DuPont’s Disinformation

Pete DuPont makes the absurd claim that Bill Richardson has exercised spending discipline:
“Colorado’s Bill Owens supported (though he is wavering a bit) the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or Tabor, a constitutional provision restricting the growth of state spending to the growth in population plus inflation and mandating the return of any revenue surplus to the taxpayer, making Colorado a top personal income growth state in the country for a decade. New Mexico’s Bill Richardson has followed the same successful path, holding state spending to Tabor levels even though there is no requirement that he do so, and reducing income and capital gains taxes.”
Here is my response:
DuPont needs to get his facts straight about Bill Richardson. Richardson is on a spending binge. In current dollars Richardson is on pace to have increased New Mexico’s general fund budget by $400 million above inflation plus population growth by the end of his term. That constitutes an increase of 9.5% ABOVE a TABOR limit. He has squandered the opportunity for significant tax reductions inherited from Gary Johnson’s 8 years of budget discipline.
CATO and Forbes had their facts wrong about Richardson’s tax record. Now DuPont can’t get it right about spending. Why all of this disinformation about New Mexico?