Dissecting Sam Bregman

I for one am tired of Sam Bregman’s silly columns in the Albuquerque Journal. For starters, partisan hackery on both sides is a bother, but Bregman’s ignorance of basic economics and political reality is what really sends me over the top.

He attacks Gov. Martinez for the silliest reasons.

Taping committee hearings: These should be broadcast on the internet and hosted online, on-demand, by the Legislature. Lack of transparency on the part of OUR public servants is inexcusable;

Jobs: First and foremost, Gov. Martinez took office three months ago. These things don’t happen overnight. More importantly, there are plenty of policies like “right to work,” eliminating renewable energy mandates, reducing regulations, and reducing taxes.

Bregman pushes for the film industry and “jobs programs” that he sees as a panacea, but if the previous Administration’s jobs programs like the costly Rail Runner, the Spaceport, and yes, the film industry, were so great, wouldn’t New Mexico’s economy be generating those jobs already? Sure, Susana could send construction crews out and pay them to dig holes in the ground, but that is an expensive way to “create jobs.” What we need is wealth-generation and that takes time and legislative willingness to cooperate which they have not.

Lastly, Bregman trots out the old canard that the education reforms she’s promoting are somehow flawed because they are from out of state. I don’t get it. People on all sides of the political debate acknowledge that we rank in the bottom 5 in education. Shouldn’t we be looking for good ideas wherever we can find them?

I realize Bregman is a political hack and wants to be Chair of the Democratic Party, but even he should try to come up with some better arguments if he’s going to put them in print.