Joe Biden’s nominee for the US Supreme Court raised eyebrows and generated thousands of internet memes when she claimed in her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that she “couldn’t provide a definition for the word ‘woman.’”

Clearly, she knows what a woman is. She is clearly intelligent. She clearly wishes NOT to define the term publicly for political reasons. And that’s the real problem. If she can’t or won’t define something very simple for clearly political reasons how will she interpret complicated laws that she may disagree with?

We recently saw liberal justices on SCOTUS who were simply unwilling to draw ANY line regarding executive power relating to vaccine mandates regardless of whether Congress had granted the Biden Administration such sweeping powers. If she can’t/won’t draw a firm line over the definition of male and female, will she really make tough/unpopular decisions restricting the power of government officials including (but by no means limited to) the one nominating her to the Nation’s highest Court?

Where’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland been hiding?

New Mexico Legislature to convene for special session on April 5. Some kind of “relief” for taxpayers and reconsideration of the vetoed “junior” bill will be on the agenda for the session beginning April 5. Looks like the controversial election bill will not be on the agenda (thankfully).

If the Legislature were to suspend New Mexico’s 17 cent gas tax, it would save motorists $240 million annually.

The ABQ Journal has a three part series on the oil and gas industry and the current energy crunch. They (and the media in general) miss some important points.

The “Affordable” Housing fund passed in the Legislature won’t make housing in New Mexico more affordable.

Albuquerque City Council passed a vaccine mandate ban and will soon discuss a GRT cut.

Paul and Wally discuss the passing of attorney Pat Rogers.

Oil and gas drilling is a crucial financial driver for the state of New Mexico. In 2021, the industry contributed over one-third, or $2.9 billion, to the state budget. This money goes towards funding hospitals, schools, roads, bridges and other essential services in our local communities and tribes.

These days, the geopolitical and economic realities have been as harsh as in recent memory. Across the country everyday Americans are feeling the pressure, and nowhere more noticeably so than at the gas pump. Here in New Mexico, the statewide average price per gallon sits at $4.14 – a far cry from the $2.87 a gallon just one year ago.

The Biden Administration has pointed the finger at the oil and gas industry, claiming that despite a drop in oil prices in recent days, gas prices continue to stay high due to “price gouging” by the industry.

The reality is that the federal government has in recent months taken actions to weaken our mighty domestic oil and gas industries in a time when we need them most. Placing a moratorium on new oil and gas leases is proving to be a costly decision. In a time when our country and the rest of the world are seeking to lessen our dependence on foreign energy, we need policies that favor more domestic production—not less.

The Administration continues to tout the statistic of 9,000 unused federal leases across the country that oil and gas companies are sitting on. The reality is the process of going from lease approval to drilling is bureaucratic and slow. Many previously issued leases are tied up in litigation or regulatory disputes. And the reality is that some of the leased lands do not have the resources to make drilling financially viable.

The leasing situation is particularly relevant to New Mexico which, despite record oil production, remains disproportionately impacted relative to other states.

The Rio Grande Foundation is New Mexico’s pro-freedom, free market think tank. We believe in limited government and the rule of law. As such, we have had serious concerns about legislation and the use of said laws which have empowered our Governor to declare an emergency during the recent pandemic and act unilaterally in ways that have had significant, negative impacts on ALL New Mexicans, especially small businesses and school children.

Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in recent legislative sessions that would at least partially address the issue. Unfortunately those bills have received scant consideration in the Legislature. The Rio Grande Foundation holds the rule of law and separation of powers in high regard and believes that such concepts MUST be restored in New Mexico. Thus, we are asking candidates for the Legislature AND Governor to sign the following pledge that they will address the issue in substantive ways if they are elected.

The following is being circulated to candidates for the Legislature AND Governor:

“I commit to balancing power in future emergency declarations. This includes: restricting “emergencies” to a fixed period of time, clearly defining “emergency” in statute, and requiring majorities in both houses of the state legislature to approve extensions of any “emergency” declaration.”

Candidates can add their names here: http://rgfnm.com/pledge

We will be releasing the list of supporters well in advance of the June primary and then again before the November election.

The media just can’t bring themselves to say “thank you” to the oil and gas industry in New Mexico. The latest is the Albuquerque Journal’s thee part series on the Industry which states it is “in the crosshairs” and includes several inane statements including one from NMSU economist Jim Peach. Peach essentially advocated for “modern monetary theory” on the RGF podcast.

For starters, European countries which always pay somewhat more for gasoline due to heavy tax burdens are currently paying MUCH more due to the situation in Ukraine. England, for example, is paying $8.30/gallon.  Natural gas prices which Europe is more directly reliant on and is not quite the global market that oil is have risen even more dramatically, hitting record highs.

Rather than the “in the crosshairs” rhetoric, Americans should be saying hearty “thank you’s” to the frackers and other innovators who have brought Americans inexpensive, reliable energy.

Environmentalists ALWAYS have energy in their crosshairs, but the truth is they have nothing to replace traditional energy with. We saw this when PNM started talking about a “blackout” debacle coming this summer. Environmentalists opposed to coal didn’t try to oppose keeping the plant open.

Finally, the article completely accepts the claims by so-called “experts” that “Laying the blame on Biden is almost as stupid as blaming Jimmy Carter for oil shortages in the 1970s.”

Peach doesn’t even get is basic history right. The Jimmy Carter administration began a phased deregulation of oil prices on April 5, 1979 (that’s more than halfway through his term). Price controls on gasoline (and to be clear Nixon is to blame for imposing them) WERE a big part of the problem with shortages.

Similarly Biden has slowed permitting, eliminated pipelines, and imposed numerous regulations on the Industry, all while bringing increased uncertainty to it. Biden is definitely to blame for a significant part of the recent price runup.  Media/Administration claims to the contrary are bogus.

A slightly shortened version of this opinion piece was published in the Albuquerque Journal on March 20, 2022. A chart illustrating Albuquerque’s spending is found below the text.

Elections have consequences. After four years of “progressive” leadership by Mayor Keller and a left leaning city council, the election of November 2020 saw a more center-right Council. While much attention was given to the fact that Tim Keller was reelected by a wide margin despite the City’s spiraling crime problem, Albuquerque voters didn’t actually vote for the status quo.

Now, we are starting to see a shift toward a more moderate approach to the issues from City Council. Better legislative proposals are in the pipeline, but with a 5-4 majority and a hostile mayor, getting these ideas past the finish line will be a challenge requiring grassroots support.

A starting point is reducing gross receipts taxes. Back in 2018, shortly after taking office, Mayor Keller and the new “progressive” council majority raised the (regressive) GRT by 3/8^th of a cent. This was a major tax increase considering that the City’s overall GRT “take” before the tax hike was 2.375%. That made Keller’s tax hike a nearly 9% increase in Albuquerque’s rate.

And, not surprisingly, that tax increased led to rapid spending growth in the City’s budget. Even when the annual budget freeze in the 2021 budget due to COVID 19 is included, the City’s budget is up 27 percent under Mayor Keller.

Unfortunately, when the City Council met recently to discuss Councilor Lewis’ plan to cut just 1/8^th of a cent off the GRT (not the full amount added in 2018), Keller’s Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Bhakta claimed “this is the worst time possible” to cut taxes.

Considering that, among numerous other wasteful spending programs, the City has just undertaken a $3 million plan to make City buses “free” to riders (that’s on top of millions in annual transit subsidies), it would seem the City could do something to help residents who continue to be pummeled by rising inflation. Unfortunately, it seems that Mayor Keller and his Administration remain opposed to this reasonable tax reduction.

There are other exciting efforts underway to move Albuquerque in a more pro-freedom direction. The big question is whether Keller will stand in the way of everything or if he’ll choose his battles. For example, Councilor Bassan has proposed ending the City’s plastic bag ban which recently passed City Council.

The unnecessary and environmentally irrelevant ban on plastic bags makes daily life more difficult for thousands of Albuquerque residents. Those bags are often reused and can be recycled. They are hardly the environmental problem their opponents claim. According to Our World in Data, the entire continent of North America generates less than 1 percent of the “mismanaged plastic” on the planet.

If Keller and City Council really want to address the City’s serious litter problem, the legions of transients begging on street corners, camping throughout town, and leaving trash behind wherever they go would be a better place to start.

While a number of other important issues are being discussed at City Council that, if adopted, will move our City in a positive direction, no effort highlights the ideological shift better than the effort to restore market forces in public construction projects. Immediately after the 2020 election, a bill was rammed through Council by liberals and the trade unions to mandate that public construction projects use union labor.

Estimates are that such unfair laws called “Project Labor Agreements” boost taxpayer costs by 14 percent. A bill is now working its way through the current Council to repeal that law and instead allow all workers and contractors regardless of union membership to bid for city construction projects.

Albuquerque is a great and beautiful city, but its management has left a lot to be desired in recent years. The current City Council is standing up to big government and special interests. They deserve your support.

Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility

While the 2022 legislative session was noteworthy for the lack of BIG, BAD left-wing agenda items falling by the wayside and for actual tax cuts being enacted.

However, a relatively successful session still had its share of warts. One of those warts came in the form of SB 134, the so-called “affordable housing trust fund.” Senate Bill 134 dedicates 2.5% of the annual severance tax bond capacity for the New Mexico Housing Trust Fund.

Affordable housing is a serious issue in New Mexico. In the past year, rent has increased 13.7 percent nationwide and 18.5 percent in Albuquerque. But, as I note in this article from The Center Square, the problems with affordable housing will not be solved by pumping tax dollars into housing. In fact, economics 101 would dictate that more money in housing would increase prices.

In fact, the fundamental current problem is housing is the broader inflation issue due to overspending and money printing in Washington. But, as noted in the article, there are numerous tools for state and local government in New Mexico and around the nation to bring down housing prices.

It’s a very SHORT list of taxes we “like” and there are ways for New Mexico to get more bang for its infrastructure buck, but considering the State’s ongoing budgetary boom (thanks largely to oil and gas production and prices), there are worse things to do in a special session than suspending New Mexico’s 17 cent/gallon gas tax (and diesel fuel tax).

On an annual basis suspending the tax would result in $240 million in savings for New Mexico motorists (p.77). Any lost revenues could easily be made up for using surplus revenues.

As Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland manages the Federal government’s onshore subsurface mineral estate – about 700 million acres (30% of the United States) held by the Bureau of Land Management. According to their website: For fiscal year (FY) 2018, sales of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids produced from the Federal and Tribal mineral estate accounted for approximately 8 percent of all oil, 9 percent of all natural gas, and 6 percent of all natural gas liquids produced in the United States.

That number could be even higher if energy production were encouraged rather than being discouraged. But Deb Haaland made her political way by opposing traditional energy and that is an inconvenient fact for the Biden Administration right now with skyrocketing energy prices.

Here are a few ways in which Secretary Haaland is nowhere to be found:

• Her calendar hasn’t been updated in nearly a year (since March of 2021);
• The Interior Department and its associated agencies have not issued a single press release on the energy crisis/situation, much less about increasing production on federal lands;
• There have been no tweets from Sec. Haaland on the issue of increasing energy production on federal lands;
• When she DOES focus on energy issues as she did in a visit to Ohio, the focus was on infrastructure — cleaning up orphan wells, legacy pollution from extractive industries and moving toward renewables.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is at least publicly calling for ramping up production. Previously the White House was “quietly” calling for more production. But again, the head of the federal mineral estate where the feds have control over leasing and permitting is silent? Do they not want her talking about it? If not, why? Maybe because she put so much political capital into calling for a fracking ban and the Green New Deal?

Hot on the heels of Rio Grande Foundation’s analysis of the Albuquerque Public Schools’ budget, the Albuquerque Journal ran this article in which the district bemoaned the loss of students and Superintendent Elder discussed the possibility of eliminating some 300 positions.

No government agency wants to have to reduce staffing, but wasn’t it WAY back in October of 2021, the District was saying that it had too few teachers and staff? With fewer students to educate, it is incumbent on the District to reduce staffing or at least “rightsize.”

Additionally (and not mentioned in the article) is the fact that a plummeting student population (with little sign of a long-term trend in the opposite direction) SHOULD allow the District to shed some outdated buildings and other infrastructure. APS has long been a building/infrastructure-heavy district. It is time to make those decisions and free up necessary resources as well.

As seen below, on a per-pupil basis APS is spending more than ever per student. With the Legislature’s actions this year that number will go even higher in the next budget. It is time for APS to do better.

New Mexico’s US Senator Martin Heinrich’s Twitter feed is a strange place. Heinrich has carved out a bit of a niche, such as it is, by criticizing natural gas use in the home and pushing for “electrification” despite the already-high cost of electrical heat relative to gas.

Were electricity to become dominant in home heating AND vehicle “fuel” as Heinrich wishes AND for that electricity to be generated from wind and solar, you can bet that the price tag would be even higher. Nonetheless, here’s Heinrich making a bizarre point about cooking on a natural gas stove being equivalent to having a babysitter smoke in your house.

Unemployment rates for US states in January of 2022 just came out and, again, New Mexico’s unemployment rate remains at 5.9%, the nation’s highest rate.

Data for New Mexico’s more economically-robust neighbors can be found below:

According to news reports, Gov. Lujan Grisham vetoed a “pork” bill that would have included $50 million in legislative projects. The bill was passed in the 2022 session and according to news reports the move upset legislators on both sides of the aisle with Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca, a Republican from Belen, Rep. Patty Lundstrom, a Gallup Democrat who chairs the influential House Appropriations and Finance Committee, and Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo all speaking out in opposition to the Gov.’s move.

As seen below in a meme put out by the Republican Party, these local priorities run the gamut. And, as we’ve critiqued this spending in the past, there is really no process for ensuring that these tax dollars are allocated in any rational way for the betterment of our State.

So, are we “marching in the streets” in support of Lujan Grisham’s veto? Not really. Simply put, the overall budget grows State spending by more than $1 billion in a single year (way too much).

We’re also NOT joining some prominent members of the GOP (or Democratic Party) for a special or even an “extraordinary” session as candidates would have to put their campaigns on hold and there is simply too much mischief that could happen on a variety of issues in such a session, especially when one Party, the Democrats, controls all the levers of power.

So, the Gov. has made her vetoes upsetting legislators of both parties in an election year. The capital outlay process remains broken. Another session would be a mistake.

According to the most recent report from Wallethub (March 10, 2022), after two years of COVID 19 New Mexico’s unemployment rate has suffered the largest increase of any state in the nation. You can see a graphic from the report below, but also according to the report, New Mexico’s unemployment claims have jumped by an astounding 234.71 percent since the Pandemic began.

While businesses continue to post “help wanted” signs throughout New Mexico, something is very wrong with the Lujan Grisham economy. What’s really surprising is that this sad unemployment picture references an INCREASE over New Mexico’s typically-high unemployment rate.

Sen. Martin Heinrich’s Twitter feed you might believe that natural gas is the dirtiest fuel known to humankind, not one of the cleanest.

Heinrich (and AG Hector Balderas) both oppose natural gas for home heating and cooking on environmental grounds. Heinrich even attempts to claim that electricity is a cheaper means of heating your home.

But, the US Department of Energy just released a new report stating that natural gas IS indeed MUCH cheaper than electricity for heating one’s home. As seen below, natural gas at $12.09 per million Btu is more than three times cheaper than electricity at $41.79 per million Btu.

This is obvious to anyone who has lived with both types of heat, but it is good to see Heinrich’s misinformation refuted by none other than the federal Department of Energy (yet again).

Albuquerque City Council eliminated the plastic bag ban on a 6-3 vote. That’s veto-proof. Will the majority hold and override a mayoral veto?

Biden hasn’t held an onshore lease sale and is the only President in at least two decades not to have done so in a given year. Approvals for new liquefied natural gas terminals and expansions are also sitting at the Department of Energy and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

The Wall Street Journal reports on the numerous ways in which the Biden Administration is hindering oil and gas.

Biden is considering getting oil from Venezuela?????

Defenders of the Biden Administration’s policies fall short.

APS spent $18,594 in FY 2020. By 2022 that number is $22,877.

New Mexico has the highest unemployment rate of ANY state in the nation as of December 2021.

Rail Runner ridership fell off a cliff during COVID. What’s the latest?

The Rio Grande Foundation does its best to track the budget for large government agencies. One of the very largest in New Mexico is Albuquerque Public Schools.

We have always taken the simple approach when calculating the District’s budget: divide dollars spent by the number of students. As expected, particularly given the abandonment of APS by families with school-aged children, the District is receiving more and more money to educate fewer and fewer students.

In FY 2020, the District spent $1,475,755,646 to educate 79,366 students. That comes to $18,594.31 per student.

In FY 2022, the District spent $1,658,589,579 to educate just 72,500 students. That comes to a mind-blowing $22,877.10.

By comparison, tuition at Sandia Prep, one of the top private schools in the State cost $23,410. St. Pius X, the City of Albuquerque’s largest Catholic High School cost “just” $12,900 per student.

With more money than ever flowing into New Mexico’s government schools (and more families than ever fleeing them), it is very likely that APS’ per-pupil costs will skyrocket for years to come.

According to the latest (December 2021 data) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, New Mexico has the highest unemployment rate among US states (5.9%). While  that rate continues to drop even here in New Mexico from pandemic highs, the State lags dramatically behind its neighbors (despite rising oil revenues and production).

See the chart below for details:

Late on Monday night in a City Council meeting that lasted late into the night, a 6-3 majority of Albuquerque’s City Council voted to end the City’s plastic bag ban. The ban will next go to Mayor Keller who will likely veto it and then send it back to City Council. Assuming that these six councilors hold together for a veto override, the ban will be repealed.

Despite many impassioned pleas by supporters of the ban (many from children seemingly pumped full of fear over climate change), this is the right move by Albuquerque’s City Council. Albuquerque could be a lot cleaner, but that involves eliminating “homeless” encampments and street side beggars as well as just urging people to do a better job of throwing their trash away or preventing it from flying away in our numerous windstorms.

Recycling bags is not likely a real solution, but using the bags for purposes from pet waste to trash can liners is and is actually superior to recycling. As the chart below from Our World in Data shows, the global plastic problem is NOT a result of mismanaged plastics here in the US or in North America.

The New Mexico Rail Runner Express (like many transit systems) had been losing ridership for many years before the Pandemic, but the rise of COVID 19 in March of 2020 drastically reduced the number of people who take the train.

And, while (as the chart below shows) the number of riders rose slightly in 2021 relative to the nadir of 2020, the fact is that many transportation analysts believe that “mass” transit has been fundamentally and even permanently impacted in a very negative way by the Pandemic.

After all, the train was primarily used by government workers to commute up to Santa Fe. If a large fraction of them no longer have to make the commute, they get the benefit of 3 or more hours back that they’d otherwise spend commuting AND they have a more flexible schedule.

WILL transit ever come back? Who knows? What we do know is that New Mexico continues to shovel tens of millions of dollars into a  train system with a vanishingly small number of riders.

On this week’s podcast conversation Paul and Wally begin by discussing the PRC acting quickly to keep the lights on. Does it solve New Mexico’s electrical grid issues?

According to Wally and Paul the United States can best help Ukraine by “drill baby drill,” but Sen. Martin Heinrich says we should double down on “green” policies.

Now, oil prices have soared to over $100 a barrel. Paul and Wally discuss this at length and offer some specific solutions that President Biden should consider, but likely won’t.

NM spent big on ads related to scaring New Mexicans about COVID 19. We have the receipts including exactly how much was spent. 

A prominent New Mexico political columnist took Florida’s Ron DeSantis and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem to task for their approach to COVID, but now it is clear that “America’s Laziest Governors” had the right approach.  Good news as NM’s COVID rate has continued to drop since MLG ended New Mexico’s mask mandate.

Rep. Georgene Louis decides not to run again after DUI arrest.

Biden picks a liberal for SCOTUS, no surprise there as Paul and Wally discuss a few of the specifics. Masks are now optional for Biden’s SOTU address.

!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src=”https://rumble.com/embedJS/ux0zii”+(arguments[1].video?’.’+arguments[1].video:”)+”/?url=”+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+”&args=”+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, “script”, “Rumble”);

Rumble(“play”, {“video”:”vtl270″,”div”:”rumble_vtl270″});

A recent post on this site address some ways in which, if he wanted to, President Biden COULD put additional economic pressure on Russia. People like New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich seem to believe that doubling down on unreliable energy sources is the solution to limiting Russia’s power.

Germany is constantly lauded for its “green” energy, and it has spent big to get there, but supposedly “cheap” renewables have resulted in Germany having the highest  electricity prices among major nations as seen below according to Statista. As seen below, electricity in Germany costs about 2.5 times what it does in the US.

And, when Heinrich and others make the argument that Germany’s efforts to “electrify” their grid will be enough to abandon fossil fuels, it is worth remembering that gasoline is not easily replaced in a car. Again, according to Statista, electric vehicles make up just over 1 percent of German vehicles.

One positive side-effect of the Russian invasion is that Germany is reconsidering its abandonment of fossil fuels. New Mexico would be well-served to do the same with regard to the Energy Transition Act.

The Rio Grande Foundation uses its “Freedom Index” vote tracking site to  hold New Mexico legislators accountable for their stances on individual freedom and personal liberty. We have rated all bills that impact individual freedom that received floor votes for the 2022 session and thus the current Index results are “final.”

Every bill receiving a score is rated on a scale from -8 through +8 depending on its overall impact on YOUR personal freedom. In the 2022 session the most impactful vote (-8) was on SB 14, the Clean Fuel Standard. A full analysis of that bill can be found here.

The BEST bill voted on this session was HB 163, that is the bill which includes several tax cuts (RGF analysis of that bill here). It received a +4 rating in the Index.

Rep. Stefani Lord (R) who represents parts of the East Mountains of Albuquerque scored a 45 which was the highest rating of the session.

Rep. Randall Pettigrew (R) who represents Lea County scored a 43 which was good for the 2nd-highest rating of the session.

Sen. Craig Brandt (R) who represents Rio Rancho scored 33 which was the highest rating for any senator (the Senate and House vote on different bills and the House typically takes more votes and thus has higher and lower scores).

Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez (D) who represents parts of Albuquerque scored -66 which was the lowest rating for any member of the Legislature.

Preface: I do not have cable television. According to global market research and public opinion specialist Ipsos, only 1 in 5 Millennials (19%) use cable TV, compared to nearly half of all Baby Boomers (49%). I fit right in with the rest of my generation. Because of this, I was oblivious to the New Mexico Department of Health’s reckless commercial spending until I received an anonymous tip.

Last week, a Rio Grande Foundation supporter expressed concerns that the NMDOH was running commercials on local television stations encouraging New Mexicans to get the COVID-19 vaccine. “Jane Doe” explicitly pointed to the repetitive nature of the commercials: sometimes they ran twice or more during the same commercial break.

After some digging, this version of the advertisement on NMDOH’s official YouTube channel was found. Confirming with Jane that this ad was indeed the same ad she had seen, an official request to inspect public records was submitted to DOH: how much money was spent on the production of the commercial and how much was spent on buying airtime?

“I am seeking to inspect each and every receipt for payments made by the New Mexico Department of Health for placement of these advertisements on any television network between January 1, 2021 and February 22, 2022.”

During the 14 month period from January 2021 to February 2022, NMDOH spent $20,074,331.01 on production and distribution of the commercial. 100% of these payments were made to Real Time Solutions, a self-described web based business solutions provider in Albuquerque.

13 separate invoices ranging from $319,473.48 to $3,372,899.06 were paid by NMDOH. All of the original invoices have been made available for you to inspect yourself.

A revised request was submitted this morning to include all spending between January 2020 and February 2022.