A lack of economic freedom (and dynamism) is among New Mexico’s defining characteristics. The latest (2023) edition of the Canada-based Fraser Institute’s “Index of Economic Freedom of North America” again places New Mexico in the “least free” quadrant.

In fact, after a modest improvement to 43rd in the 2022 edition of the Index, New Mexico slid back two spots to 45th overall.

This is no surprise to us at the Rio Grande Foundation as New Mexico is in the midst of a once-in-history oil and gas revenue boom. Sadly, rather than reducing tax burdens and working to grow New Mexico’s private sector, the Gov. and Legislature have mostly just grown the size of government.

Perhaps you missed it in all of the pre-Christmas shuffle and other news, but New Mexico’s Land Office recently announced its revenues for FY 2023 and, despite Commissioner Garcia-Richard’s general skepticism of oil and gas and support for so-called “renewables,” the Land Office generated a record-breaking $2.75 billion in revenues for the year with $2.66 billion of that total coming from the oil and gas industry.

Wind and solar provided a combined $4.4 million to the Land Office or 0.16% of the total. Whatever you think of the so-called “energy transition,” New Mexico is going to be MUCH poorer IF it happens.

We gave her a hard time about her to-say-the-least “aspirational” logo (below) a few years back.

We had heard a rumor that there were some faulty/malfunctioning EV charging stations on campus so we recently submitted a detailed request for public records relating to CNM’s EV charging stations. Here they are (along with CNM’s responses in bold):

1) How many functional EV charging stations does CNM have on its campuses and where are they located (distribution by campus)? CNM has 4 functional EV charging stations, all located on Main Campus.

2) Are there any non-functional EV charging stations at any of CNM’s various campuses (if so, where are they located)? No

3) What was the cost to install each charging station? $45,000

Based on the specs, these are “level 2” charging stations. RGF’s president recently had an opinion piece in the ABQ Journal in which he stated that the cost per EV charger was $18,000. It is hard to say why CNM’s are more expensive, but it is also worth noting that New Mexico is hardly the only state mandating and subsidizing EV’s. As that is done their price will inevitably rise.

Normally this space is dominated by political/policy news, analysis, and commentary, but this post is more of a discussion of interesting history quirks: specifically the unique relationship between New Mexico and Ohio. Full disclosure: RGF president Paul Gessing was born and raised in Cincinnati, OH but his family has ties to New Mexico dating back to WWII.

We at RGF are ALWAYS looking for patterns in the data so we don’t believe the unique ties between NM are by chance. Here are some of them:

1. New Mexico became a state in 1912 with the stroke of President William Howard Taft’s pen. Taft was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2. Did you know that New Mexico has 5 counties named after presidents? Those presidents/counties are: McKinley, Grant, Harding, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. What may be most surprising is that all five of those presidents were Republicans (considering New Mexico’s deep “blue” Democratic Party voting history for nearly 100 years. But, for our purposes it is equally interesting that three of those five presidents (McKinley, Grant, and Harding) are Ohioans.
3. There aren’t many Albuquerque mayors of the distant past that have strong name ID in the City, but Clyde Tingley is likely the one. It helps that he was ALSO Governor during the New Deal which truly shaped New Mexico. Tingley was born in Ohio and his name adorns Tingley Beach, Tingley Hospital, and now a downtown hotel.
4. The Teapot Dome scandal (the Watergate of its time) involved Ohio-born President Harding and his New Mexico-born Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall. 
5. Ohio-born William T. Sherman (shortly after the Civil War) helped negotiate the 1868 Treaty with the Navajo that sent them back from the unsuitable Bosque Redondo in Eastern New Mexico and gave them the current Reservation northwestern New Mexico and other neighboring states.
6. NFL hall of fame quarterback and Dallas Cowboys great Roger Staubach was from Cincinnati, Ohio and played for Roswell’s New Mexico Military Institute before moving on to the Naval Academy.  

7. Sister Blandina Segale is currently up for sainthood in the Catholic Church. She was born in Italy, but came to Cincinnati, Ohio early in life and joined the Sisters of Charity. She worked throughout New Mexico and Southern Colorado during the late 1800s. You can find an excellent video extensively set in New Mexico done by a Cincinnati TV station here.

Are we missing any connections between New Mexico and and Ohio or other states?

On this week’s interview Paul sits down with 2022 New Mexico Republican candidate for Gov. Mark Ronchetti. Ronchetti and his wife Kristy currently create the No Doubt About It podcast, but Paul and Mark discuss the 2022 race, whether Republicans can win in New Mexico, and the impacts both the abortion issue and Donald Trump on his campaign. You don’t want to miss this episode!

RGF was in the ABQ Journal over the weekend discussing the Gov.’s proposed EV charger mandates and how New Mexicans can push back. 

In related news Paul did a request of CNM. They said each level 2 EV charging station cost $45,000.

LFC report says New Mexico’s welfare programs are ineffective despite spending $10 billion annually (they also find the best anti-poverty program is a job).

New Mexico will be blessed once again by a mind-blowing oil driven budget surplus, but the obsession continues over theoretical declines.

I recently sat down with KOAT to discuss IRB’s and their use for the soccer stadium. This is a good time to discuss Industrial Revenue Bonds.

A few reports have come out from the US Census Bureau which highlight New Mexico’s slow population growth (or even population declines) in recent years. It is important to understand this data for a few reasons:

1. While a lot of data highlights positive and negative economic and social trends, population growth or decline is the result of people actually moving. Thus, it shows what their actual preferences are.
2. New Mexico is in the American Southwest, the fastest growing area in the nation which means it should be compared against those states.
3. New Mexico is in the midst of an unprecedented oil and gas boom and has been for several years. This windfall could be used to make New Mexico a more attractive place for businesses and families. So far, that has not been done.

The good news is that unlike last year, New Mexico DID see a slight population uptick this year (of course none of New Mexico’s neighbors have had declines and some of them have been among the fastest growing states in the nation):

Looking at the data through a longer lens (April 1, 2020 through July 1, 2023) highlights New Mexico’s population challenges with the State experiencing a loss of 6,088 people. No neighboring state lost people over that time period. Shockingly, New Mexico saw states like West Virginia, Vermont, Kentucky, Maine, and Alabama grow, while it shrank.

Thanks to Phil Kerpen (an excellent follow on Twitter) for the information.

Industrial Revenue Bonds are one of New Mexico’s myriad economic development incentives. As as a far inferior option relative to reforming New Mexico’s tax and regulatory structure, there ARE worse economic development incentives (film subsidies come to mind).

What KOAT 7 wanted to know in this story is whether IRB’s are effective when used to subsidize development of a soccer stadium. The answer to that is “no.” To the extent that IRB’s are to be used (they technically don’t COST taxpayers money, but provide generous property and GRT breaks), they should be used to bring major businesses like Intel (discussed in the story) to our State.

Check it out below:

This week it was reported that New Mexico will indeed have a surplus (thanks largely to its booming oil and gas industry) of approximately $3.5 billion. The state is expected to generate a total of “$13 billion — exceeding annual spending obligations by one-third.”

As usual, the discussion that SHOULD be happening in Santa is over how to leverage this utterly unique opportunity for one of the “poorest” states in the nation to better diversify its economy and boost overall growth, but that seems to be a lost cause with Gov. MLG at the helm.

Instead we get statements like “By the end of the decade, oil income is likely to begin a long, steady decline, becoming a drag on revenue growth as global demand wanes.” Will oil and gas demand drop?

MLG and most other Democrats seem hell-bent on killing oil and gas, but despite more than a trillion dollars spent on “renewables” just since the Pandemic, demand for traditional energy sources continues to grow.

The International Energy Agency just raised its demand estimates for oil next year.

In what seems to be yet another power grab by the Lujan Grisham Administration (this time through the Public Education Department), regulations have been quietly put forth (with a public hearing scheduled for Monday, December 18 and a written comment deadline of 5pm that day).

RGF has two major concerns with the proposal that we addressed in our comments below: 1) a requirement of 180 days of school (as opposed to setting the number of hours in the classroom as is done now). This appears to be a direct attack on rural districts with four day school weeks.

The other is a seizure of power by the PED over accreditation of non-public schools in New Mexico. Information on the public hearing can be found at the link above (as well as the regulations themselves). You can submit comments by Monday at 5pm here: Rule.Feedback@ped.nm.gov

Our comments are below (please note the relevant code in your comments as per PED’s instructions).

I write today on behalf of the Rio Grande Foundation, New Mexico’s free market think tank, to express opposition to proposed rule changes being considered by the Public Education Department in two major areas: 6.10.5 NMAC, School Calendar Requirements and 6.81.2 NMAC, Requirements for Nonpublic Schools and for Public Education Department Accreditation.

On the issues of School calendar requirements, PED has proposed a requirement of 180 days of school. Simply put, there is no research supporting the idea that increasing the number of school days improves student outcomes. According to a 2018 report both Missouri and Kansas have had 4-day work weeks in place for dozens of rural communities.

A move (to four-day weeks) that originally began as a cost-saving measure has resulted in students having have 25 more instructional hours than before, and that’s brought a couple added bonuses.

“Our ACT scores have really shown some improvement. If there was anything, that’s one area we’re up. The first four years, up every year, and five out of the last seven, they’ve been increased,” said Lathrop School District superintendent Chris Fine.

Attendance has also improved for students and staff. According to one parent, “Mondays, we get all our doctor appointments in, orthodontist, so we don’t have to miss school ever. That’s my favorite thing.”

I shouldn’t have to remind you that New Mexico struggles badly with student absenteeism. The four-day week may not work for all districts, but it may work for some. There is no reason to eliminate it.

Secondly, I write in opposition to changes proposed for 6.81.2 NMAC, Requirements for Nonpublic Schools and for Public Education Department Accreditation

Requirements for Nonpublic Schools and for Public Education Department Accreditation. I am concerned about the dramatic changes to accreditation, annual reporting to PED, and to PED assuming authority to “observe the operations” of non-public schools. Considering the impact of these potential changes it is hard to understand why neither non-public schools, nor their accrediting bodies were notified about these changes. This alone raises serious questions about the fairness and transparency of the process.

Per 6.81.2.8 (D) NMAC, the only authority given to PED regarding nonpublic schools reads; “The Public Education Department maintains a list of all nonpublic schools in the state and the list must include the school’s name, mailing and email addresses, name of the Head Administrator, phone number, and accrediting entity.  Nonpublic schools accredited by educational accrediting agencies identified in rule, or since approved by the Division, shall be deemed to be acknowledged by the Department unless the accrediting entity’s accreditation status is suspended, limited, or terminated by the Department or unless the schools’ accreditation status is suspended, limited, or terminated by its own accrediting entity.

Currently, nonpublic schools are not regulated by the PED, which makes it unfair to impose rules and regulations through a rule making process that has not been well-publicized and was not done at the behest of the Legislature itself. In attempting to acquire authority to “observe the operations of non-public schools,” PED is overstepping its boundaries without any statutory oversight.

If PED were to allow tax dollars to follow students to the school of their choice, PED’s case for this significant increase in its own power would be more justifiable.

Paul Gessing
President
Rio Grande Foundation

On this week’s interview Paul sat down with Gabriella Hoffman. She recently spoke at an RGF luncheon on “Government’s Quiet Land Grab.” You can view her slides here. 

Gabriella is director of the Center for Energy and Conservation at Independent Women’s Forum. She is a freelance media strategist, award-winning writer, and Townhall.com political columnist. She hosts the District of Conservation podcast and CFACT original video series “Conservation Nation.”

Among other topics in our conversation is the recently-announced planned 245,000 acre monument in southern New Mexico which would put a large tract of land off limits to most uses.

 Learn more about her work at http://www.gabriellahoffman.com.

Gov. Lujan Grisham is pushing yet another mandate designed to foist electric vehicles on an unwilling population. This time she’s mandating that parking spaces be outfitted with expensive chargers or be outfitted with the electrical connections to enable the addition of those chargers. 

We’ve rebooted our KeepYourCarsNM.com campaign and are focused on this latest EV mandate. Act now because the deadline for this latest mandate is January 2nd.

We have pre-written responses on our website, but here is RGF president Paul Gessing’s letter to the Construction Industries Division on the topic (feel free to use all or part of this). You can send messages directly to Quindi.Otero@rld.nm.gov:

Albuquerque air board and the crisis of democracy.

Another land grab under way in Southern New Mexico. 

NM PED is requesting a mind-blowing $5.1 billion next year. How has education spending grown and what is happening with results?

MLG’s next attempt to force EV’s on you (and how you can push back) using our KeepYourCarsNM.com site. 

Trever’s ABQ Journal cartoon is a masterpiece. 

The Legislative Finance Committee (the Legislature’s own internal “think tank”) has been saying a lot of things that we at the Rio Grande Foundation have been saying for years, but the latest report is especially noteworthy.

The gist of the findings as outlined by KRQE Channel 13 here are that “Large investments in income support, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), aren’t decreasing poverty in New Mexico.” Furthermore, “LFC says the current structure of the state’s benefits could be disincentivizing some from working full time or from trying to get higher paying jobs.”

Here are just a few of the many fantastic charts in the LFC paper:

1. Labor participation rates correlate with poverty rates. If New Mexico (as we and the LFC have both argued) want to reduce poverty, it has to be through work, not welfare programs.

2) New Mexico’s welfare programs are extremely generous (2nd most in the nation). It won’t be easy politically and certainly not with New Mexico’s current political makeup, but it is high time to reduce the generosity of our State’s welfare programs AND use them to encourage work.

The Rio Grande Foundation is a staunch opponent of government mandating ANY type of vehicle and we fought hard against MLG’s costly and unworkable EV mandate. Sadly, the Gov. is at it again. Now she plans to mandate that parking spots in new commercial developments and apartment complexes be outfitted with EV charging stations costing $18,000 or more OR made “EV Ready” which means nearly $2,000 per spot to provide the infrastructure necessary to add a charging station later.

RGF’s president recently sat. down with KOAT Channel 7. to discuss the issue. 

You can provide public comment to the Construction Industries Division through our KeepYourCarsNM.com website.

A few months ago we reported in this space about problems the bankrupt  Proterra electric bus company is having in providing parts to a bus service in Wyoming. We noted that Albuquerque is contracted to receive electric buses from the same company.

Now, we have this story which finds that Austin, TX is having similar issues

Here are a few items from the story, “The transit agency’s battery-powered buses have been less reliable and harder to fix.” Furthermore,

Capital Metro suggests in its filing that Proterra’s sale of its transit business may be attempting to cut off potential warranty claims for buses, batteries, chargers and other items. Those warranties have been crucial for fixing the vehicles.

“The reliability of electric buses no matter the manufacturer is less than a diesel bus. I’m not going to tell you they operate as well as diesel bus,” Capital Metro Chief Operating Officer Andrew Skabowski told KUT. “We’re going to see some vehicles that are down a little bit longer than a diesel bus.”

“On average, half of the first lot of Proterra buses and about one-third of the second lot are out of service at any given time,” Broward County, FL (another Proterra customer) Attorney Andrew J. Meyers wrote in a filing.

Even if Austin’s Capital Metro could get out of its contract to buy the 40 Proterra buses, it would still leave the transit agency in a difficult position because of the parts, software and other support needed to keep the buses operating.

“They provide excellent service,” Skabowski said of Proterra. But he said the problems with electric buses might force the agency to keep diesel vehicles around longer.

Is the City of Albuquerque continuing to buy buses from Proterra? If so, why?

The following was shared with us by  Nicholas R. Maxwell who has been closely following the seemingly unlawful actions of the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board which was disbanded in its current form by a veto-override of City Council. 

The special meeting of the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board held today has raised significant legal and transparency concerns. The meeting, which was briefly opened to the public for around three minutes before moving to an executive session, currently ongoing, was attended by only five of its seven members, with Members Lewis and Galewsky absent. The public opening of the meeting is accessible at https://youtu.be/0bXkIB6UqRM.

This meeting comes amid the implementation of a new ordinance that has reorganized the City’s appointments to the Board. With the ordinance now in effect, there are serious questions regarding the legality of the Board’s quorum and the validity of its proceedings.

Mr. Nicholas R. Maxwell, a citizen advocate for open government, has been outspoken about the Board’s actions. “Transparency isn’t just a word to throw around in meetings; it’s a commitment to the community we serve. When boards operate in shadows, democracy suffers,” Maxwell stated, emphasizing the potential violations of the Open Meetings Act (OMA) of New Mexico. His concerns center around late amendments to the agenda and insufficient public notice for the continuation of the HEEI hearing. Specific to the special meeting, the post-deadline inclusion of the agenda item ‘Request to ratify the Chair’s decision to authorize the Board Attorney to pursue litigation’ has drawn significant scrutiny.

The following video highlights the Board’s activity.

Suddenly, with a slick website ready to go, a group led by Democrat Congressman Gabe Vasquez and left-wing State Senator Carrie Hamblen announced plans this week to create a 245,000-acre national monument. The proposed monument would encompass the Florida Mountains near Deming, Cooke’s Range and Good Sight Mountains to the city’s north and the peaks known as the Tres Hermanas (Three Sisters) near the village of Columbus.

Monuments are a highly restrictive land designations. Sadly, they have been embraced by presidents who can and have declared them without congressional approval. President Obama did this with the Organ Peaks Monument in 2014. 

We know that Biden’s Administration has been well to the left of even Obama’s. Will he act in the last year or so of his term (unless re-elected?). It would be in character, but presidents often declare their biggest land grabs on their way out the door. Only time will tell. In the meantime it is incumbent on concerned New Mexicans to push back.

To that end, the Rio Grande Foundation is hosting a luncheon with nationally recognized land and environment expert Gabriela Hoffman.

When the Rio Grande Foundation spoke out against the actions of the Environmental Improvement Board recently, we were always careful to express our opposition to the process itself. Unelected boards should simply not be in the business of making major policy decisions in a democratic republic system of government.

Fast forward to this week when City Council in Albuquerque over-road Mayor Keller’s veto of what we believe were some necessary reforms to that Board put forth by Councilor Dan Lewis.

Now, as the Albuquerque Journal editorialized this morning (Thursday), the Board has refused to obey Council and has exhibited “appalling insubordination.” Sadly, Mayor Keller not only directly rebuffed the Journal’s call for him to exert leadership in this situation has instead made the following tweet which is both breathtaking in its lack of judgement and shocking in its ignorance about they WAY city government works.  It might be time to dust off that “weak mayor” concept once again at least if Keller has designs on a third term.

Not surprising, this is what happens when Council steps out of line to take action against a joint board rather than trying to work toward an actual productive outcome. https://t.co/etPjluCV8J

— Mayor Tim Keller (@MayorKeller) December 7, 2023

On this week’s interview Paul talks to Jon Decker of Viante Foundation. Jon is President of the organization and local entrepreneur Dale Armstrong is the Founder. Viante was founded in 2017 to promote better schools, safer neighborhoods, and more economic opportunity in the state of New Mexico.

The Albuquerque Journal just reported that the Public Education Department is set to request $5.1 billion in the upcoming session. Since FY 2020 PED’s budget has already risen by 30% to educate fewer students.

If the Department’s request is approved this session that will be a mind-blowing 58% increase over 5 years. In the meantime, the LFC (the Legislature’s own internal think tank) itself has acknowledged that more spending at PED has not resulted in better outcomes.

The closure of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Albuquerque is nothing short of a tragedy. Both the reasons for the closure AND the closure itself SHOULD have all New Mexicans concerned about our State.

For starters, it is by no means the only New Mexico school seeing an enrollment decline. The precipitous drop in enrollment at Albuquerque Public Schools is well-documented.  And, while recent reports note the rising popularity of home schooling nationally, New Mexico was hardly a leader in that area.

The truth is that while birth rates have plummeted nationwide, New Mexico is ALSO seeing an exodus of young people and families.

Of course, closure of a Catholic school is ALSO a tragedy because Catholic schools are potentially a solution for what ails New Mexico’s education system which is ranked dead last in study after study on the topic. On the other hand, if Catholic schools were a state, they would be the highest performing state in the country. 

Sadly, year after year school choice proposals are brought before our Legislature that would make Catholic schools a more realistic option for thousands of New Mexico families, yet nothing is done.

Finally, while no one would confuse the Catholic schools with a for-profit enterprise, the fact that unlike APS which continues to lose students but refuses to close schools, the Catholic Schools operate under actual budgetary constraints. They can’t rely on more money from Santa Fe every year.