Do the unions know NM’s laws?

I read Jon Hendry’s column in the Albuquerque Journal over the Labor Day weekend and knew I’d disagree with many of his points. Hendry is after all one of the leading proponents of economically-misguided film subsidies in our fair state. These subsidies have been panned by analysts across the political spectrum.

But before I even got into the meat of the article, Hendry’s column had me wondering if he and his union buddies even have a grasp on New Mexico law. After all, Hendry plans to accomplish all of his goals through “a package of ballot initiatives to be voted on in 2014.” I hate to break it to him, but a glance at the map below clearly shows that New Mexico as a state does not have the initiative process.

In his column, Hendry does “challenge our elected leaders to allow the voters to make these changes…” but outside of a Constitutional Amendment, there is no way to do this under New Mexico law (and this process is called a “referendum” anyway.

Oh, and to his actual points, Hendry’s proposals are a grab-bag of more spending, bigger government, and more regulations. It would be great if, rather than arguing for bigger government that New Mexico’s private sector labor unions would join the fight to expand New Mexico’s private sector. We may disagree on exactly how to do so, but it would be great to see them fighting for tax and regulatory reforms that could benefit private sector unions and the state as a whole.