Reform Efforts Fail

I should have been surprised to read this (subscription) in the Journal, but I'm not:

State lawmakers on Monday endorsed stricter rules for gifts and campaign contributions to the governor and other constitutional officers.

They rejected placing themselves under the same restrictions [emphasis added].

And the rationale behind rejecting the very sensible amendment proposed by Senator Steve Komadina (R) to include legislators:

"This would be a very strict sea change ... if legislators had to not accept contributions from people who do business with the state," [Senator Dede] Feldman said.

Gee, I guess after being plagued by corruption scandals and kickback schemes on local and national levels, we wouldn't want to make any changes that would be too "strict." If someone has a chance, please send me the list of who voted for and against the amendment to include legislators.

Just Hit Snooze

Here is an interesting excerpt from a State of New Mexico State Senate press release (pdf):

Senators Cynthia Nava (D- Dona Ana), Mary Kay Papen (D-Dona Ana), Michael Sanchez (D-Valencia), Mary Jane Garcia (D-Dona Ana) and Bernadette Sanchez (D-Bernalillo) endorsed legislation created by the Senate Education Committee creating the Mathematics & Science Education Act. The legislation was developed with Republicans in a bi-partisan effort.

So, if this was a "bi-partisan effort" how is it that there are no R's listed on those endorsing
this legislation? I guess bipartisanship doesn't include sharing the credit. Although a point-by-point analysis of this much heralded "wake-up call" makes me think that might be a good thing:

It includes creation of the initiative as well as a statewide council to improve statewide mathematics and science instruction with the goal of narrowing the achievement gap.

Just perfect. "Creation of the initiative" is now considered progress. Well, heck if that is all it takes, why don't we just end world hunger, promote world peace and mandate health and happiness? Yuppers, just create an initiative, and we can call it a day. But wait, there is more. The powers that be are going to create a statewide council. Sure, that makes sense. If the current governing bodies can't get the desired results, just create another one.

The Act also creates a team inside the Public Education Department for science and mathematics, develops a framework for a statewide instructional model, provides funding to facilitate student internships at non-school locations and creates math and science summer institutes for educator professional development.

You mean to tell me there isn't already a team inside the Public Education Department that addresses science and mathematics. Well, then what exactly have those people been doing over there with all that taxpayer cash?

Of course, the funniest line is that this Act calls for "a framework for a statewide instructional model." Why is this so funny? As it turns out, the Richardson administration has already publicly celebrated "their success" in this arena:

New Mexico got an A for standards and accountability - including its sanctions and help for low-performing schools - and a B for efforts to improve teacher quality. It earned a B plus for resource equity - meaning wealthier and poorer districts have similar per-pupil funding levels - and a C in school climate.

Education Secretary Veronica Garcia said the rankings indicate the state has laid the groundwork to improve academic performance.

There you have it folks. The problem in a nutshell. We can't improve education because we never move beyond laying the groundwork. Thanks for the wake-up call, Senators.

Spending Gone Wild

Governor Bill Richardson has attempted to keep the legislature from focusing on the budget - the constitutional purpose of the 30 day session - and the results are bills that propose spending with reckless abandonment. Case in point, SB 361 introduced by Senator Mary Jane Garcia (D):

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO THE STATE COMMISSION OF PUBLIC RECORDS FOR THE OFFICE OF THE NEW MEXICO STATE HISTORIAN'S NEW MEXICO HISTORY WEB SITE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. APPROPRIATION.--Five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the state commission of public records for expenditure in fiscal year 2007 for the office of the New Mexico state historian's New Mexico history web site project to enhance the content development for the existing web site. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2007 shall revert to the general fund.

That's right, half a million dollars to revise a website. Let's put this into perspective. This blog costs me less than a $100 per year. Generally speaking, I charge a client $5,000 to $25,000 to launch a company website. The higher price is for a site with e-commerce and advanced database capabilities.

Or maybe you prefer a more apples to apples comparison. Project Gutenberg has 17,000 free books in the online book catalog and with 2 million ebooks downloaded each month, this is one busy site. According to the 2005 filing of their 990 the annual cost for staffing this huge undertaking is $142,248 of which $110,446 is for salaries and compensation. Considering that taxpayers are already paying to staff the New Mexico Office of State History, you have to wonder where is this additional $500,000 going to be spent.

Governor Richardson Lashes out at Blogs

Steve Terrell pointed out a mistake I made in an earlier post. He also brought to my attention that he has a Legislature blog over at the SF New Mexican. It has some pretty interesting reading:

Richardson also talked about his concerns about blogs. He praised political blogger Joe Monahan. "I think we're lucky that we have one blog that all of you read. Monahan And he's good. He knows the process." But, Richardson said blogs are predominantly partisan right-wing efforts full of innuendoes and rumors. He urged members of the press to be "diligent, vigilant and check their sources and not get over-excited in a competitive frenzy to deal with, in many cases, misinformation that is ideological."

Richardson charged that many bloggers are paid "indirectly" by political organizations. "On both sides," he said, "But I think the preponderance is on the right."

Got to love it. You have a politician who is notorious for handing out political favors and contracts to large donors talking about "indirect" pay. Whereas the only indirect pay I've received to date is through Google ads, and the amount... a whopping $2.79 - actually I haven't received it because they wait until you've earned $50.

Also someone in the Governor's office ought to inform him there are a heck of a lot more blogs in New Mexico leaning to the left than to the right. Finally, Governor Richardson should note that the last guy who blamed blogs for his problems is now gone from the scene.

Update: I just added a picture at the top of this post. It came from this very insightful blog post.

Calling in from the Slopes

Democracy for New Mexico reports that John Kerry is calling for a filibuster of Judge Alito. What the good folks over at DFNM failed to report is that he is calling it in from the ski slopes of Switzerland.

How timely. Why just yesterday we were talking about the problem with jet-setting politicians.

More Graduates

Steve Terrell has a good article here. Apparently, Senator Dede Feldman also attended that school we talked about yesterday:

Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, said she thinks gifts from lobbyists should be banned.

Trips, such as the LES Netherlands jaunts "don't look good," Feldman said.

However, she said, sometimes "think tanks" pay for lawmakers to go to out-of-state conferences concerning various issues such as health care. Feldman has accepted such trips, she said, which proved to be worthwhile.

And then there is this gem from the twenty year legislative veteran, Sen. Cisco McSorley (D) Senate Republican Whip Lee Rawson:

"It's getting difficult to recruit people who could do an exceptional job, but can't afford to run," Rawson said in an interview this week.

"We no longer have a Legislature that is representative of our population at large," he said.

Therefore, he said, the state should consider another path -- providing an actual salary for lawmakers.

Um, Senator Rawson, I've got a better idea, and it won't cost the population at large a boatload of extra tax money. Why don't you just encourage those folks who get elected to the legislature and never leave to finally move on. You know, people who have been there for more than say eight years. Leadership by example is a beautiful thing.

Update: Thanks to Steve Terrell for pointing out my mistake above. I guess my mind just wouldn't let me process that a Republican, the Senate Minority Whip no less, would be proposing that we move away from a volunteer citizen legisalture to a paid legislature.

Political Doublespeak

Either Joe Monahan has made a transcription mistake, or this is one of the best examples of political doublespeak to be seen in New Mexico since the John Kerry campaign:

"Madrid said she received complaints about allegedly shady deals in the state Auditor's Office in the late 1990s, (when indicted Treasurer Robert Vigil was Auditor) and that she referred them to the District Attorney's Office in Santa Fe, as well as the FBI.

"Questions were not raised in my office with regard to the treasurer," Madrid said. "There were no complaints made to me about the Treasurer's Office at all."

What is someone teaching this stuff in Democratic campaign school? Great strategy... say it happened, and in the next breath deny it happened. The problem is that Patricia Madrid didn't just receive complaints. She actually received a letter from then Governor Johnson requesting a formal inquiry, and she "passed the buck."

When the stakes were high and New Mexicans needed a principled Attorney General to step up and prosecute corruption at the highest levels, Patricia Madrid proved she wasn't up to the task. Now she wants to represents our interests in the Washington. Yeah, that's a good idea.

Business Day Insanity

Today is Business Day up at the legislature, and for the first time in a couple of years, I'm not there for the "festivities." I guess you could consider it a silent protest. It seems like the various Chambers of Commerce have gone crazy for the third year in a row.

First, there was that nonsense of them supporting the Governor's raid on the permanent fund. That was followed by the effort to fund Pre-K programs despite the fact that our K-12 performance is sorely lacking. Now, the coup de grace... they are lobbying for a statewide increase in the minimum wage.

Are you people nuts?

Business people don't need to lobby to raise the minimum wage. We just need to pay employees more than the minimum wage. It's pretty simple. If the Chambers feel so strongly about this issue, then make Chamber membership available only to those who pay their employees more than the minimum.

These past and current efforts send the wrong message. So, just cut it out.

A Simple Prediction

I've been thinking about the spacesport proposal, and my simple prediction is that the $225 million project will in the end cost taxpayers closer to a billion dollars. Think about it, our state government has been unable to accurately project the costs of the implementation of 19th century modes of transportation, yet we're supposed to trust their projections for the final frontier.

Of course this raises another question. If it only costs $225 million to get to space, why on earth does it cost $393 million to get from Belen to Bernalillo?

Stupid in America

I was all set to work on Part Two of the State of the State Analysis this morning, but I'm swamped catching up on some work. So, instead I suggest you take the time to read this and view the video commentary. While you're at it, maybe you could bring it to the attention of some key legislators and the Governor. Tell them that the best thing that could happen in the Year of the Child is actual school reform. It sure would be a nice change from just throwing money at the problem.

"Bill"board Music Hits

This blogger dropped me a comment a few days ago, and I suggest you take a look at his site. You especially won't want to miss listening to these classics:

• Gov's Plane
• Route Scootin' Billy
• My List
• Gov's Plane Redux

Make sure to play them for your friends.

State of the State Analysis -Part One

Governor Bill Richardson launched his State of the State address talking about New Mexico's future. Not surprising, it is a common focus with the members of this administration. They like to talk about "moving forward" and setting the foundation for a better future. Why? Well, because the present isn't so impressive. In the Governor's own words:

We have not reached our destination yet.

When exactly is this train supposed to pull into the station? In the final year of an administration, shouldn't we have reached at least one "destination."

The results speak for themselves. Better schools, better jobs, more money in people's pockets, and a healthier, safer New Mexico.

Amen Governor, I couldn't agree with you more. The results DO speak for themselves:

• More of our schools are failing this year than last.
• According to the FDIC, the overwhelming majority of job growth in NM has been low wage, and since 2001 we have suffered a net loss of high wage jobs.
  
• Shell games with taxes have resulted in overflowing government coffers and less money in our pockets.
  
• There has been absolutely no change in our health ranking over the last two years.
  
• As to safety, our state's largest metro is still ranked as one of the 25 most dangerous in the nation.

Ok, so it is clear we have been unable to make any progress to date despite ever-increasing budgets. So, how does the Governor propose to address these embarrassing failures?

He doesn't.

Nope. Instead Governor Richardson is going to introduce a whole new slew of programs. Take this gem:

One glaring weakness in our schools is parental involvement. We need to break down the barriers between parents and schools, to reach out, to engage moms, dads and in many cases, grandparents who are called into action to raise their grandchildren.

Just what kind of motivation is the government going to provide parents to get them to care about their children? Are we going to hand out parental involvement rebate checks? What kind of barriers are we talking about? My kids go to public school, and I have never encountered any barriers to my involvement. This is not a government problem with a government solution. This is a personal responsibility problem with a personal responsibility solution.

And what is the strategy for solving school performance problems?

To make sure New Mexico students are fully prepared, I call for a new commitment to match high school curricula with college entrance exams. The tests to get out of high school should match the tests to get into college.

Gee, that sounds wonderful. Of course, it has nothing to do with the performance problems. Last I checked, our students aren't passing the current tests. This proposal would be the equivalent of Louisiana's Governor proposing to build better boats to solve hurricane flooding issues in New Orleans.

Let's see what else is in store for the Year of the Child.

Additional before- and after- school programs will also help decrease child obesity, expand physical activity, and increase parent and community involvement in schools.

First, the Governor says he needs to create programs to get parents involved in schools. Then he says he needs to create more school programs, and that will lead to parental involvement.
Who writes this stuff?

Stay tuned for Part Two...

Spin at Its Best

Yet another example of Governor Bill Richardson's actions speaking louder than his words:

The webcast of Richardson's speech will be the Legislature's first live foray on the Internet.

"I'm proud to utilize this innovative technology to give New Mexicans who can't be here in person the opportunity to see my State of the State speech on the Internet," Richardson said in a news release.

Last year, the Legislature approved $50,000 to buy cameras and other equipment to webcast the daily floor sessions of the Legislature. However, Richardson used his line-item veto power to squash the proposal.

Governor to Scatter Focus

By all accounts, there is a record budget surplus this year. Of course, after the financial scandals that have rocked the state in recent months, it would only be natural for New Mexicans to expect the legislature and the administration to move ahead carefully in spending taxpayers money. You know, take the time act diligently and cross all of the t's and dot all of the i's. At least, that is what a rational taxpayer might expect to read in articles (subscription) about the legislative session:

The governor sets the agendas for the Legislature's 30-day sessions, in which the No. 1 job is passing a budget. The state constitution says the legislators have 30 days to do that and whatever else might arise.

Richardson, who outlines his agenda in his State of the State address today, and who is up for re-election this year, has indicated that a lot will arise.

"I've said to the legislators, 'Expect a 90-day session in 30 days,' '' Richardson told The Associated Press.

Oh well, so much for due diligence. Apparently, the Governor's plans on once again using his slight of hand techniques to keep the legislators attentions on anything but the budget issues which are the primary purpose of this session.

There He Goes Again

Got to hand it to Joe Monahan. He sure knows how to stir trouble where none exists:

It will be interesting to see if Bailey can muster enough support at the R's pre-primary convention to be placed on the ballot, or whether he's forced to get more petition signatures to win a ballot position. If they don't let him on, they take a hit for snubbing a minority.

And with those quick strokes on a keyboard, Joe makes the primary about race. Of course, he continues with this gem:

As for African-Americans in NM politics on this Martin Luther King Day, they can point to ABQ Dem State Rep. and Majority Whip Sheryl Williams Stapleton as a success, but there are no more examples, even though African-Americans make up about 3 percent of the state's population.

Ouch, talk about snubbing minorities. How is it that Representative Jane E. Powdrell-Culbert (R) doesn't count? Last I checked there were 28 Republican members of the New Mexico House of Representatives. So, that would mean 3.6 percent of the House Republican caucus is African-American.

I'm really getting a little tired of people discounting the leadership roles minorities have and continue to play in Republican politics.

Governor Positions Slowdown as Progress

Anyone who lives here for any length of time knows that our state has two mottos. There is the official, Land of Enchantment, and then there is the unofficial Land of Manana. The Richardson administration has gone out of its way to embrace the philosophies of the latter.

The latest example is the new push to return to paper ballots (subscription):

Converting to a paper-ballot system statewide could require the purchase of about 1,500 optical-scan tabulators at a cost to the state of about $11 million, officials said.

Eleven of New Mexico's 33 counties already use a similar system.

"I am proposing a bold step forward by standardizing the election systems in all of New Mexico's 33 counties," Richardson said at the Capitol on Thursday.

"Accuracy is more important than speed," the governor said. He was referring to national controversy over vote counts by electronic touchscreen and lever machines without so-called "paper trails," as well as the expected slower pace of voting by paper ballot.

Only Governor Richardson could rationalize the rejection of technology to be "a bold step forward." What's next? Does he address the DWI problem by getting everyone to abandon their vehicles and revert to horse and buggy?

And what about that "Accuracy is more important than speed" comment? You mean, our election results are going to get even slower? As I recall, we couldn't even report the election results for the 2004 presidential election on Election Day.

That Makes Two

So far there are two political candidates for 2006 that are blogging. One for Land Commissioner and one for Santa Fe County Sheriff. Folks on my side of the aisle would be wise to pay attention.

So About This Train

A whole slew of tough questions Governor Richardson and his appointees have failed to answer.

The Tax System Problem

The Journal had an article yesterday (subscription) in the Business Outlook on tax pyramiding in which the New Mexico Tax Research Institute came to some very alarming conclusions.

State and local government collected about $2.3 billion in gross receipts tax in the last four quarters, about $1.17 billion of which was collected as a result of transactions between businesses, the study found. Tax credits and other relief returned about $426 million of that to businesses, leaving $748 million in taxes that are paid on goods and services that businesses buy.

First problem that jumps off the page is that a little over half of all gross receipts tax is based on pyramiding taxes (i.e. tax upon tax). Second problem is in the last line of that quotation. That last line is deceiving. As the owner of two small businesses I can tell you I won't see those "tax credits and relief" come back into my business. Instead, the legislature and the Governor in their infinite wisdom, makes me pay taxes on transactions between my service business and other service businesses and turns around and gives tax credits and relief to other companies.

Oh yeah, that's fair.

Granted, there are business collations pushing these gems of legislation under the misconception that a piecemeal approach to tax cuts is the way towards progress. It's not. It results in the abomination we currently call a tax system. But hey, it gets worse. The articles ends with this gem of a recommendation:

Persuading the state to forego $748 million in revenue will be a hard sale, he said.

Instead, if legislators think pyramiding is a problem, they might look at "pockets of pain" and provide credits to some industries, such as mining and utilities, that currently have little pyramiding relief, Eads said.

Brilliant logic... let's add to the problem by making some more special allowances.

Grading on a Curve

Education Week gives New Mexico a B grade. Findings include:

Tests taken last spring by nearly 195,000 New Mexico students indicated problems with proficiency in reading, math and science, and an achievement gap among ethnic groups. "We're taking those tough steps that will then move into improving test scores," Richardson said at a news conference.

The report also said New Mexico has not kept pace with other states in graduation rates and the number of students who graduate from public high schools and enroll in two- or four-year colleges.

Low test scores, subpar graduation rates and ethnic achievement gaps in a minority majority state, but hey, we got a "B", so no worries.

Problem with Teacher's Union

The definition of a labor union:

An organization of wage earners formed for the purpose of serving the members' interests with respect to wages and working conditions.

Compare that to how the NEA spends its members' money.

Better than Number One

Q: How does New Mexico's congressional delegation fare when it comes to bringing home the federal pork?

A: We're Number One

Yet, Governor Richardson's chief of staff, Dave Contarino, puts forth this ridiculous argument when defending the administration's payout of $138,000 in taxpayer funds to Democratic political operatives (subscription):

Contarino said the state needs a private lobbying firm to help New Mexico's congressional delegation in seeking federal money for the state.

What, being number one is not enough? The real reason this firm is getting NM taxpayer funds is:

John Podesta's brother, Tony Podesta, is one co-chair of the company. He is a Democratic strategist who ran John Kerry's presidential campaign in Pennsylvania. He is also former counsel to Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Come on Dave, let's be honest here. Our delegation does not need help in bringing home the bacon. However, Governor Richardson does need help with his presidential bid.

2006 - The Year of the Child

After reading a rundown on the Year of the Judiciary, I don't mind admitting I'm a little concerned that Governor Richardson is making 2006 the Year of the Child.