (I know it has been a long push). We have worked with the Mayor’s office and made suggestions and we are pleased to see so many good ideas implemented [...]
In: Uncategorized
