Oops! Budget Shortfall “Not an honest mistake” — John Arthur Smith
According to Rob Nikolewski over at Capitol Report New Mexico, Governor Richardson’s budget secretaries appeared before the Legislative Finance Council (LFC) this morning and announced that their estimate for recurring revenue for the fiscal year just completed (2010) is down by $32.5 million and off by $159.3 million for fiscal year 2011. The most interesting part of the interview is where Senate Finance Committee Chair John Arthur Smith calls out the Richardson Administration for looking at the revenue through “rose colored glasses.”
It looks like more (needed) belt-tightening is on the way for state government as (I hope) there is no appetite among legislators for tax hikes in an election year. If legislators want to get serious about solving the budget problem without raising taxes, they need look no further than here.
Gary King’s Quixotic (and questionable) Battle Against Non-Profits
Attorney General Gary King is still considering whether to take his fight to force two nonprofits to register as political committees to the U.S. Supreme Court. He’s also exploring ideas for amending state law so that its requirement that groups disclose funding sources passes the constitutional test.
The two non-profits are left-wing organizations King wants to register are left-wing groups New Mexico Youth Organized, which is a project of the Center for Civic Policy (CCP), and SouthWest Organizing Project maintain that mailers like this one sent out two to three months before the 2008. I am not going to say whether the activities of these two organizations strays over the legal line or not, you’ll have to decide that yourself, but what I will say is that the Rio Grande Foundation has never come close to the lines these organizations have so clearly pushed.
Nonetheless, as Haussamen notes, King seems to believe that the Rio Grande Foundation should be a target of donor disclosure as well. That seems absurd and King has failed to gain traction in the courts, but it would seem that King sees our Watchdog activities as more of a threat than he does government corruption.
New Mexico’s Taxpayer-Funded Monuments to Sitting Elected Officials
Our Capitol Reporter, Rob Nikolewski, has uncovered a disturbing and highly-questionable use of taxpayer dollars — the naming of public buildings after sitting legislators. He uncovered two such buildings, the “Sheryl M. Williams Stapleton African American Performing Arts Center and Exhibit Hall” and the school gymnasium at Pojoaque which is named after House Speaker Ben Lujan.
Of course, this isn’t all, visitors to the UNM Children’s Hospital may notice that there is a pavilion at the medical center named after Richardson and his wife, Barbara. It is unseemly for sitting elected officials to name buildings (or any other public works) after themselves. This has not previously been done in New Mexico, but under Richardson the attitude has been more permissive. Perhaps some legislators might consider changing the law to prohibit this practice?
Of course, as most New Mexicans know, the issue is also pervasive at the federal level with several buildings named after Pete Domenici throughout the state. That said, New Mexicans really only have control of how our own tax dollars are used. Can’t we stop politicians from naming buildings after themselves?
Success for N.M. Minority Students Lies With Adults
In case you missed it, Dr. Matthew Ladner, our speaker at upcoming events in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe, and author of our recent policy paper “Florida’s K-12 Lesson for New Mexico,” had an opinion piece in the Albuquerque Journal on Sunday.
As Ladner points out, demography is not destiny when it comes to K-12 education. Children of all racial and ethnic groups — not to mention income levels — can learn given the right reforms.
Albuquerque’s Plague of Unions
Various unions seem to be hell-bent on ruining Albuquerque’s day. First, there was this enlightening story on KOB TV last night which clearly showed the harm that can occur when fat government employee pensions are calculated based on earnings from the final three years of employment.
Because the very modest cuts the city is trying to implement would be averaged into his pension, he is retiring. The retirement of one fire fighter is not like to inflict harm on the citizens of Albuquerque, but this contract is way to generous. Only 21 years of work and his pension is already locked in and generous enough that it makes sense for him to retire — in a very tough job market — and take his pension. Something has got to change.
Then there is the out-of-town carpenters union protest that landed on the front page of today’s Albuquerque Journal. First and foremost, protesting a church is pretty low in and of itself. After all, churches are not normally high-dollar entities like the carpenters union that can afford $20 million to build a new training center. But now the union protesters are, according to the article, using “loud, dirty language” within earshot of children attending school at the church and are disrupting mass.
While the carpenters union protesters have a Constitutional right to free speech, I see them as little better than the scumbags at the Westboro Baptist “Church” that protests military funerals.
“The Boss” a winner even in death
Funny how sports and politics mix so often (and have done so recently to a greater extent than usual). First there was Lebron James fleeing high tax Ohio for the zero income tax Florida (saving himself $25 million).
Now, as it turns out, Yankees’ boss George Steinbrenner — not one of my favorites I might add — dies in 2010 which just so happens to be the only year for which the death tax is completely repealed. This stroke of luck (or genius, because with him you never know) will save his heirs as much as $500 million in estate taxes.
Hey, you might say, the government needs that $500 million. After all, we face trillion dollar deficits. In a just world Steinbrenner’s estate should be taxed to the hilt. Well, I politely disagree. How much economic wealth do the Yankees, the most valuable franchise in sports, generate? That is a lot of taxes too. Do we want the Yankees to be sold off for the simple necessity of paying a massive tax bill as happened with the Washington Redskins?
Certainly, I disagree with the massive taxpayer subsidy of Yankee stadium, but overall I think Steinbrenner earned his money fair and square, has been taxed on it, and the government should not get another bite of the big apple. That said, I doubt Obama has any interest at all in killing the death tax.
PRC Hearing on PNM Canceled
A few days ago I posted about an upcoming Public Regulation Commission hearing on PNM’s requested rate hike that was to take place on Wednesday the 21st. This hearing has been canceled. No word yet on when it will be re-scheduled, but I received the word on this directly from Commissioner Jason Marks.
No wonder schools of education are so screwed up
Rarely does anything surprise me in the newspaper these days. I do have to say that this article expounding on the benefits of the “Cuban model” was pretty surprising. What made it even more shocking was the fact that the author is a professor in the College of Education at Eastern New Mexico University (based in Portales). If communists like this guy are hanging out in Portales, I can only imagine what the education departments in Santa Fe and Taos must be like.
But enough about the author, what about the actual argument that Americans should look to Cuba as a model? First and foremost, it is hard to understand why so many Cubans have escaped their “socialist paradise” and “people first politics and economics” over the years in favor of coming to the United States and other freer nations.
While I know that the author would say that gross domestic product is not a useful measuring stick, it is also useful to note that Cuba’s is ranked 109th in the world. That is not exactly a stellar performance and it is maintained in part by reliance on Venezuelan oil.
I do agree with the author on one thing: the US should end the embargo. But I believe that a flood of US tourists and dollars would be the death knell for the Cuban state as it exists. After all, the embargo is the catch-all excuse that Fidel Castro and his brother have used as an excuse for their nation’s poverty. Taking it away would clearly show that the emperor has no clothes. Besides, free Americans should be able to travel wherever they are welcomed.
Las Cruces gross receipts tax on the rise
The latest Rio Grande Foundation article from the Las Cruces Sun-News details the rising gross receipts tax both in Cruces and around the state and details the many harms that result from this seemingly ever-rising tax.
A chart detailing the rising GRT in Las Cruces can be found here.
PRC Hearing on PNM Rate Hikes
Next Wednesday (the 21st of July), the PRC will be meeting to discuss the PNM rate hike. Here is a summary of the issue from PNM, what is causing the rate increases, and how it will impact various groups.
I have written about the potential negative impact of New Mexico’s renewable mandates. That being said, as PRC Commissioner Jason Marks points out, this particular rate increase is not directly related to New Mexico’s renewable mandates per se, so this is an issue to bring up at future rate increase hearings that the PRC will inevitably need to hold, not this one. Anyway, I plan to attend at least a portion of the meeting, but no one picked up my call to the PRC’s number: (505) 827-6941 this morning to find out more details (which I’ll post in a comment to this email).
