On this week’s episode Paul sits down with Joe DiGangi. Joe is the guy behind the billboards that went up during the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta which called out leadership of the state and city for New Mexico’s poor education outcomes and high crime.

What’s Joe’s story? What caused him to spend the money to put up these signs? What does he think our political leadership should do? Does Joe have plans for more billboards?

Tune in to find out more about the man behind the billboards!

According to CNBC, in the wake of the expiration of the $7,500 federal EV subsidy for EV purchases, Ford reported a 25% drop in EV sales. Kia and Hyundai reported sales of their top EV models dropped between 52% and 71% from the last year. Not all car manufacturers report their sales monthly, it is likely that similar results befell EV sales across various manufacturers. Notably, sales of gas/electric hybrids continue to rise.

There are STILL various federal and state EV subsidies on the books (including here in New Mexico), but the $7,500 federal credit was the most generous. It certainly seems that EV buyers were much more willing to buy the cars with the subsidies. Will those sales rebound? We doubt it.

KOAT Channel 7 recently reported that the MLG Administration has leased 300 internal combustion vehicles. This, despite the fact that under an executive order signed in October 2023, “all state agencies shall acquire ZEVs for all new vehicle acquisitions where one or more ZEV options for the appropriate class of vehicle are available.” And, by 2035, the state’s entire fleet will be 100 percent zero emission.

This is classic MLG: impose strict and unrealistic policies (especially environmental) but do whatever you want and let your successor deal with the fallout of unrealistic laws/regulations (see Energy Transition Act).

While the national elections Tuesday in New Jersey, Virginia, and a handful of other states weren’t especially likely to go well there is no doubt that economic issues remain of concern to voters. Trump’s erratic tariff policies have done significant harm to the economy and RGF opposes tariffs because they ARE taxes. But, whether you support higher tariffs or not it is RGF’s view that Congress MUST be the policymaking arm of the US government that makes tariff policies, not the president (of either party) acting unilaterally.

That is why RGF signed on to this amicus brief arguing that Congress, not the President has the power to levy tariffs or change tariff policies. Click on the brief below to read the brief for yourself. All indications from the Supreme Court’s hearings on this case which took place this week indicate that the Court indicate that is skeptical of the case for unilateral tariffs.

It’s election day. Be sure to vote if you are able to! Paul and Wally discuss and make predictions about some of the important national races including NYC’s and Albuquerque’s races for mayor.

Socialist Mamdani would love New Mexico’s policies.

RGF in National Review on MLG’s “free child care.”

A recent KOAT story includes an interview with a seemingly healthy woman who has been on food stamps for 30 years.

MLG is right: Poverty IS a Policy choice and for too long she and other New Mexico politicians have chosen poverty.

New Mexico’s SNAP embarrassment.

Mayor’s Race: Tim Keller and Darren White will face off in a runoff to conclude on December 9. Early voting will again be held in the upcoming weeks. Progressive Alexander Uballez has to be pleased with his strong performance at 19% with an incumbent “progressive” running for reelection. Louie Sanchez on the other hand was not able to make inroads with Darren White’s voters. Moving forward, will Uballez’ progressive voters show up in a runoff to vote for Keller who they obviously don’t like very much. Will White be able to boost his turnout in the runoff in order to defeat Keller?

Council Races: Incumbent republican leaning candidates performed well with Grout and Lewis winning reelection. Runoffs will be held in council districts 1 (West Side) and 3 (South Valley). In district 1 the race is between moderate Joshua Neal and “progressive” Stephanie Telles. District 3 will be a runoff between incumbent moderate Klarissa Peña and progressive Teresa Garcia.

Bonds: Albuquerque voters almost NEVER vote down bonds. This year was no different.

The election results were EXTREMELY slow this election. We are told that is because there were really long lines on Election Day at some polling places. We simply do not understand why more voters don’t take advantage of early voting.

Conclusion: The outcome of this election and Albuquerque’s future depends almost entirely on the runoff. A Keller victory alone ensures that city governance remains largely in the same place ideologically. A win by Darren White moves the city in a more conservative direction. A victory by Keller along with victories by Neal and Peña would move council slightly to the right. Victories by the “progressives” would move council and the City significantly to the left.

Normally we stick to state level policy issues only, but with things heating up regarding the federal government shutdown it is worth highlighting a few important facts on the situation.

The filbuster is a Senate rule requiring 60 votes to pass legislation. The filibuster is a good thing because it limits the ability of legislative majorities to pass laws only to have a later majority reverse the law. The following is from our friends at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. It highlights just SOME recent bad ideas that would have passed in the absence of the filibuster. For starters, with our nation and Congress so narrowly divided it would be easy for Democrats in Washington to add two new “blue” states and also add members to the Supreme Court. Eliminating the filibuster as President Trump wants to do would fundamentally transform our nation in some harmful ways (as the image from The Nation highlights as well).

Of course, Democrats (including New Mexico’s entire delegation) are simply lying when they say that Republicans can reopen the government on their own with only 53 votes. Democrats would LOVE to force the GOP to end the filibuster so they can ram through these and other Democrat priorities when they take over. The crazy thing is that what Republicans are proposing is a “clean” continuing resolution (CR). That essentially means Biden’s last budget. That budget is by no means “conservative,” but it DID NOT include the “enhanced” ObamaCare subsidies that were already set to go away. Democrats have refused to vote for the CR because the GOP has refused to extend those subsidies.  There are plenty of other subsidies for the failed ObamaCare program, but the GOP has been unable to entirely overturn the law.

Despite beautiful weather and unique outdoor opportunities. Despite being located in the fastest growing part of our nation (the American Southwest) and despite an ongoing oil and gas boom that has unlocked tens-of-billions of dollars, New Mexico remains poorly governed, educated, and flat-out poor. And it seems like everyone outside of New Mexico knows this. That’s a big reason our population has been so stagnant.

Don’t believe me? Check out the full “State of the Workforce” report from NM’s Department of Workforce Solutions. I have posted one particularly relevant page below. It shows population changes by county and overall.

New Mexico’s population growth between 2019 and 2024 was entirely driven by international migration. Since 2019, the natural decrease of the population was
estimated at 4,958 people, the result of 113,730 births and 118,688 deaths. Also, 10,120 more people left New Mexico to move to another state than moved into the State. the ONLY reason New Mexico gained people over this time span was due to international migration.

Also striking is the loss of population in New Mexico’s largest (by population) county Bernalillo. That strongly implies that Albuquerque is losing population (-13,614). Dona Ana and Sandoval were some of the fastest growing.

Many things are true about the SNAP (food stamp program).

For some it is a lifeline that is being interrupted by the federal government shutdown. For others, seemingly like the woman portrayed in this recent KOAT 7 video, it is a way of life. As we have noted, New Mexico has by far the highest percentage of its population on SNAP. For too many New Mexicans welfare is indeed a way of life.

Ideally the SNAP program SHOULD be the purview of states, not the federal government. There is simply no constitutional role for the federal government to play. Accountability, budgetary reality, and a lack of experimentation and policy differences make the SNAP program open to waste and abuse.

At the state level New Mexico the State is not poor. While the Governor claims to have done amazing things to reduce poverty, the fact is that New Mexicans remain poor. MLG should be working with the Legislature to diversify New Mexico’s economy and improve its education system to raise its abysmal workforce participation rate and get people off of welfare programs.

You can see the short interview below:

“When I heard, ‘Zero dollars,’ my chest went into my throat.”

New Mexico woman on food stamps for 30 years says SNAP freeze is “detrimental to my life.” pic.twitter.com/VFSn9LJcXM

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 2, 2025

On this week’s interview Paul talks to Jonathan Lesser, PhD. Jonathan is President of Continental Economics, Inc. and Senior Fellow, National Center for Energy Analytics.

They discuss the proposed purchase of PNM by a private equity firm. They discuss the so-called “Energy Transition” in New Mexico, especially the SunZia power lines and rising demand for electricity in NM and nationwide.

#Poverty isn’t inevitable—sometimes it’s a symptom of outdated or ineffective policies. That’s why my administration championed legislation to provide struggling families with support they need to thrive. As we head into the next session, let’s keep building on this progress. https://t.co/Xm0ebSLGDy

— Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (@GovMLG) January 16, 2025

We agree with the governor. Poverty is a policy choice. But, while she has made a bit of statistical progress by focusing welfare programs and the tax code on helping those with the lowest incomes, she (and the Legislature) have done nothing at all to diversify New Mexico’s economy (and reduce poverty) through broadly lower tax rates, improved regulations, and other free market policies.

In other words, lasting, effective anti-poverty measures are the result of broad economic growth driven by market-based policy reforms which (to say the least) simply haven’t happened in New Mexico under this Gov.

Paul and Wally begin their conversation with numerous current topics including the World Series, the hurricane hitting Jamaica, and a reminder of the Foundation’s upcoming 25th anniversary gala.

Health care costs continue to skyrocket. The problem transcends New Mexico’s medical provider shortage, but can’t be solved by socialist “single payer” plans.

MLG is right about exporting LNG to Japan, We applaud that, but will anything happen?

MLG and the Legislature provide a loophole for major Southern NM data center.

A left wing group is suing to stop the facility.

A new article discusses Maxeon Solar so we can discuss that, but what about Ebon?

A previously overturned Santa Fe mansion tax has been reinstated by an appeals court.

Unfortunately a judge has ruled against us in our court fight over the City of ABQ’s “donation” of our tax dollars to Planned Parenthood.

There has been a great deal of talk in the last week or so about food stamps (SNAP). Reason being is that federal SNAP benefits may run out by November 1 as Senate Democrats (including Sens. Heinrich and Lujan) continue to vote to keep the federal government shut down.

While the merits and demerits of the shutdown have been widely discussed and MLG has even stated that she’s going to spend 30 million of state tax dollars to keep SNAP benefits flowing, the real issue for New Mexicans SHOULD be that we have so much of our population (more than 20%) on SNAP to begin with.

As the map below highlights, New Mexico is the ONLY state in the nation with more than 20% of its population on SNAP. Our proportion of recipients is also FAR higher than the national average.  Meanwhile, the State is sitting on $66 billion in its sovereign wealth fund. State government spending has grown by 71% under the current Gov. (from $6.3 billion annually to $10.8 billion).  And, the oil and gas industry continues to flourish.

Yet, New Mexico remains deeply dependent on federal welfare programs like SNAP and Medicaid because the current “leadership” of New Mexico has been completely inept at using the windfall from oil and gas to do anything to improve the State’s impoverished position. Gov. Lujan Grisham touts improvements in New Mexico’s poverty problem. Why do so many New Mexicans need food stamps then?

New York City is a notably “blue” area of the United States. There is real concern that mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a self-avowed “socialist” would have dire, negative impacts on New York City’s economy. The crazy thing is that some of Mamdani’s favored policies are already in place in New Mexico.

Specifically, “free” child care is a top campaign issue for Zorhan Mamdani. New Mexico already has it.

Free buses as Mamdani wishes to do? Albuquerque already has those too.

Even on the seemingly REALLY extreme issue of government-run grocery stores which Mamdani has touted he and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller seem to be simpatico. Check out the Bob Clark interview w/ Mayor Keller (go to the 28:25 mark) where Keller endorses “community run grocery stores” for the “International District.” While he claims the government won’t actually run the store, it is unclear how these stores would be run and what government involvement will entail.

The fact is that New Mexico and Albuquerque have a big advantage over Mamdani financially due to the oil and gas industry and the revenue it provides, but despite that advantage, the fact remains that “progressive” state and local policies are

In what can only be described as a ruling based on twisted logic a New Mexico District Judge (Denise Barela Shepherd) has decided that it is somehow NOT a violation of New Mexico’s “anti-donation clause” for the City of Albuquerque to explicitly donation $250,000 of our tax dollars to Planned Parenthood. 

Our friends at the Liberty Justice Center helped us take the cast Gessing v Sandoval to court, but sadly it was determined NOT to violate the law. The following is their statement on the issue.

Statement on Gessing v. Sandoval Decision pic.twitter.com/vZ22ujkzfG

— Liberty Justice Center (@LJCenter) October 27, 2025

A few weeks ago we offered the following blog post about Maxeon Solar (a massively subsidized proposed solar manufacturing facility for Albuquerque) and the abject lack of activity since the big announcement over two years ago. The original plan was for a $1 billion, 1.9 million-square-foot facility in Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol. The proposed building would be used for solar panel assembly and fabrication of photovoltaic cells, and could bring 1,800 jobs to the area.

Well, over the weekend the Albuquerque Journal had an update. Honestly, there’s not much to it. The only item of relevance is that the reporter seems inclined to blame the Trump Administration for Maxeon’s struggles, but it is worth noting that the Biden Administration was in office when the company was accused of using forced labor in China.

What about Ebon Solar? In August of 2024 they announced a separate billion dollar facility for building their own solar panels in Albuquerque. After the big announcement more than a year ago we haven’t heard anything about Ebon.  Will either of these companies pan out? Certainly, the Trump Administration’s more realistic approach to so-called “renewables” (and subsidies for them) is having an impact, but a sustainable business shouldn’t rely on subsidies. Only time will tell.

According to a new report by KRQE, the average cost of a family insurance plan (employer sponsored) is now $27,000. According to the story, “Family premiums are up 6 percent, or $1,408, from last year, more than double the rate of inflation and similar to the 7 percent increase recorded in each of the previous two years. On average, workers contributed $6,850 annually to the cost of family coverage, with employers paying the rest.”

There are numerous problems in health care both here in New Mexico and also federal health policy. Rising costs are driven by factors that include:

• the misguided third party payer system (why do employers get a tax break to buy health insurance for their employees while individuals don’t)? This drives up costs and takes financial incentives away from individuals; Correction: Individuals CAN take a deduction for health care expenses if they are among the less than 10% of Americans who itemize AND their health care expenses exceed 7.5% of AGI. The point remains that most Americans do not directly purchase their own health insurance.
• growth in welfare programs like Medicare and Medicaid which shift costs to others and take money out of taxpayers (health care consumers) pockets;
• regulations including those imposed by ObamaCare;
• Medical malpractice;
• Strict professional licensing laws; and numerous other issues;
• While it is not a policy issue it is worth noting that the aging US population plays a role as well.

Stein’s law (Herb, not Ben) states that “Something that cannot go on forever will stop.” These health care cost increases are simply unaffordable. Dramatic reforms are necessary to restore the doctor/patient relationship which includes some form of direct financial relationship. New Mexico’s medical provider shortage is just the tip of the iceberg. There are massive issues in the federal policy as well that must be addressed to “bend the cost curve” of American health care.

Lest someone believe that the answer is outright government takeover of health care like Canada, wait times north of the border are a serious issue. One article even called a system of “haves and have nots.” 

On this week’s interview Paul talks to Pete Dinelli. Dinelli has run for mayor of Albuquerque and has a long track record of service in city government. He currently runs a blog that covers city government and elections. Dinelli and Gessing discuss the ongoing city elections, the candidates involved, and issues in play. With early voting in full swing you don’t want to miss this conversation!

Gov. Lujan Grisham and a variety (but by no means all) Southern New Mexico politicians recently brough in Project Jupiter, a major data center that has the potential to transform the Las Cruces area’s economy. Water is a concern (although produced water could fill the need nicely). We don’t see water issues as a REAL problem. More fundamental is the issue of electricity.

As this article notes, the facility is going to use a massive amount of electricity, one gigawatt to be exact. By comparison, El Paso Electric owns about 2.8 gigawatts of generation capacity across its entire system, according to the utility’s corporate sustainability report. You can see a map of their service area below.

What is interesting is that MLG not only approved, but actively supported a facility that is going to require construction of a dedicated natural gas power plant to fuel the facility. According to the article, “Project Jupiter will pay to construct its own natural gas-fired turbine. Still, one gigawatt of capacity could take years to develop. For reference, El Paso Electric spent four years developing the Newman 6 natural gas power plant, which has a capacity of 228 megawatts (less than a fourth of Project Jupiter’s capacity) and cost $217 million to build.”

The idea is for the facility to somehow build enough wind and solar with battery storage. We don’t believe that wind and solar will be able to fulfill this kind of electricity demand in the future and that MLG is taking the economic development “win” and pushing the future challenges of so-called “renewables” off to the future.

As the article notes, “For now, however, energy generated within a privately owned micro-grid “shall not be considered retail sales” until 2035, according to the text of House Bill 93 (passed into law in 2025). That means Project Jupiter can rely largely on fossil fuels for electricity generation for years to come, unlike the main electricity providers in the state.”

To be clear, RGF does NOT oppose Project Jupiter. We’re not fans of the massive subsidies being given, but we think water can be made a non-issue. The electricity challenge is more serious, but clean natural gas is a worthwhile source for the facility. We simply note that the Gov. is clearly favoring a preferred economic development project over citizens of the state in what amounts to a newly-created “loophole” in the Energy Transition Act which MLG championed in 2019.

After all, if wind and solar with battery are so great and the facility will be using those sources of electricity within a decade, why shouldn’t Project Jupiter be forced to build out those sources RIGHT NOW? Simply put, for all the cheerleading and misleading claims made about “renewables,” they really aren’t cheaper or better than traditional sources like natural gas.

On this week’s Tipping Point conversation Paul and Wally discuss a recent Wallethub report that places New Mexico as the 2nd most impacted state by the federal shutdown: SNAP benefits, on which New Mexicans are disproportionately reliant, could be discontinued as soon as November 1.

Another fantastic Trever cartoon highlights the manifest failure of New Mexico government.

MLG has announced that she’ll opt New Mexico out of the Big Beautiful Bill school choice tax credit program despite the fact that New Mexico is dead-last in education.

RGF provided public comment on treating and using “produced” water.

New Mexico’s sovereign wealth fund has now hit $66 billion in value.

A new lawsuit targets MLG’s line-item-vetoes of a recent appropriations bill.

While there aren’t a lot of details at this time and the actual pipelines need to be built, the Rio Grande Foundation has long (for over a decade) advocated for New Mexico to be a player in liquefied natural gas exports and we are enthusiastic about the Gov.’s recent announcement about exporting New Mexico LNG to Japan. According to reports, “no contracts are inked for infrastructure or commerce… those are still a long way away.”

Japan, with little in the way of oil or natural gas domestically, must import large amounts of energy and natural gas from New Mexico and other Rocky Mountain states is a natural fit. The biggest challenge is physically getting the gas from here to there.

Whatever the challenges, exporting New Mexico’s natural gas to Asia is a real opportunity for New Mexico. And, since we’ve been discussing this since 2013 it is certainly not a new concept. Could it have been done before if it were a higher priority? What does the future hold? Those are impossible questions to answer. We are pleased to see this discussion moving into high gear and hope it will result in significant exports soon.

According to the City of Albuquerque’s website the 7 mile-long rail trail currently being built is expected to cost between $70 and $90 million. That means the trail is AT LEAST $10 million per mile. The Trump Administration recently canceled a portion of federal funding ($11.5 million) for the trail, a decision we agree with.

For starters, we believe that bike trails (and local roads) are local or perhaps state priorities, but certainly not federal ones. But the price tag of this trail is completely out of line with bike trail costs. A basic internet search yields a typical cost per mile of around $500,000 for either an asphalt or concrete bike trail. There is simply no reason for this trail to cost in excess of $10 million per mile.

Obviously the trail can still be built in the absence of the $11.5 million that Trump clawed back on the trail. Perhaps elimination of the massive 25 foot in diameter tumbleweed sculpture would help? According to the City website the City has “only” $39.5 million for the project (that’s including the $11.5 million Trump pulled) despite the project’s construction already having begun. Even the $28 million the City actually has “in hand” should be nearly enough money to build the entire trail based on $500,000 per-mile cost, but Mayor Keller seems to want a very fancy trail.

As New Mexico’s Democrat-dominated Congressional delegation continues to vote to keep the federal government shutdown it is worth noting that the Land of Enchantment is among the most federally-reliant jurisdictions in the nation. In fact, according to a new Wallethub report the State is 2nd-most-impacted by federal government.

New Mexico’s federally-funded national labs obviously play a big role in the state’s economy, but the State is also the most dependent on food stamps (SNAP) due to its high poverty levels (despite massive oil and gas revenues).

The following is a write-up on New Mexico from Wallethub:

New Mexico is the third-most affected (behind Hawaii and DC) by the government shutdown, largely due to the fact that it receives more than $6,000 per capita in federal contracts, the payments for which could be put in jeopardy by the funding freeze.

Plus, more than a fifth of New Mexico’s population is enrolled in the SNAP program. That means an extended shutdown could lead to a big chunk of the state’s residents struggling to afford food if the government no longer has any funds available for benefits.

To top things off, New Mexico has the seventh-highest percentage of federal jobs and the fifth-most national parks per capita. This means that many workers are going without pay and the state’s natural spaces will be much less well-staffed.

New Mexico Democrats recently patted themselves on the back in an Albuquerque Journal column. But, in reality New Mexico is one of the worst governed states in the nation. John Trever of the Journal’s Sunday cartoon highlights that reality in a simple cartoon below: