Clear thinking and straight talk from the top of a mountain.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Let's See the Proof
The Governor's office and Lt. Governor Diane Denish appear to be in a he said / she said squabble about the state's failure to land a Race to the Top education reform grant from the Obama administration:
Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia said that despite Denish's interest in education, she declined repeated invitations to help develop the proposal.
"Her only involvement was to write a letter in support of the state's proposal, which she praised as being 'innovative,'" Ray-Garcia said.
"Now, for whatever reason, she has decided to attack the hard work of a lot of New Mexicans, including Secretary Garcia and her staff, who dedicated a lot of time and resources into this proposal. It was a strong proposal and Governor Richardson was proud to spend considerable time in Washington D.C. last week lobbying Secretary Duncan on its merits."
Denish spokesman James Hallinan said Denish was never invited to participate in the grant-writing process.
Now, I admit to being a bit curious as to whom is telling the truth here. And, as it was pointed out to me by one reader, this should be relatively easy to prove one way or the other. Maybe Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia would like to send us a copy of the emails or memos that were sent to the Lt. Governor inviting her to help develop the proposal, or maybe a copy of one of the written responses where she "declined repeated inivtations."
Alternately, maybe the Lt. Governor's spokesman, James Hallinan could send us a copy of the request the Lt. Governor made to actually be involved with the proposal writing. I'm just saying, if one of you is telling the truth, please back it up with a little written evidence.
As a relative tangent, you've got to love the fact that teachers' union representative actually wrote a letter AGAINST the state's request for $160 million from the feds:
And while the state's chances probably weren't helped by a letter from Albuquerque Teachers Federation President Ellen Bernstein criticizing the state's application, that likely wasn't a determining factor.
It may not have been a determining factor, but I do hope that when we have a second special session this year because revenue is less than projected, our state legislatures take note that the union went out of their way to keep money for education from coming into the state. Education cuts in the amount of $160 million should absolutely be on the table if a second special session is called.
We're going to have our New Mexico poll results out starting tomorrow- perhaps the most interesting thing we found is that Bill Richardson has become one of the least popular Governors in the country, with 63% of voters in the state disapproving of him to only 28% approving. He's even in negative territory among Democrats at a 42/47 spread.
I've always been amazed by Governor Bill Richardson's early popularity. Despite the rhetoric, the "successes" of this Administration have been nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
And, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I could go on for days, but you can just hit the appropriate label button below and read it all without me repeating it.
Where New Mexico departs from its regional counterparts is that it still looks favored to vote Democratic in its most significant statewide race this year. Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish leads her top Republican opponent, Pete Domenici Jr., by a 45-40 margin and has leads of 14-18 points over the rest of the GOP field.
Denish is by far the best known of the candidates running, with 41% of voters in the state holding a positive opinion of her to just 34% who see her negatively.
Keep in mind, the Lt. Governor has been campaigning for this position for going on two years. So, I don't know that those numbers are anything to celebrate about - especially, considering Pete Domenici Jr. just got in the race a couple of weeks ago.
It's going to be very hard for the Lt. Governor to start disengaging herself from the Governor after Denish has been so silent for so long. Only 34% of the voters see her negatively right now, but let's be realistic. She has operated in the shadow of Governor for the last eight years. His failed policies are bringing him down very quickly. It's not going to be very long before that same problem is encountered by Richardson's #2. This is particularly true when we consider that the Governor spent so much time out of state during his Presidential dream chasing, that the state was actually being run by Lt. Governor Diane Denish.
Huge budget issues continue to loom as the Legislature comes to a close today. So, you've got to wonder how the Hispanic Education Act can be a priority:
But with only hours remaining in the legislative session at the time of the Senate's 25-13 vote, House Bill 150 was sent back to the House, which needed to approve it before it could be forwarded to Gov. Bill Richardson.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Rick Miera, D-Albuquerque, was optimistic Wednesday night that the House would concur on the amendment by today's noon adjournment.
The legislation, which is supported by Richardson, would create a Hispanic education liaison position inside the state Public Education Department. It also would require an annual report card on Hispanic performance in New Mexico schools. And it would create a Hispanic education advisory council that would provide input to the education secretary.
Considering her complicit silence for seven plus years as Lt. Governor and many more years before that as the Chairman of the Democratic Party, many might consider Diane Denish's election year decision to become an open government advocate something of a Denish-come-lately phenomenon.
It's been more than half a decade, all of which Lt. Governor Diane Denish has occupied the number two seat in one of the most corrupt and backroom dealing administrations this state has ever seen, since I've lamented the fact that how the administration spends taxpayer dollars is done in secrecy.
Now that election season is in full swing, Governor Richardson's number two is trying to reposition herself as a "Champion of Sunshine." Well, she may be able to fool some folks, but come November the voters are not likely to forget that when it came to letting the sun shine in this scandal plagued administration, Lt. Governor Diane Denish her time hiding in the clouds.
Despite the fact that this year's State of the State address by Governor Richardson was billed to be his shortest to date. It still seemed a bit long to me. Then again, I always have a hard time continuing with the speech after the Governor begins spewing nonsense:
New Mexico has always been fiscally responsible.
Unlike Washington, New Mexico cannot run a deficit, nor overspend.
We must have a balanced budget.
And we have balanced the budget every single year.
If New Mexico can't overspend, you have to wonder how we got ourselves into this pickle. Oh wait, no wondering needed. I know exactly how we ended up here. We took one time funds and created recurring expense obligations - one after another after another. There are the obvious examples like the Rail Runner and the Spaceport, and there are many more not so obvious examples, like continually throw money at education without expecting a single result.
There's been a lot of talk about increasing taxes this session, but the shot heard round the world should serve as a warning to those that prefer tax raising over spending cuts.
We've all seen the movie plot line. It's been in every mob movie made to date. The mob boss needs an alibi. So, he makes a point of being seen somewhere other than the scene of the crime. After all, if he was seen by hundreds at a party, how could he possibly be linked to the crime in question. Sure, his hired guns were there, but hey, there's no guilt by association, right?
The State Investment Council got together this week to hear what outside consultants found in their review of the agency.
To no surprise, Gov. Bill Richardson, who chairs the council and controls it through his appointment of a majority of its members, didn't attend the council meeting.
As I first reported last February, Richardson has rarely attended the meetings of the State Investment Council, which invests billions of dollars in state endowment funds.
Now, the governor is using his absence in an apparent bid to distance himself from the scandal that has rocked the council over the past several months.
"The reality is I left decisions to my state investment board," Richardson told reporters Tuesday. "I hardly attended meetings. I felt that I shouldn't be part of decisions."
Now we know why the movie industry loves to come to New Mexico. We provide great inspiration for future plot lines.
A records clerk at New Mexico State University is suing past and present state officials and a couple of controversial financial firms in a class-action suit to recapture money lost in questionable investments by the state Educational Retirement Board.
The suit, filed by Donna Hill of Las Cruces, seeks to win back money for 95,000 beneficiaries of the state educators' pension fund.
Hill, in an e-mail Tuesday, referred all questions to one of her lawyers, Jonathan Cuneo of Washington, D.C.
The tab for bad investments the state made with Chicago-based Vanderbilt Capital just got worse — to the tune of at least another $65 million.
The Legislative Finance Committee is now estimating the state lost $155 million in a series of highly leveraged mortgage investments with Vanderbilt, up from earlier estimates of $90 million.
On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee was told by a private attorney whose client is suing to reclaim the losses that the red ink on the investments could go as high as $200 million.
Legislators were not happy .
"We've got a budget crisis, an ethics crisis and an investment crisis," said Sen. Cisco McSorley, an Albuquerque Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I don't know if we can deal with all three in a 30-day session."
The concern was bipartisan.
While this news was breaking, our fearless Governor Richardson, Chairman of the SIC, was addressing the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce (GACC) on his plans to raise taxes by $200 million - just a little more than the amount of taxpayer money the SIC "lost" under the administration's watch.
Now, for those who might be tempted to argue that the Governor was simply derelict in his duties when it came to oversight of the SIC investment practice, consider this latest finding from an independent third party:
An outside review of the State Investment Council, commissioned after a string of scandals, recommends significantly curtailing the governor's power over the SIC.
On the negative side, said Larry Waldman, senior research scientist at UNM's Business and Economic Research, “The local situation is terrible. Job growth is the lowest it has been since at least World War II. It's worse than most people thought it would be.” He said New Mexico's economy probably won't show signs of recovery until at least the second quarter of this year.
Hmm, not exactly the time most rationale people would think to promote regressive taxes, but then again, it's not like this administration has ever really been concerned about the needs of everyday New Mexicans.
Governor Richardson believes government must be managed in a fiscally responsible manner, and that every government program must be held accountable to the taxpayers. Throughout his administration Governor Richardson has worked to make sure every tax dollar is spent wisely. He has required state agencies to find efficiencies, streamline existing processes, realign resources as policy priorities change, and collaborate to reduce duplication and bureaucracy.
During his first year in office, the Governor implemented a number of efficiency measures, including eliminating unnecessary contracts, maximizing federal and other revenue, shifting dollars to the classroom, executing strategic purchasing and implementing a statewide performance review that by FY07 resulted in more than $80 million in savings to the citizens of New Mexico. He also stepped up enforcement against tax fraud to collect more back-taxes owed.
The only explanation for the above excerpt actually showing up in print is that the Governor has found money to hire joke writers. After all, there is a lot that can be said about how the Richardson Administration has managed the state, but the words "fiscally responsible" don't belong anywhere in that description.
Let's look at some of the key points being made here.
"Every government program must be held accountable to the taxpayers" - When was the last time you heard about a government program being held accountable under the Richardson Administration? The correct response would be never. The only government programs that have been shutdown for a lack of accountability have come about as a result of external indictments. Heck, even the proposed across the board "3-percent reduction in spending" is a way of avoiding holding individual programs accountable.
"He has required state agencies to find efficiencies, streamline existing processes, realign resources as policy priorities change, and collaborate to reduce duplication and bureaucracy." Let's see, hardly a year went by where the Governor did not create new layers of government or dole out high paying government jobs to supporters. How this can be seen as reducing duplication and bureaucracy is anyone's guess.
The rest of his claims are just as ridiculous. Scanning through the actual line item proposals actually leaves one scratching his head as well. Sure, there are a lot of proposed cuts, but its the proposed increases that just don't make a lot of sense. For example when considering must haves during a time of economic crisis, consider whether these make the top of your list?
26.2% budget increase for the Athletic Trainers Practice Board
11% budget increase for the Interior Design Board
489% budget increase for the Office of the Natural Resources Trustee
28% budget increase for the Legislature
All I can say is that's an interesting choice of priorities when you're going to be coming after the taxpaying public for even more tax dollars.
Every year Governor Richardson gives a name to the upcoming legislative session. Well, if even a small part of the proposals made by Governor Richardson's Budget Balancing Task Force come to pass, the 2010 legislative session will be known as The Year of the Tax Increase. Actually, we should probably make that plural. This 400+ page document has tax upon tax upon tax proposed as the solution to our supposed budget woes.
Some of these tax increases, if passed, would take effect TOMORROW. I kid you not. Proposed income tax increases would begin tomorrow and are designed to take $327,971,000 out of our pockets over the next five years and give it to elected officials to make up for their spending spree over the last seven years. Now, while the economy, at least temporarily, does not seem to be getting worse, it also doesn't seem to be getting any better. Unemployment numbers are holding steady at levels not seen since the 1940's:
New Mexico's jobless rate remained steady at 7.8 percent in November, the same as the previous month but much higher than the 4.6 percent rate in November 2008.
The national unemployment rate in November decreased to 10 percent.
The state's labor department, the Department of Workforce Solutions, says the state lost 25,400 jobs over the past year.
The department says the decline in the number of jobs is the worst New Mexico has seen in modern times and it will be a number of years until employment reaches pre-recession levels.
That's right, it will be many more years until we get back to healthy rates of employment and a growing economy. Yet, for those of you lucky enough to be holding a job, you're going to find yourself, not only working harder because you're doing the work that used to be done by two or more people, but also working for less, because state government is going to be taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of your pocket.
Remember all tax increases are permanent. It's just the nature of the beast. Consider this from the report:
The gross receipts tax was first levied in 1934 (as the emergency school tax) as a temporary measure to keep the schools open; it was made permanent in 1935. The tax applied to almost all business sectors, including services. This contrasted markedly with other early-adopter states, like Mississippi, which taxed only sales of tangible goods. In 1966, the tax was reorganized and renamed as the gross receipts tax.
Government always uses some sort of "emergency" to rationalize its takings, be they individual freedoms or financial. However, long after the "emergency" has subsided, what was supposed to be a temporary measure becomes permanent. There are those who think it is time to raise these GRT taxes even higher. Yet, consider that:
The table following the map shows that New Mexico’s average tax rate is the 28th highest out of the 46 states with a sales tax. However, New Mexico ranks fifth highest in terms of sales tax revenue as a percent of personal income, a result of both the relatively low level of personal income in New Mexico and the broad base of New Mexico’s gross receipts tax.
What, fifth highest in terms of sales tax revenue is not high enough? We want to be number one? I really don't see how being at the top of this list would be a good thing. Let me put this in another perspective, total GRT collected from us, the taxpaying public, in 2004 was $2.3 BILLION. Five years later, the economic crisis has resulted in only $3.2 BILLION taken from our bank accounts.
Wait a second! That's not a decline in GRT. That's an increase in GRT revenue ! In fact, that's a 38% increase in taxes in collected. Now, ask yourself, am I making 38% more today than I was five years ago? If the answer is yes, well, you're lucky. But, the truth is that as a whole we're only making about 22% more today than we were in 2004. If the government thinks they are in a crisis, then the taxpaying public must be beyond crisis. Yet, they want to raise our taxes even more.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. State government IS NOT in a revenue crisis situation. The problem is that spending has been out of step with reality for many years now. At the very least, we should be cutting expenses back to 2004 levels. If you doubt me, then ask yourself, are my neighbors, family and friends better off today that they were in 2004? I'd be very surprised if you could answer that with a "yes".
If you're the type to make New Year's Resolutions, I've got easy one for you to make. Resolve to call your legislators and the Governor, assuming you can locate him, and let them know if they like elected office, they will cut spending to bring it in line with our income growth before considering a single additional tax.
People who work for the government work for us - the taxpayers. Ultimately, we're their bosses. I know, based on some interactions you have with your employees it seems that they conveniently forget this fact.
Be that as it may, it truly works much the same as any business. We, the tax-paying bosses, produce revenue so that they have a job. This goes for everyone who is collecting a government paycheck, from President all the way down to administrative support staff in the smallest municipality in the nation.
Of course, the one biggest difference is that you, the taxpayer, can't immediately fire these employees for poor performance. Imagine how different your last unsatisfactory interaction with a taxpayer paid employee would have been if you could fire those who don't meet your level of expectation. Sure, you're probably thinking, "I can fire the elected ones." But, the thing is that particularly type of firing is a delayed action. The underlying reason the individual is losing their job is not apparent in that type of firing.
It's kind of like housebreaking a dog. If you scold the dog after the fact for eliminating in the home, it will not equate the reprimand with the actual act of relieving itself in the home. For that to happen, you actually have to catch the dog in the act and show your displeasure. Same thing with elected folks on the taxpayer payroll. When they get reprimanded (read: the boot out of the door), they think it has something to do with changes in the political wind. They rarely think it is because of their repeated poor job performance.
Ok, so our system isn't perfect. No news on that front. But, the system we've had in place is still better than any other around the world. Or, at least it had been. There wasn't immediate accountabilty, but until recently there had been some semblance of accountability. For example, until recently, our employees felt obligated to provide us information when we requested. An obligation that is legally mandated.
Days after a spokesman for Gov. Bill Richardson told a TV reporter that it was “not appropriate or dignified” to identify the 59 political appointees who are losing their jobs, Richardson’s office has formally denied a newspaper reporter’s request for that information.
The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Kate Nash didn’t get much – including anything that identifies the people who are being laid off – in response to her request.
Reporters, who happen to be taxpayers as well, have historically taken the role of internal audit committee for our, the taxpayers, business. In other words, they've looked out for our interests. However, if we allow them to be shut out and denied information about who is or isn't working for us at a given time, then we stop having any sort of control over our government employees and officials. When this happens, those folks no longer work for us as public servants. Instead, we work for them in a manner very reminiscent of feudal fiefdoms in days of old.
I don't know about you, but the idea of becoming a serf is not particularly appealing to me.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 18 says Richardson's administration violated the law by refusing to bargain with the union over five unpaid furlough days Richardson ordered for 17,000 state workers in December, January, March, April and May.
"It's a fairly simple complaint," said Albuquerque attorney Shane Youtz, who is representing AFSCME and its 6,000 members. "We asked politely to bargain and were told no."
State Personnel Director Sandi Perez said the state fulfilled its legal duties by discussing the furloughs with union leaders in November.
Well, here's a fairly simple idea for union leaders. Next time, the government starts promoting spending gobs and gobs of money (translation: hundreds of millions) on things like Spaceports and trains, you might want to voice your opposition. After all, it's things like the ongoing tens of million of dollars in losses incurred by the Rail Runner that are causing your union members to have to take unpaid furlough days:
The red ink lubricating the wheels of the Rail Runner is getting redder. Its operating deficit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, topped $19 million. It collected a mere $1.9 million in fares against $21 million in operating expenses. The losses are greater than we reported in August. Based on information provided us by the Middle Rio Grande Council of Governments, we reported then that the Rail Runner’s operating loss through May 31, 2009, exceeded $13.4 million. But data for the entire fiscal year, ending June 30, 2009, reveal a number almost 42% higher.
Now, I realize there are several members that might be taking that train up to Santa Fe, but I'll bet you there are even more that are not. Which mean, that the vast majority of members are going to see a cut in pay, so a handful can pay less than their full share to ride the train to Santa Fe.
Governor Bill Richardson is all about raising taxes in the upcoming 2010 legislative session. In his mind, a tax increase is inevitable. But, thankfully sounder minds may prevail:
Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, the Finance Committee chairman, said many lawmakers from rural parts of the state — both Democratic and Republican — remain wary of raising taxes during tough economic times, despite the state's budget deficit.
"There's no guarantee there's going to be revenue enhancements," Smith said Thursday. "I just don't see an overwhelming vote."
Lawmakers already have reduced general fund spending by about $700 million, from $6 billion to about $5.3 billion, because of steady declines in state tax revenues. Some legislators say there's room for more cuts in the state budget, which grew by 50 percent during Richardson's first six years in office.
First, a word of advice to those that oppose tax increases. Let's call them what they are - tax increases. The presumably poll tested and less offensive positioning of tax increases as "revenue enhancements" isn't fooling anyone. The voting public in New Mexico is not as naive as some elected officials would like you to think. If you raise our taxes, we'll know it. And, we'll hold it against you. We get enough "enhancement" junk mail in our inboxes to know political spam when we hear it.
With that said, let's talk about the resistance to cutting the bloated budget - a budget that increased 50% since the current administration took control. Exactly what has this recurring explosion in spending bought us?
Is your life better today than it was in 2002?
Are schools performing better than they were in 2002?
Do you feel safer in your homes today than in 2002?
Do you feel more optimistic about your future today than you did in 2002?
My guess is that the vast majority of New Mexicans would answer all of these questions with a resounding, "No!" So, let's stop talking about tax increases and let's get back to a time when life was enhanced and government was smaller. It would be a small step back to make a huge step forward.
State Prepared to Fight County Tax Lightning Correction
A law from 2001 put a 3% cap on the amount our property taxes could increase year over year. However, the law allowed the property tax to be reassessed upon sale of the property. The result has been an unconstitutional tax lightening effect. In other words, two neighbors in the same size house could find themselves paying hugely different annual tax bills.
Rick Homans, secretary of the state Taxation and Revenue Department, said Montoya's decision could have serious consequences.
"A massive rollback in property taxes, as suggested by the county assessor, raises several complex legal questions and has potentially serious fiscal implications that need to be studied more closely in the weeks ahead," he said.
Leave it to a state bureaucrat from the Richardson administration to twist the facts into a new reality. The truth of the matter is that it was the law that was passed in 2001 that raised the complex legal issues. Complex legal issues that impact tens of thousands of voters in Bernalillo County alone. Complex legal issues that have been determined by the courts to be unconstitutional, not once but twice.
Now, it is refreshing to see an elected official like Bernalillo County Assessor Karen Montoya decide to take a corrective course of action on behalf of taxpayers. Compare that action to the current administration's fallback position to delay justice for those unfairly penalized. The Richardson administration would rather push off taking any action, and instead create a new industry and over burden the court system by forcing tens of thousands of taxpayers unjustly impacted by tax lightning to sue for equitable treatment under the law.
Considering that many of those homeowners are probably struggling to keep a roof over their families heads in these times of increasing unemployment and home foreclosures, it is clear that this administration puts protecting their revenue streams ahead of the needs of working New Mexican families.
Gov. Bill Richardson said Tuesday that he will work with state legislators to develop and pass a Hispanic Education Act in the 2010 session of the New Mexico Legislature.
This administration has a proven track record of spending hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars on budget breaking projects like spaceports and trains, but to expect them to make any gap closing changes in education is just ridiculous. For us to believe this is possible, we would have to forget the track record of education failures in student performance that have plagued this administration from day one.
And, am I the only one who finds it a little bit insincere for Governor Richardson to talk about closing the education gap for Hispanics by passing a Hispanic Education Act? Seriously, this may make sense for a state with a small percentage of Hispanics, but in New Mexico, we've got the highest percentage of Hispanics of any state in the nation - 45% of our state's population.
So, nearly half of our public school children are Hispanic. Fixing and education gap for almost half of the student population does not require a special initiative. It requires a complete overhaul of the education system. But, don't expect anyone in this administration to be up to that challenge. Instead, look for them to blow more smoke and spend more money on initiatives that will do nothing to improve student performance:
Richardson asked summit participants — students, teachers, administrators, politicians and others — to come up with solutions before the legislative session. He said he wants the recommendations to help shape a new Hispanic Education Act, similar to New Mexico's Indian Education Act. That act created a special state division, which compiles an annual report on the progress of Native American students and encourages communication between tribes, among other things.
Yeah, that's what we need. A new "special state division" to compile annual reports and encourage communications. That'll solve all of our problems. Maybe we should bring back the efforts to create a Department of Hispanic Affairs as well?
“Regardless of who emerges from the Republican primary, the lack of experience in their entire slate of Republican candidates should deeply concern New Mexicans,” Geise said. “Now is not the time for on-the-job training. We need a proven leader to help New Mexico families weather these tough times, and none of the Republicans running come close to meeting that challenge.”
What's the problem with this message you ask? Well, it tries to define Lt. Governor Diane Denish as a proven leader. Of course, the only proven elected leadership Lt. Governor Denish has is as the second highest ranking member of the scandal plagued Richardson Administration. Heck, if you factor in the Governor's out of state travel schedule, especially in the last four years, you might even argue that she has significant experience as acting Governor of a scandal plagued administration. Problem is you'd be arguing against Lt. Governor Denish herself:
Denish has said, in an attempt to distance herself from the scandal-plagued Richardson administration, “There is only one governor at a time.”
So, which is it? Is she a proven leader, or someone who spent the last seven years failing to prove leadership? Let's say we give the Lt. Governor the benefit of the doubt and choose the former over the latter. Well, then we have a leader who has proven that she can be at the helm of the most corrupt, financially bankrupt and policy flawed administration in the history of New Mexico.
Our roads are crumbling, our schools are failing and not a week passes without someone tied to the administration getting indicted or resigning in shame. If this is what counts as "proven leadership" in the Democratic Party, then I think you'll find most New Mexicans have just about had enough with the Denish/Richardson brand of proven leadership.
On the other hand, if we are to accept the Lt. Governor's claim that the terrible mismanagement of the public trust belongs to Governor Bill Richardson, then she has a failure to prove leadership problem on her hands. See, over the last seven years, Lt. Governor Denish sat side by side with Governor Richardson and told New Mexicans that all was well in the Land of Enchantment. Now, we all know that all was not well. In fact, as we have spiraled further and further into crisis, one thing has becoming increasingly clear there has been a decisive lack of leadership shown within the ranks of the Richardson Administration.
Los Angeles, California (often abbreviated L.A.). This expression pokes fun at the alleged eccentricities of the city's inhabitants. For example, What do you expect? Frederick has lived in la-la land for ten years and it has rubbed off on him. [Slang; c. 1980]
A state of being out of touch with reality, as in I don't know what's going on with Amy--she seems to be in la-la land. [Slang; c. 1980] Also see cloud-cuckoo land; never-never land.
New Mexico lawmakers on Friday wrapped up their special legislative session, sending Gov. Bill Richardson a package of measures to repair a $650 million budget shortfall this year.
“It isn’t pretty. It doesn’t solve the problem; we know that. But it’s a step forward,” Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, said before the Legislature adjourned.
The package includes spending cuts of about $253 million this year in public schools, colleges and other government programs.
Richardson criticized what he said were “excessive” cuts to state agencies, and warned they could result in layoffs and reduced services.
That is the only possible explanation for the Governor's reaction to the recently ended special session. See, when you have a $650 million deficitand growing, and you only cut $526 million, that leaves a gaping hole of a whopping $124 million. No one in their right mind would call those cuts "excessive" as they clearly fall far short of the mark of what's needed.
Then again, I guess if you're a Governor living in "cloud-cuckoo land" you're not really in your right mind.
The education establishment is up in arms and willing to go to any length to fight education cuts during the special session. Admittedly, part of the problem is the way that cuts are proposed. Rather than take responsibility for past irresponsible actions, the Richardson/Denish Administration like to propose "across the board" cuts:
Richardson has proposed a 3.5 percent cut to state agencies and a 1.5 percent cut to public schools, which would amount to about a $40 million reduction in the state budget for kindergarten through 12th grade.
The money involved in the transfer to the discretionary account came from funds meant for technology and transportation, Balderas said. About $3,500 of it came from federal Head Start money, in violation of the federal rules, the audit states.
Among the items allegedly purchased by the northern New Mexico school district through the discretionary account were:
More than $2,800 in lobbying expenses.
$200 spent on 20 bags of beef jerky for lobbying at the Legislature last March.
$742 spent on food at the Bull Ring in Santa Fe for a legislative meeting last February.
More than $900 spent on flowers for funerals and other events.
Jackets for all district staff for staff appreciation in January 2007 costing $3,299. More jackets for staff and also for legislators in March 2007, costing $290.
Gift certificates from Wal-Mart for three retiring employees in May 2006 costing a total of $150.
A $302 gift from Zales Outlet for the district's retiring superintendent in August 2006.
Another $1,200 for items for conference rooms from a vendor called "Nambe" in August 2008.
For district staff: more than $1,300 for hams in December 2007, more than $1,600 for turkeys in February 2009 and more than $900 for denim shirts in April 2009.
And more than $2,400 spent on jackets for district leadership in March 2009.
The audit said that depositing money into the discretionary account resulted in less money available for school district operations. Auditors looked into transactions from the discretionary account from fiscal years 2006 to present.
Consider that's just one finding, and it accounts for almost 1.5% of the district's annual budget. Let's roll up our sleeves and get the job done.
It's like the legislature just woke from a seven year slumber, and decided to, well, decided to start acting like a legislature. For seven years, those controlling the legislature have rubber stamped every ridiculously large, bank-breaking budget proposed by the Richardson/Denish Administration.
We know temporary “band aids” applied to remedy our budget shortfalls are not the answer to long-term, structural problems with the state budget. We must craft solutions that work for future generations of New Mexicans.
In other words, what the Lt. Governor is trying to sell us is, "I got us into this mess, so I can get us out of this mess." Of course, we know that's not the way it works in the real world. In the real world, when people make bad decision after bad decision that results in the virtual collapse of their organization, they can expect to be fired.
Now in case you're wondering what type of bad decisions have been made by Rchardson/Denish Administration, you have to look no further than some of the proposals that are being put forth by their Democratic peers in the legislature to fix the "long-term, structural problems". For example, consider this press release received from Representative Cote:
Rep. Cote introduced HB24 on the floor of the House today. The proposed bill calls for the Governor to reduce the number of exempt employees in cabinet departments and state agencies with salaries over $50,000. According to the bill, cutting at least 180 of these positions would save $8.1 million for the rest of this year and $19 million in the next fiscal year.
“Under the current fiscal conditions, all state expenditures must be analyzed and none excluded. I’ve noticed significant growth in the number of exempt positions in the last several years and the incumbents of which could be placed into permanent classified positions. My bill is an attempt to reduce the size of the state’s payroll. I feel the state government has grown too large for the revenue available in the state of New Mexico,” Rep. Cote (D-Dona Ana, Otero-53) stated.
During the last regular session the Governor said he would trim salaries of 470 exempt employees but, in the past year alone, the number of Governor exempt employees has risen by 27 positions from 789 to 816, while the number of state classified employees has stayed the same. Over the past seven years the Governor’s exempt positions has risen by 281 positions.
That's right, Lt. Governor Denish has stood silently by as her partner in crime, Governor Bill Richardson, has created and handed out new government jobs as payback for political favors. This practice, among many others has led to the long term, structural problems with our state budget, that now threatens the financial viability of education, social and infrastructure programs.
Of course, Lt. Governor Denish would rather we not point fingers and blame (read: personal animosity):
Legislators should act quickly, she said–putting “personal animosity aside”–because the state doesn’t have “time or money to waste”
Of course, she's right. The state doesn't have time or money to waste... Diane Denish and Bill Richardson have spent seven years wasting our money and our time, and the proverbial cupboard is now bare.
Governor Richardson's mantra going into the Special Session this weekend is a simple one: "Budget cuts shouldn't hurt kids." It's one that I wouldn't be surprised to learn had been voter tested and approved:
But most interesting was $38,353 paid for "research/polling" to a company called Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates in Santa Monica, Calif. Nearly all the money was paid in June, a much smaller chunk paid in September.
It's a simple message, and a nice diversion tactic. Governor Richardson gets to avoid taking ownership for spending New Mexico into a crisis. He gets to pretend to be the great savior of our children, while trying to turn the legislature into the big bad wolf:
Gov. Bill Richardson late Tuesday rejected legislative proposals to plug a state budget gap that's now expected to top $650 million, saying at least two of them would cut too much money for public schools.
Richardson called for lawmakers to try again before a special legislative session on the budget starts Saturday.
"Governor Richardson has studied the legislative proposals and finds the cuts to education unacceptable because of the severe impact to teachers and kids," Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said. "The governor wants one proposal from the Legislature, not three, that makes fiscally responsible cuts without hurting schools."
But, here's the thing. The Richardson Administration, and to a great extent the rubber-stamping majority in the legislature have done more to damage education in New Mexico over the last seven years, then anything some cost-cutting could ever do. They've herald one supposed "great" education reform after another without ever actually doing anything to improve education for our children. Worse yet, they've refused to ever take ownership of their repeated failures:
A new batch of testing results shows New Mexico students' math scores are among the nation's worst, with little change from previous years.
The data, released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress and often called the Nation's Report Card, shows New Mexico's fourth-graders with an average math score of 230 out of 500. The national average was 239.
The New Mexico average score for eighth-graders was 270, compared to a national average of 282.
The achievement gap between New Mexico's Anglo students and students of other ethnicities remained wide, without significant change from 2007.
Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia said the overall numbers may not provide a fair comparison because of the small sample of students tested. About 11 percent of New Mexico's fourth-graders and 10 percent of eighth-graders took the test.
Garcia also said students and teachers in New Mexico often do not take the test very seriously because scores are not broken down by district or school. She said other states use incentives to raise awareness about the test's importance.
Oh yeah, that's the problem with the test scores. We don't have a big enough media campaign to let our kids know that tests are important. They actually know all of the information, there just not taking the test seriously. GIVE ME A BREAK! Here's a novel idea... How about taking ownership for the education failures?
Look, year after year, we've thrown ever-increasing pots of money at education with ever-worsening results. How about we try something different? Go ahead and cut education spending. Let's stop pretending the children are going to get hurt. Based on the test results released year after year, it can't get much worse for them.
And, as long as we're making cuts, how about getting rid of the hundreds of governor created and appointed positions drawing down comfortable salaries for absolutely no work. In fact, let's fire everyone who can't seem to get their department to actually provide the services they are supposed to be providing.
Heck, why stop there? Let's just fire everyone who refuses to take responsibilities for seven years of failures and fiscal mismanagement. Start with Governor Richardson and don't stop until you find someone who says, "I've totally and completely messed up, and this is how I'm going to fix it." My guess is that before you find that person, the budget will actually be balanced.
On October 17, the legislature will go into Special Session to deal with the escalating budget crisis that will likely get worse before it gets better. There are legislators that would like to cut expenses. There are legislators that would like to increase taxes. And, there is an executive who is offended that some legislators refuse to live in a fantasy world:
Gov. Bill Richardson might have a new nickname for two of his frequent adversaries in the New Mexico Legislature.
Speaking to reporters Monday after a news conference in Santa Fe, Richardson voiced frustration with Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming.
"I don't want this gloom and doom that is coming from certain quarters," Richardson said.
When a private spaceship soared over California to claim a $10 million prize, daredevil venture capitalist Alan Walton was 68 and thought he'd soon be on a rocket ride of his own.
Walton plunked down $200,000 to be among the first space tourists to make a suborbital thrill-ride high above the Earth aboard a Virgin Galactic spaceship.
Now he intends to ask for his deposit back if there's no fixed launch date by his 74th birthday next April.
New Mexicans have put more than a $100 million into Governor Richardson's space odyssey, and now that its time to pay our other bills. Maybe it's about time to ask for our deposit back. After all, it's not like this has come even close to delivering what was promised.
When Virgin officials and the state of New Mexico came together to announce a partnership to turn the commercial space industry into a reality, they estimated commercial flights beginning in 2007 in California and moving to Spaceport America as soon as the New Mexico facility was ready in 2008.
Reminder folks: we're two months away from 2010! Unlike federally backed NASA, the state of New Mexico can't actually print its own money to explore the final frontier. We have to live in reality.
Besides, think about it. Do you really want the state government of New Mexico to be directly involved in something as complicated as space launches. Remember, this is the entity that can't figure out how to do something as simple as answering the phone:
New Mexico has extended call-center hours, upgraded the phone system and added 15 workers. Even so, "We still are receiving reports of people's inability to get through," said Carrie Moritomo, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Workforce Solutions.
Five years ago, just eight of Gov. Bill Richardson's political appointees made more than $100,000 a year. Today, more than 100 earn at least that much.
Legislators expect the current revenue shortfall to grow - perhaps to $550 million or more - because of continued weakening of tax collections during the recession.
To prepare for that possibility, lawmakers are pushing for larger spending cuts than Richardson has proposed in his plan to balance the budget.
"We're in deep, deep, deep trouble, and there absolutely is not going to be an easy answer," Sen. John Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat and vice chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee, told his colleagues Monday as they reviewed options for balancing the budget.
Lawmakers see spending cuts as a permanent fix to the state's budget woes. Reducing the budgets of agencies and programs realigns state expenditures more closely with projected revenues in coming years.
If you're looking for someone to blame for our economic woes, look no further than the spending spree the Governor and his administration took us on during his years at the helm. A $100 million here, $400 million there, and next thing you know we've got big problems. Why this is coming as a surprise to anyone is beyond me.
Today State Auditor Hector Balderas released a report saying nearly 90 state agencies have failed to submit compliance audits as required by law. The total amount of dollars that hasn't been audited according to a list I received is $1,177,233,118.00.
That's right, over $1 Billion (that's Billion with a "B") spent without an audit. In light of the number of criminal indictments that have occurred in recent years when audits have been conducted, this is a very unsettling fact.
Today marks the eighth anniversary of the attacks of 9/11. It is a day that should always serve as a reminder of two irrefutable facts:
There are people in this world that hate America and the freedom it represents, and would do anything to destroy us.
There are unsung heroes that everyday put their lives on the line to safeguard our communities.
Let me first acknowledge that second point by thanking the firefighters and police officers that step up everyday when no one is looking to protect and to serve. Thanks for what you do.
As to the first point, I can't help but be concerned about the direction our country is heading. On 9/11, the terrorists failed to destroy America, but since that time, a greater and greater number of those elected to lead our country have made, and are making, decisions that might well accomplish what the terrorists failed to do those eight years ago.
On a state level, we've seen indictment after indictment against our elected officials. Yet, rather than outrage, the citizens of the state seem willing to accept this as just the way things are. Even the recent fleeing from the scene of an accident by the Governor and his staff is just seen as just another news story:
The state's boating law says the operator of a vessel has 48 hours to provide information about an accident, and Condit complied with that, according to Jodi McGinnis Porter, spokeswoman for the energy and minerals agency.
Porter said Fay, the boat's owner, stayed at the scene and provided information to investigators, while Richardson, Condit, Miller and the state police officers left. They were not required to remain there, she said.
What's been largely missing from this discussion is not what is legal, but what is ethical. Legally, the perpetrators of the accident may not have been required to remain at the scene of the accident, but ethically, they should have remained.
Think about it.
There are only two reasons that the Governor and his staff fled. First, there was alcohol involved, and it would have been determined that a crime had been committed. Or second, they wanted to avoid the unfolding public relations nightmare that would have been made worse by having their pictures taken at the scene of the accident. I'm reasonably confident that if cell phone records were checked, one of the individuals in the party will be shown to have called for advice on whether or not they "had" to remain at the scene of the accident.
There is always a lot of gratuitous talk about the need to legislate ethics in this state. But, this is just another example of why you can't legislate ethics. Unethical people will act in their own self-interests, and the shrewdly unethical will do it in within the letter of the law. You probably also noticed that not one Democrat running to lead our state in 2010 condemned the blatantly unethical act committed by Governor Richardson and his staff.
A GAO report finds that illegal immigrants constitute more than one-third of all Medicaid-funded pregnancies in California. Elsewhere in the country, the GAO found: "From 1992 to 1995 in Texas, the number of Medicaid-funded births to undocumented alien mothers more than doubled, while the total number of births remained fairly stable." People respond to economic incentives. Even when the people and the incentives are illegal.
Missouri attorney general Chris Koster has estimated that one in ten Medicaid claims is fraudulent. How much of that fraud diverts money to illegal immigrants? Nobody knows for sure and don't ask the state bureaucrats for help in finding out: When the federal government passed new rules demanding better documentation of legal residency for Medicaid recipients, the states resisted. In California, officials representing the state's Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, wanted to use such lamentably inadequate documentation as insurance records and school report cards in place of passports and birth certificates. We are entitled to question their motives, and their prudence.
So, Representative Wilson could use a visit from Miss Manners. But he is telling the truth, and President Obama is not.
Of course, President Obama's dishonesty on this topic is not limited to the question of whether or not illegal immigrants will benefit from the healthcare changes being proposed. There were numerous inaccuracies his speech. For example, take this:
OBAMA: "Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have."
THE FACTS: That's correct, as far as it goes. But neither can the plan guarantee that people can keep their current coverage. Employers sponsor coverage for most families, and they'd be free to change their health plans in ways that workers may not like, or drop insurance altogether. The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the health care bill written by House Democrats and said that by 2016 some 3 million people who now have employer-based care would lose it because their employers would decide to stop offering it.
In the past Obama repeatedly said, "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period." Now he's stopping short of that unconditional guarantee by saying nothing in the plan "requires" any change.
Considering how much effort goes into writing a presidential speech, these careful manipulations of the English language cannot be considered accidental. Again, we deal with a question of ethics. Is it ethical to put something forward as factually truthful that is actually intended to deceive?
Of course, these unethical manipulations of language are not limited to our elected officials. They are also being used by "community organizations" to confuse the issues. Consider this taken directly from the ACORN site:
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now does not apply for nor does it receive any federal grants.
ACORN has had contracts with other nonprofit organizations to perform work on projects which received federal grant support.
In illegal circles, what ACORN is describing is called money laundering. Organized crime has been doing this for years. In the case of organized crime, dollars from an illegal activity, take prostitution as an example, are flowed through a third party entity before making its way to a "legitimate" business. In this way, the business has deniability about the illegal source of the funds. Much the same way as ACORN has deniability about the federal source of its funding.
Two staff members of the Baltimore office of ACORN were fired Thursday after they were captured on hidden camera appearing to give advice on evading tax laws to a man and woman posing as a pimp and a prostitute.
The video depicts a man and a scantily dressed female partner visiting the Charles Village office of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, where they appear to ask two employees about how to shield their work from state and federal tax requirements. The supposed pimp also appears to ask the employees how to conceal underage girls from El Salvador brought into the country illegally to work for him.
"If they don't have Social Security numbers, you don't have to worry about them," the employee says.
If you haven't seen the videos, I strongly urge you to watch them. It's like watching an SNL skit from when SNL was actually funny.
Of course, the only problem is that this isn't a comedy skit. It's actually real. Now, factor in the economy, our increasingly uncompetitive educational system, the ever-growing size of government, and the you'll see why I'm so concerned that America may be doing to herself what the terrorists failed to do on 9/11.
Congratulations Governor Richardson! Your success in avoiding being indicted is undoubtedly the most impressive accomplishment of your two terms as Governor of the Land of Enchantment. In case anyone questions just how impressive an accomplishment this is compared to everything you've done as Governor, I'm providing this link for your use:
Richardson said he wasn't aware the shortfall was that big.
"I was not aware of the size of the deficit," he said. "I was aware there was some expenses that hadn't been paid but when I learned that was $3 million, I think it's important we get all the facts and we make sure a proper audit is done."
The governor's announcement [regarding Rebecca Vigil-Giron's appointment being put on hold] followed Sen. Shannon Robinson, an Albuquerque Democrat, yanking his sponsorship of an administration bill this week that would create the Media Arts and Entertainment Department, of which the film museum would be a part. Robinson was the only Senate sponsor.
House Republicans tried but failed to stop a similar bill in that chamber.
Even with his call for an audit, the governor defended Vigil-Giron.
He said she "has served the state, she's been an elected official, she's contributed to state government in New Mexico and I believe she deserves an opportunity to stay in state government."
Of course, you've got to love the Governor's logic in that last paragraph, "[Vigil-Giron] contributed to state government in New Mexico and I believe she deserves an opportunity to stay in state government."
Hmm, I wonder... let's try that a few different ways...
"Manny Aragon contributed to state government in New Mexico and I believe he deserves an opportunity to stay in state government."
"Robert Vigil contributed to state government in New Mexico and I believe he deserves an opportunity to stay in state government."
Michael Montoya contributed to state government in New Mexico and I believe he deserves an opportunity to stay in state government."
That about sums up the problem with New Mexico politics. Now, I'm sure that the timing of the Governor's meeting with the North Koreans was just a fortunate coincidence.
The test scores are in and once again the vast majority of New Mexico schools are failing to make the grade. In fact, in what is quickly becoming an annual tradition more schools failed this year than last year:
Schools repeatedly failing to meet adequate yearly progress could face sanctions, including restructuring. Results released Monday are preliminary and school districts have several weeks to appeal their designations.
The results show that for the 2008-09 school year:
69.3 percent of New Mexico's schools were labeled as failing to meet AYP, up from 67.7 percent the previous year.
124 out of 147 middle schools failed to make AYP, meaning a failure rate of 84.4 percent.
Of the state's 157 high schools, 129, or 82.2 percent, failed to make AYP.
The results are based on standardized tests taken by about 162,000 students in third through eighth grades and in 11th grade.
Schools are judged in 37 categories, including whether English language learners, students with disabilities and different ethnic groups are meeting standards. If a school misses even one of the 37 standards, it is labeled as failing to meet AYP.
However, I'm a simpler kind of guy, and I prefer executive level summaries. I also prefer to take numbers and reports at face value intertiwned with a little old-fashioned common sense. The way I see it no matter how the folks in charge try to spin it, our education system in New Mexico is failing our students at an alarming rate:
Roughly half the students who should have graduated with the class of 2008 failed to do so, prompting a call to action by the state's education secretary.
"It is alarming," Education Secretary Veronica Garcia said during a news conference Monday at which the state unveiled its four-year graduation rate, along with results of the latest round of tests required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
New Mexico's cohort graduation rate for the class of 2008 is 54 percent compared to the national average of 70 percent, according to the Public Education Department.
The cohort rate tracked individual students from the ninth grade through the summer after their senior year in 2008 to show how many graduated.
For Albuquerque Public Schools, the state's largest school district, the 2008 graduation rate was 46.2 percent, according to the state report.
Gov. Bill Richardson, who has made education reform a priority during his 6 1/2 years in office, plans to unveil another batch of reforms as early as this week.
"We will push very hard so that the main legislative agenda item in January and in my remainder of the term will be education, to finish what I believe is a good start and good progress," Richardson told the Journal last week. "We recognize that we still have a ways to go."
Hmm, let's see if we can follow the logic here. The Governor has made education reform a priority for 6 1/2 years, and each year we fail to make any progress. Heck, we actually lose ground year after year. I don't know about you, but as the parent of school age children, I don't think I have the stomach for any more of Governor Richardson's style reforms.
I was born a New Yorker and have lived in more places than I can count on one hand. My wanderings included a total of more than two years in Ecuador and nine years in California. The latter being significant as that is where I met the love of my life. Of course, she determined that our progeny would be the tenth generation of her family to be raised in New Mexico. So, this is where my roots will grow long.
