The following was penned by Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing and several RGF board members in response to an article by Jose Armas attacking RGF and its work.
Jose Armas recently penned an article attacking the Rio Grande Foundation, an organization with which we are involved. Armas’ critique trots out the usual misinformation about our funding sources and questions the non-partisan nature of our work.
Donations to RGF, like those made to all 501c3 organizations, are private. The right to privacy was affirmed in the 1958 US Supreme Court decision NAACP v. Alabama. While RGF closely follows IRS regulations on such matters, we are glad to report that 2/3rds of our 2014 funding (totaling $275,000) was from businesses and individuals based right here in New Mexico.
Of course, all of this does not address Armas’ specific concerns about the RGF’s policy recommendations. We are unsure how our work can be blamed for New Mexico’s lousy economic track record considering that New Mexico has been poor for decades and only now are we seeing serious discussion of RGF policy ideas like “right to work” and economic deregulation.
Contrary to Armas’ assertion, RGF research supports free market policies, not “corporate welfare.” In fact, RGF continues to oppose the very taxpayer-funded “corporate welfare” Armas decries.
In conclusion, RGF is indeed a non-partisan, free market, research and advocacy organization. This may not please those, like Mr. Armas who seem to believe that the rich and corporations are inherently evil while redistributionist government policies are inherently good. But that’s fine with us.
Signed by:
Paul J. Gessing, President and: Victor Bruno, Kathryn Minter, Tom Mullins, and Doug Turner, Members of the Rio Grande Foundation Board
As I’ve run across articles & letters in the media by Dr. José Armas, his bias, prejudice and jealousy of others screams out.
No doubt. He called me to do some fishing about our fundraising. I was happy to give him what we are required to give under the law, but I know he is an economically-ignorant, jealous individual and to be on guard.
Too many times over the last almost 40 years in NM I have heard the now tired refrain “we are such a poor State”. I urge all constituents to call their representatives or make a trip to Sante Fe during this 60 day session to urge them, Republican or Democrat, to consider legislation to reform our Tax Code and regulations to encourage businesses to come to NM. Being a Right to Work State would also really help. I think many of us are tired of being 49th or 50th on all the economic surveys. It is time to truly move NM forward into the 21st century.