The Environmental Improvement Board is accepting comments now and holding a public comment period on the New Mexico-only carbon emissions cap. The hearing will be held on December 5. If you can make it up to the meeting, by all means, please do so. If not, at least take 5 minutes and send some written comments to the board. I have sent mine and pasted them below. Feel free to use parts of my comments in your own letter!

RE: REPEAL OF 20.2.100 NMAC

December 1, 2011
Ms. Carmella Casados
Board Administrator
Environmental Improvement Board
Harold Runnels Building
1190 St. Francis Drive, Room N-2153
Santa Fe, NM, 87505

Dear Ms. Casados:

The following are my comments in support of repeal of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program 20.2.100 NMAC.

I write to strongly urge the Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) to repeal the program above. While the science on global warming and the potential for humans to positively or negatively impact the climate through their actions remains unsettled, there is no doubt that this carbon cap will increase the cost of electricity for New Mexicans.

New Mexico is one of the poorest and most sparsely-populated states in the nation and cannot afford to further regulate its economy in ways that will make it less economically-competitive. And, while environmentalists tout the supposed economic benefits of carbon caps in spurring “renewables” like wind and solar, the reality is that these energy sources cost more and are less reliable than existing power sources.

While private citizens and businesses should feel free to adopt these power sources if they so choose, the EIB and, by extension New Mexico’s government, should not force such power sources on unwilling consumers, many of whom have low income levels and are unable to pay the higher costs associated with these power sources.

Simply put, if so-called “renewables” are the future of electric generation, this future will come in its own time and way which could be completely different from current expectations. It is not the role of government to pick winners and losers while sticking consumers with the bill. Please repeal the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program.

Sincerely,

Paul J. Gessing

President

It is something we’ve repeatedly pointed out in the past — more education spending has not improved educational results. But, Rob Nikolewski’s latest report on the state’s poor education results over the last several years only corroborates what we’ve been saying. Says Sen. John Arthur-Smith (D), Chair of the Finance Committee: “If you look at the overall trend, additional monies thrown for educational reform really didn’t support the improvements the taxpayers expected.”

We’re not surprised, but we are hopeful that virtual schools and education tax credits (among other possible components of the “Florida Model“) will be on the agenda for the 2012 legislative session.

Screening of the film “Sick and Sicker” and discussion led by Dr. Deane Waldman, author of “Uproot U.S. Healthcare”

About the event:

The Supreme Court has decided to hear the case against the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” more commonly known as “ObamaCare,” which, if not overturned, will have dramatic implications for Americans’ health care.

• What will be the end result of “ObamaCare” if it is fully-implemented?
• How will your health care be impacted?
• What is next for the future of health care in the United States?
• Can we get “free-market health care” if part or all of “ObamaCare” is overturned?

Come and learn more about the pitfalls of government-run medicine and the possibilities ahead.

• Who: You’re invited
• What: Screening of film “Sick and Sicker” followed by …
• Open Discussion: With Q&A on the future of health care in the U.S.A.
• Where: The Albuquerque Museum (Art Museum) auditorium
• When: 6:00 to 8:00PM on Thursday, December 8, 2011
• Cost: $10 payable at door includes light beverages and snacks

About the film:

Logan Darrow Clements shows what happens when “the government becomes your doctor” using licensed news footage from Canadian TV, interviews with doctors, patients, journalists, a health minister, a Member of Parliament, a doctor who went on a hunger strike as well the producer’s own Canadian relatives. Clements even rents a hospital to show the mismatch between supply and demand in a medical system run by politicians. Sick and Sicker puts “ObamaCare” on ice with cold hard facts from Canada.

About the speaker – Dr. Deane Waldman:

Deane is passionate about fixing our sick healthcare system. On both the professional and personal levels, Deane has been exposed to every aspect of health care: practicing medicine, administration, research, teaching, as well as being a critically ill patient himself. Combining this first-hand experience with his MBA knowledge and his research in management and business, Deane shares valuable insights into the root causes of why the healthcare system continues to fail patients, nurses, doctors, and our country, and most importantly, what you can do about it.

Deane has been a practicing pediatric cardiologist for over 35 years. He has authored more than 300 articles on both the practice of medicine and healthcare strategy and is an Adjunct Scholar for the Rio Grande Foundation. His first two published books were “Uproot U.S. Healthcare” and its translation into Spanish: “Cambio Radical al Sistema de Salud de los Estados Unidos.” His third book – “Not Right!” – explores the controversy over a right to health care. It will be available in June 2012.

Awhile back (before the project even got off the ground), I wrote about the Lead and Coal reconstruction project. This project which is costing $26 million is designed to decrease auto speeds on the roads in favor of bike paths.

Something I didn’t anticipate happening with this project is that it would kill area businesses, but according to the Albuquerque Journal, at least two businesses in the area have closed their doors and others are teetering on the edge resulting on this petition.

Worse, Councilor Rey Garduño is pushing for Zuni (which feeds into Lead and Coal) to be put on a similar, bike friendly “road diet.” Garduño is not known for his business-friendly policy stances, so it is no surprise that he doesn’t seem to be considering the ramifications such a major construction project might have on area businesses. Of course, the rest of us should be wondering if further shutting down one of the City’s best-moving East-West road corridors is a good idea and whether limited taxpayer money should be wasted on such projects.

I recently wrote about Grover Norquist and the blame he has taken in the media for the failure of the “SuperCommittee.” Interestingly-enough, 60 Minutes, which has done some really good stories recently, did a story on Grover and the “anti-tax” pledge:

Simply put, avoiding tax hikes is not a “silver bullet” for smaller government, but it is a starting point for holding politicians accountable. The battle for the next decade is to hold the line on taxes while getting spending under control and making “entitlement” programs financially-sustainable.

Liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman recently wrote a column touting the “fact” that solar-generated electrical power is now cost-effective. Perhaps Krugman has not seen the chart below:

To further explain why Krugman is simply ignoring reality, check out this excellent post from Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center (our sister think tank in Washington State). Myers will be traveling to New Mexico to discuss his new book “Eco Fads” in February of 2012.

The Rio Grande Foundation has continued to push for increased transparency in government. They are YOUR taxpayer dollars, after all! Check out this recent article on our transparency efforts here.

It is difficult, given the lack of coherently-presented information, to understand how good or poor of a job various schools throughout New Mexico are doing. Performance comparison that takes into account students’ socio-economic backgrounds and historical improvement has not really been done. Well, thanks to the New Mexico Coalition of Charter Schools, it has now.

Check out the Coalition’s “School Dashboard.” It allows interested parents and the public to see how every public and charter school in the state is performing on the state’s Standards Based Assessment (the main standardized test administered by the state.

So far, data is only available for 2009 and 2011, but assuming that the data continues to be updated into the future, this report will give a good indicator of which schools are doing the job and which are not. Kudos to the New Mexico Coalition of Charter Schools for pushing both charter and traditional public schools further down the road to transparency and accountability!

The so-called “Supercommittee” is done. Failed, kaput. The gulf between Democrats and Republicans was simply too great. Let the finger-pointing ensue. But who is to blame?

The left would point to anti-tax activist Grover Norquist and his “no new taxes” pledge for preventing Republicans from going along with Democratic demands to raise taxes. I agree that Grover has been very effective in fighting tax hikes and for this he should be celebrated, not derided.

After all, the $1.2 trillion in spending cuts that was supposed to be the target of the Supercommittee was less than this year’s deficit! And, as I’ve noted before, the size of the federal government has doubled (from $1.9 trillion to $3.7 trillion) since Clinton left office. Clearly, the “Supercommittee” needed to focus on spending cuts and, if Congress was allowed to further increase spending (absent Grover’s pledge) it would have done so.

So, thanks Grover for keeping tax hikes at bay. Now, we need to force Congress to allow the supposedly “automatic” cuts to happen.

The Tax Foundation is one of the most prominent and oldest think tanks dedicated to tax and budget policy issues in Washington. With Gov. Martinez having discussed some recent tax policy ideas for the 2012 legislative session, I was pleased to have the opportunity to discuss the Rio Grande Foundation’s work on tax reform and our views on some of the reforms the Governor is considering. Listen to the 10 minute discussion here.

As I wrote earlier this week, we at the Rio Grande Foundation have collected and released payroll documents for all of New Mexico’s 33 counties. We have also been collecting payroll documents from some of the largest school districts in the state.

In that process, I believe we played a role in APS’s laudable decision to release payroll information on its website.

But, some school districts like the Clovis Municipal Schools decided to take transparency to heart. We were very pleased that, upon receiving our information request, not only did Clovis comply, but they took it upon themselves to post payroll, past audits, and additional documents on their website. This proactive effort is exactly what we (and others) are hoping to spur among various government agencies throughout the state. We encourage other districts, counties, city governments, and institutions to take similar action.

The following is an excellent story by the show 60 Minutes that details how Members of Congress use the information they are privy to as such to buy and sell stocks and other financial instruments:

Of course, if you read this blog, you’d know that New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman has become a very wealthy man based on his time in Congress. He’s by no means the only one in Congress to have done so.

Memo to the “Occupy” movement: “The real 1% reside in Washington (or at least the DC suburbs)!”

The Santa Fe New Mexican recently editorialized, albeit half-heartedly, in favor of keeping the Rail Runner chugging down the tracks. In doing so, they made the brilliant observation that “The key to making the Rail Runner a success is finding the money to operate it.” Duh, if money were no object, then the world would be a very different place and we’d all have flying cars and not need a train anyway.

The paper also stated the old nostrum that “mass transit never makes a profit, and it seldom breaks even.” Even that is simply not true. Check this link out. Some systems in Asia do more than break even and nearly all systems do better in terms of fare box recovery than the Rail Runner which has a ratio of 13%.

Of course, the line about road subsidies was then brought up, but, even if certain roads in rural areas are subsidized, what are we to do, not have them? The fact is that no community could survive without roads while most survive just fine without passenger rail playing a major role in the transportation mix. And, of course, as this chart shows (on the first actual page), transit and rail receive subsidies far in excess of those allocated to roads.

For more information on the Rail Runner’s disturbing finances and what to do about it, go here.

And, as a bit of an aside, I found the comments of one of the authors of the book “Freakonomics” on libertarian transportation analyst Randal O’Toole quite interesting.

I recently appeared on Morning in New Mexico with Stephen Dinkel on KIVA 1550AM for an hour. You can listen to the podcast here.

Join the national free market organization FreedomWorks, the Rio Grande Foundation, and local tea party groups for two exciting events in New Mexico. These two events will give you the opportunity to meet local activists, learn about the issues, and develop your grassroots organizing skills.

The first event, a strategy lunch with FreedomWorks staff, will take place on Tuesday, December 6th at the Vernon’s Hidden Valley Steakhouse (6855 4th St NW Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, NM 87107) from 1 to 4 PM. Treat yourself to a good meal while listening and learning some of the strategies and techniques of grassroots organizing. This lunch will also give you the opportunity to meet other tea party groups and leaders which will certainly be pivotal in helping you expand your group.

Our second event, a training session with FreedomWorks staff, will take place on Wednesday, December 7th at the Albuquerque Marriot (2101 Louisiana Blvd NE Albuquerque, NM 87110, USA) from 6-9PM. Join FreedomWorks campaign team and the Rio Grande Foundation as we discuss some of the following topics: Campaigns 101, building and maintaining your group, organizing for 2012, and new media and FreedomConnector 101. This event will be a great opportunity to meet other activists and learn some new techniques that will help as we approach the 2012 season.

With countless issues facing New Mexico and the 2012 elections just around the corner we look forward to seeing you at these two great events. Please RSVP to David Spielman by email at dspielman@freedomWorks.org or by phone at 202-942-7607.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you at these two events!

For Freedom

David Spielman

Campaigns Coordinator, FreedomWorks

Event Details:

What: Lunch with FreedomWorks and local tea party groups

When: Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Where: Vernon’s Hidden Valley Steakhouse (6855 4th St NW Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, NM 87107)

Time: 1:00-4:00PM

What: Grassroots Training with FreedomWorks staff and the Rio Grande Foundation

When: Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Where: Albuquerque Marriot (2101 Louisiana Blvd NE Albuquerque, NM 87110, USA)

Time: 6:00-9:00PM

As I write at NMPolitics.net today, it is certainly not the Rio Grande Foundation and other reformers that want such one-size-fits-all models perpetuated. Some (who seem perfectly happy with New Mexico being 49th in the nation) have argued as much. A free market (or at least reforms that move in that direction) in education inherently means increased diversity, improved quality, and the end to “cookie-cutter” educational models dreamed up by social planners.

The Rio Grande Foundation has requested (and received) county payroll information from all of New Mexico’s 33 counties. Click on each county below.

New Mexico County Payroll Listing

Bernalillo County

Catron County

Chaves County

Cibola County

Colfax County

Curry County

De Baca County

Doña Ana County

Eddy County

Grant County

Guadalupe County

Harding County

Hidalgo County

Lea County

Los Alamos

Lincoln County

Luna County

McKinley County

Mora County

Otero County

Quay County

Rio Arriba County

Roosevelt County

Sandoval County

San Juan County

San Miguel County

Santa Fe County

Sierra County

Socorro County

Taos County

Torrance County

Union County

Valencia County

It is worth noting that electronic vehicles are not a new technology. In fact, as energy expert Robert Bradley noted in his presentation to the Rio Grande Foundation audience yesterday, Henry Ford hoped to collaborate with Thomas Edison to build an electric car nearly 100 years ago.

Curiously-enough, I ran across this review of the Nissan Leaf electric car from Consumers Reports. Driving one of these contraptions around New York City is obviously problematic from the author’s comments — constant worries over battery life, inability to use heat or A/C. Could you imagine driving one of these in New Mexico with our open spaces and weather extremes?

Of course, people can and should be able to buy whatever car they want, no matter how poorly it operates, but the Obama Administration’s $2 billion in spending on electric vehicles (and that’s just the start of the federal subsidies) means that we are all on the hook for this waste. I’m not against electric cars, but they (and any other technologies) need to compete in a free and open marketplace.

H/T Paul Chesser

I found the article in today’s Albuquerque Journal by former Rep. Barbara Perea Casey to be interesting. After discussing the supposed hardships of being in the Legislature and the court case that enabled New Mexico teachers to serve in the Legislature after they were defined as not being “state” employees, she makes some rather enlightening comments about the role of government school teachers in the Legislature. Perea Casey writes:

It is my personal opinion that legislators who are also educators are providing a distinct and unique service to the school districts that employ them. In the case of Stapleton, she continues to perform her job duties.

It is sad that some of the school board members do not realize her worth in terms of how much bad legislation she can stop, or how much influence she has in education advocacy, especially in her powerful position of majority whip. It is also unfortunate that she is not viewed as a supporter for Albuquerque Public Schools, because that is what she is.

So, government school educators serving in the Legislature are not supposed to serve their constituents (or that is an unmentioned afterthought), rather, they are naturally supposed to align themselves with the interests of their employers by stopping “bad” legislation. Presumably this means vouchers, school choice, budget cuts, and anything else that would undermine the power and financial interests of the government school monopoly.

So, not only is government education politically-sympathetic and not only do they have lobbyists, but they also have legislators who are paid by the schools (read taxpayers) to be in Santa Fe. Pretty sweet deal! Needless to say, legislators who run their own businesses or hold down private-sector jobs don’t get this perk. Government begetting bigger, less-accountable government is why former AG Hal Stratton attempted to stop the practice.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, KOB TV has an excellent story on the shenanigans taking place among our city trash collectors:

First, kudos to Mayor Berry for having the guts to do this investigation. However, as we have previously mentioned, the City of Albuquerque could save significant taxpayer resources by contracting out solid waste collection to a private company. Rather than simply doing this, the City should solicit competitive bids from public and private entities and go with the best, lowest-cost option in a process called “competitive sourcing.”

If a private company or government workers operating under a contract were misbehaving, the taxpayers and customers would not be the one paying the bill.

Barry Massey of the AP had one of the more balanced and informative stories you’ll find on New Mexico’s foundering Rail Runner.  As transportation analyst Wendell Cox notes, “there is almost a worship of rail.” I couldn’t agree more.

Speaking of rail worship, defenders of Amtrak are pulling out all the stops to preserve the $1.3 billion in annual subsidies that system receives. The chart’s creator (available at the link) attempts to increase the costs of automobiles to make it seem even with Amtrak. Things like “lost tax revenue” and “transportation diversity” come down in Amtrak’s favor.

The fact is that America’s passenger rail system would be better off if the federal government simply privatized it. Getting rid of costly union contracts and money-losing routes while focusing resources in heavily-populated areas would allow passenger rail to turn a profit and serve more people. Instead, Congress is strangling passenger rail service by keeping it on perpetual life support.

New Mexico Sen. Pete Campos wrote recently in the Albuquerque Journal about the need for K-12 education to be a top priority for the Legislature in the upcoming session. I couldn’t agree more with that (as I’ve written recently), but in reading the article, I discovered that our methods are far different.

To make a long story short, Campos wants to dramatically-increase spending on a variety of early childhood, public health, and government education programs. He does propose some ideas that won’t necessarily increase spending — like “strengthening curriculum and aligning it with employment trends…and manufacturing” These are nice ideas, but New Mexico doesn’t have much more money to spend. Even if it did, I’m not convinced that much of what Campos wants to do would really result in educational improvement.

Instead of more funding, we have repeatedly discussed several proposals (here and here) that would result in greater school choice and improved results. Unfortunately, when it comes to our schools, it always seems that more money is the mantra, even though we’ve already been there, done that.