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.

Media reports have been regularly lamenting the debacle that is the Congressional “Supercommittee.” This was supposed to be okay as Congress would then be “forced” to cut $1.1 trillion over the next ten years through a process known as “sequester.” Of course, these are not real cuts, but are instead cuts relative to the baseline budget as you can see from the chart below:

But, members on both sides of the aisle are now saying the “cuts” may not even happen. The main concern is defense spending, but the reality is that when the rubber hits the road, neither party in Washington really wants to cut spending if it means cutting their pet programs. So, America will slide further towards Greece and Republicans will be giving Obama a free ticket to a second term by showing themselves to not be serious about spending (but we’ve said this all before)….

And, yes, contrary to the views of many, America can stand to cut defense spending:

Albuquerque Public Schools have been in the news a lot this week. First, they made the decision to make employee payroll information publicly available on their website. Click here to find it. Notably, we at the Rio Grande Foundation had been in the process of attempting to obtain salary data from it and other school districts around the state (as this letter illustrates). I’d also complained about their lack of compliance with the request mere days before APS went ahead and posted the salary data.

Which leads me to the other major issue out there regarding APS this week and that is the decision to change district rules to allow administration to pay administrators while they are serving in the Legislature. Teachers are already allowed to continue receiving pay while they serve.

So, I think it was interesting timing that APS released the salary data in the first place. I’m pleased by the District’s move and think RGF had a great deal to do with it (they’ll never admit it). Also, I think the positive, heavily-publicized decision was timed to cover the district for ignoring its own clearly-stated rules on paying administrators to serve in the Legislature. Of course, I don’t blame them. Who wouldn’t want to have what amount to paid lobbyists working for you in Santa Fe (in addition to those you already pay)? It is just one more example of the vast difference (and advantages) available if you work for the government in this state rather than the private sector.

The Rio Grande Foundation has been New Mexico’s leading proponent of virtual education. Notably, New Mexico is a state that has done fairly well in the area of promoting virtual schooling, but like nearly all states, we have a ways to go before we are really maximizing the potential of these new technologies.

The group “Digital Learning Now” has been started by former Gov’s Jeb Bush (R-FL) and Bob Wise (D-WV) to push state policymakers to move forward on digital education and virtual schooling. To this end, they have issued a report card for each of the 50 states. The report card allows users to pair various states, so I have paired New Mexico and Florida (one of the nationwide leaders in virtual education) here.

Higher numbers indicate that the state is achieving a greater number of goals associated with virtual schooling. New Mexico certainly doesn’t perform at the level of Florida and Arizona, but we do okay in the report.

Read the full explanation of the 10 elements of high quality digital learning and how policymakers can work to improve them.

Much has been made over the “fact” that the Occupy movement is generally non-violent. And, while many of the protesters may have condemned the outright violence that occurred in Oakland, the same protesters have also shut down the port of Oakland. I’m sorry, but shutting down a port is not “non-violent.” On the international scale, a blockade is considered to be an act of war. On the micro level, if I barricade you in your own house and stop you from leaving, this is an act of aggression. This is aside from the fact that shutting down the port will inevitably cost jobs and harm the so-called 99% of us who benefit from free trade and the economic activity associated with the port.

Recently, for a Reason.TV video, Peter Schiff went out and tried to have a discussion with some protesters in New York. He too found that they were intellectually inconsistent, often ignorant, and all over the place when it comes to an agenda.

Lastly, to counteract the “Occupy” movement and its muddled/socialistic messages, the New Mexico Conservative Republicans are putting on a “teach in” at UNM next Tuesday, November 8. I’ll be taking part and information is as follows:

CONSERVATISM AND THE U.S. CONSTITION: ANTIDOTES TO TYRANNY

University of New Mexico
Tuesday, November 8, from 11 AM to 1:30 PM, in the SUB Atrium

11:00 AM – Introduction
11:10 AM – Donald Gluck, UNM Conservative Republicans
– CONSERVATISM: PRINCIPLES & HISTORY
11:40 AM – Conrad James, Representative House District 24
– GOVERNMENT POLICY & THE FINANCIAL MELTDOWN
12:10 PM – Greg Sowards, Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate
– RESTORING THE PROMISE OF PROSPERITY FOR NEW MEXICO
12:30 PM – Mike Blessing, President Libertarian Party of Bernalillo County
– CAPITALISM & MERCANTILISM
1:00 PM – Paul Gessing, President Rio Grande Foundation
– THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores are out. Remember that the Florida Model is based on that state’s success in improving reading scores among all students, but especially poor ones. There is some useful data to point out regarding Florida and New Mexico. I’ve posted two charts (thanks to Matt Ladner and Jay Greene). First, the chart below shows 4th grade NAEP reading scores for free and reduced lunch kids (a measure of poverty). Notice that Florida’s poor kids perform 5th best in the nation. Among states, New Mexico is 3rd worst (thank God for California!).

Interestingly, New Mexico’s educational under-performance is not limited to the poor. Middle and upper income whites perform relatively poorly in our state while Florida is again among the best-performing states in the nation.

As I’ve written before, many in the New Mexico Legislature seem all too happy with the status quo.

If you were not already aware, New Mexico has high crime rates. According to the US Census, we are 5th highest for violent offenses (per capita) and 8th highest on property crimes.

The Rio Grande Foundation and the Drug Policy Alliance recently teamed up to exchange ideas and attempt to come to an agreement on non-partisan ways to address criminal justice issues in a cost-effective manner. Several states have been active in reforming criminal justice in their states and there is a conservative group called “Right on Crime” that advocates for reasonable reforms.

Marc Levin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (our sister think tank in Texas, a state that has actively pursued reforms) presented at the recent conference in Albuquerque. His presentation is available here.

The Washington, DC-based Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the New Mexico-based Rio Grande Foundation have released a new report on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) rampant abuse of power in enforcing the “Regional Haze Provision” of the federal Clean Air Act.

Full text of the new report is available online.

The specific target of the EPA in this unfolding debacle is the San Juan Generating Station in the Four Corners region of New Mexico. Author William Yeatman, Assistant Director, Center for Energy and Environment, at CEI, describes in detail how the EPA ran roughshod over New Mexico’s rightful authority under the Clean Air Act, at a cost of almost $340 million to New Mexico ratepayers.

As Yeatman writes in the paper, “New Mexico proposed a plan in full compliance with federal and state laws and regulations. In a contortion of logic, the EPA is rejecting New Mexico’s cost-effective analysis for a plan that achieves the EPA’s own target for cost-effectiveness. It is the only state subject to this bizarre reasoning.”

While overreach on the part of the EPA is not uncommon, Yeatman explains in detail that “New Mexico is being treated differently than every other state, in order to justify $700 million in costs beyond what the EPA’s own rules stipulate are necessary.”

Said Paul Gessing, President of the Rio Grande Foundation, “In New Mexico, we care deeply about both clean air and economic growth. Our own policymakers in the Environmental Department came up with a cost-effective solution that fully-complied with the EPA’s own guidelines, but that was completely ignored by the out-of-control federal agency.”

Concluded Yeatman, “New Mexico lawmakers should send a strong message to the EPA that its actions are unacceptable. They should enact a resolution condemning the EPA’s arbitrary regulations and demand that New Mexico be treated like its peers. In so doing, they would be governing in the best interest of the nearly 500,000 New Mexicans who face a $120 per year electricity tax to pay for invisible benefits.”

Unfortunately, as is so often the case with things New Mexico scores “highly” in, second place is not a good thing. Check out page 3 of this document (the rest of it is interesting as well) which ranks the states based on government workers per 1,000 private workers. We are the highest in the nation aside from Wyoming.

We have previously reported on New Mexico’s high rate of government employment. The AFSCME union has also “taken us to task” for allegedly misrepresenting the data. But, the fact remains that New Mexico has an outsized government work force relative to neighboring and not altogether dis-similar states like Arizona, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Facts are facts.

KRQE’s Larry Barker has blown the whistle on legislator and APS administrator Sheryl Williams-Stapleton who has been paid her full salary at APS (and her legislative per diem) even though APS rules expressly prohibit this practice. APS teachers are able to receive their salaries while they are at the session and this is questionable, but at least legal. Rather than disciplining Stapleton for breaking the rules, APS Superintendent Winston Brooks just changed district policy.

Financial woes plague legislative service: krqe.com

Oh, and as if that were not enough, APS has not fulfilled Rio Grande Foundation information requests for the district’s 2011 payroll. While other school districts have complied, APS has not done so after more than a month.

At the Rio Grande Foundation, we’ve been focusing attention on the need for Right to Work legislation to turn New Mexico’s economy around. Interestingly, a bordering state, Oklahoma, has a recent experience with having adopted such legislation.

According to this analysis from Scott Moody and Wendy Warcholik who have done work for RGF as well, since 2003, “Oklahoma’s manufacturing GDP has grown 45 percent…outstripping that of the average manufacturing growth in in non-Right To Work states (22 percent).”

Also, according to the same report, the economic growth associated with Right to Work has led to more people and economic growth happening in the Sooner State: “between 1995 and 2002, Oklahoma lost 10,681 households, 3,461 people, and more than $1 billion in income. From 2003 to 2008, however, Oklahoma has gained 13,215 households, 40,693 people, and $99 million in income.

If you live in the Albuquerque area, you may have never heard of News New Mexico. It is a radio show that airs throughout the state, but not in Albuquerque. The show is hosted by conservatives that frequently have RGF president Paul Gessing, capitol reporter Rob Nikolewski, and watchdog David Collins on the air.

I have been told that News New Mexico has a great chance to get on 1550 KIVA AM live weekday mornings, but management of the station needs to be convinced. Give KIVA a call at: 505-899-5029. Tell them that you want to hear News New Mexico during the week.

This video explains why the federal government can’t tax its way out of the current budget problem:

Equally interesting is this excellent article by Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center who explains that countries that successfully solve large budget deficits overwhelmingly rely on cutting spending rather than raising taxes. The following chart illustrates the point nicely:

ObamaCare continues to be a dead weight holding the economy back. Worse, if it is not overturned, it will cause major, negative changes for America’s health care system. Rather than merely predicting how Americans will be hurt by increased government involvement in their health care, film maker Logan Darrow Clements went to Canada to see how their health care system works (or fails to work) for himself. The result was the film “Sick and Sicker.”

The Rio Grande Foundation is working to bring this informative movie to Albuquerque (and eventually other parts of the state). If you want to help us out, go to this page and pledge to purchase a few DVD’s. If we hit $700, we’ll show the movie in Albuquerque this fall. If we don’t hit $700, you won’t pay a dime. Thank you in advance for your support!

They say that it is always darkest right before the sunrise. And, while there are a few signs of life out there economically, the fact is that most Americans are pretty pessimistic these days. Brad Lips over at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, an organization that works with organizations like RGF overseas, views the situation in a more optimistic light.

He makes his case over at the American Thinker.

Energy expert Robert Bradley is speaking at an upcoming Rio Grande Foundation-sponsored luncheon on November 10 (more information here). Bradley has a very interesting article on the Keystone XL Pipeline over at the Cato Institute’s website.

According to Bradley, “A new influx of up to 700,000 bpd from Canada will dramatically increase U.S supplies and in turn drive gas prices down. A study from Energy Policy Research Foundation found a greater supply of Canadian oil could save Gulf Coast refiners almost $500 million annually in transport costs, which, in turn, would mean lower prices for consumers at the pump.”

Also, “by 2019 employment directly related to Keystone XL could grow from 80,000 jobs to 179,000. If the flow of Canadian oil through the United States remains unchanged, however, total employment from the Keystone line will peak at 94,000 in 2019.”

This would seem to be exactly what the doctor ordered for the US economy. For more information on the proposed pipeline and a petition on it, go to this link.

The Washington-based Tax Foundation has an excellent new report on unemployment insurance. It explains the history of unemployment insurance, the problems that have arisen over the years, and includes many charts and graphs with specific comparisons among the states. It also includes some ideas for restoring/reforming state unemployment systems.

With all of the discussion in New Mexico on the need to reform unemployment insurance, this would seem to be an important paper for legislators to take a look at.

Rob Nikolewski over at Capitol Report has a great summary of the paper and some potential reform ideas for New Mexico’s elected leaders.  The South American nation of Chile has already implemented something called “individual unemployment accounts.”

Here’s how they do it in Santiago:

• Workers pay 0.6 of their wages into individual accounts, and employers pay a further 1.6 percent of the worker’s wages into the account.
• Employers pay a 0.8 percent payroll tax into a “solidarity fund” that pays benefits to new or low-wage workers when their accounts are exhausted.
• Accounts are conservatively invested in a variety of securities by managing funds that also operate the workers’ retirement funds.
• After a worker’s account has accumulated sufficient funds to pay five months’ worth of benefits, no further contributions occur.
• The worker’s individual account pays out when the worker becomes unemployed or retires. Unemployed individuals can withdraw 30 to 50 percent of their previous wages each week for up to five months

This letter of mine appeared in the Albuquerque Business Journal on Monday:

I read with great interest Winthrop Quigley’s recent column on the anxiety New Mexico’s small bankers are having in relation to the latest, costly regulation coming from Washington.

Most salient was the point made by Lordsburg banker Michael Martin who has concerns about compliance costs and worries that smaller banks with small legal staffs are less able to comply with reams of new regulations than are some of America’s banking behemoths. This is the single biggest issue with all government regulations and it is why Dodd-Frank, far from solving the “too big to fail” problem will actually exacerbate the issue.

Of course, these regulations come on top of untold billions of dollars in bailouts provided by the federal government to the big banks that did so much (along with Fannie and Freddie which are left unaddressed in Dodd-Frank) to cause the current financial crisis.

When it comes to picking winners and losers, governments have a long track record of doing a terrible job. The Solyndra solar subsidy scandal and the banking bailout boondoggle illustrate the top-down, statist thinking that has kept the US economy in the doldrums for more than four years now.

The most important “law” in Washington is the law of unintended consequences. At least, I hope they are unintended, but it surely seems that when the left in particular desires some government action, the result has the opposite result of what was originally intended.