MLG rewards her closest friends in government

Gov. Lujan Grisham has never been shy about handing out generous amounts of taxpayer cash to her top staff members. She did this in 2024 and 2021 (to name just two) and as the Albuquerque Journal reports, she recently did it once again with pay raises of up to 26% for some top staffers.

MLG justified the massive pay increases saying, “These seasoned professionals could command higher compensation in the private sector but choose public service.” Is that true? While direct comparisons are hard to come by the Albuquerque Journal in 2020 made the case that government pay in New Mexico is much higher than that of the private sector. Many analyses also omit generous employee benefits in the form of pensions and health care which are simply not available in the private sector.

More importantly, what are WE THE PEOPLE getting for all of this money. Under this administration New Mexico is consistently ranked at the VERY bottom of nearly all lists: education, crime, economy, poverty, conditions for children, and overall living standards (to name just a few). This is the case even as New Mexico government grows and is now sitting on $64 billion in its various sovereign wealth funds. Shouldn’t some kind of “pay for performance” be a part of this equation?

Also, with costs rising for average New Mexicans and the State flush with cash shouldn’t WE get a raise in the form of substantial tax reduction?