The recently-completed, one day special session of the New Mexico Legislature didn’t include issues of substance of interest to the Rio Grande Foundation (limited government, individual liberty). While much-needed legislation WAS introduced to limit the Gov.’s powers during a crisis, the Democrats who control both bodies, didn’t give the bill a hearing.

Instead, the Session was called to distribute hundreds of millions of dollars of federal CARES Act money. But, that doesn’t mean that no controversies erupted during the Special. In fact,  the following short video from the Session shows a testy exchange on the House floor.

Rep. Rebecca Dow had presented an amendment to the Relief bill that would have provided a $600 one-time payment to front line essential workers who make less than $15/hr. Speaker Egolf did not want his members to have to take a vote on the measure and he attempted to twist the rules in his favor. Rep. Jason Harper calls him on it in a heated exchange toward the end of this video.

On this week’s podcast, Paul and Wally discuss numerous problematic issues with the Gov.’s latest lockdown orders.

Paul identifies crazy problems with the Gov.’s lockdown policies.

New Mexico’s Legislature is about to go into a special session. What will happen?

Leftists: get rid of oil and gas and replace it with?   CO2 emissions dropped this year by 9.2% 

Debating corporate taxes with Bill Jordan of Voices. 

The Fraser Institute’s Freedom Index report for 2020 has been released. NM is 42nd.

New Mexico’s Educational Retirement Board has divested from private prisons and corrections companies. RGF takes issue with this.

To great acclaim and the sound of trumpets Netflix has added to their film “footprint” in New Mexico.

This is considered an undisputedly good thing by those who either don’t look at the details or don’t have a rudimentary understanding of math.

For starters there is the 25% film “tax credit” which is really a rebate of 25% of the costs of production. They get another 5% since they are qualified production facility, so that means taxpayers will reimburse Netflix for 30% of their spending in NM which according to the article will be an additional $1 billion. Based on this, the company will cash checks from New Mexico taxpayers for up to $300 million (and that’s just on their production spend).

As if that were not enough the State is providing $17 million in LEDA incentives; the City of Albuquerque is providing another $7 million in LEDA, and they will also provide an industrial revenue bond to abate some if not all property taxes over a 20-year term for the first $500 million investment to build out the facility.

In total Netflix will receive $300 million + $17 million + $7 million + the IRB tax abatement to eliminate their property taxes.

Finally, even though N.M. has annual cap on film tax rebate expenditures, the legislation exempted companies that purchase or sign a 10-year lease for a qualified production facility. Meaning the cap does not apply to Netflix.

In other words, Netflix is definitely going to grow and appear to create more jobs in New Mexico, but it will come at a tremendous cost (not just in lost revenue, but in actually spending) to both State and local taxpayers. This is both unfair AND unsustainable. The notorious New Mexico outlaw and thief Billy the Kid would be jealous.

Wallethub has continued to track (and we have continued to report) on the “recovery” in New Mexico’s unemployment situation during the COVID crisis.

According to their report released today, New Mexico’s unemployment insurance claims since this time last year are worse than any other state besides Kansas.

Also, New Mexico has recovered the least among states since the start of 2020.

Finally, illustrating the negative impact of Gov. Lujan Grisham’s recent shutdown policies, New Mexico’s unemployment saw the worst week-over-week increase over the prior week.

The following opinion piece by RGF president Paul Gessing appeared in the Las Cruces Sun News on November 22, 2020

Recently, both the Santa Fe and Rio Rancho school districts joined Albuquerque and Las Cruces schools in abandoning any in-person learning. Instead, for the foreseeable future all learning in New Mexico’s largest school districts will be done online. The odds seem very good that this situation will continue into 2021 and possibly through the end of the school year.

Oddly, while Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham constantly tells us that her anti-COVID efforts are based “on the science,” leading health bodies like the CDC have recommended in-person learning. And, as a Nov. 16 email distributed nationally from the New York Times put it:

“The one indoor activity that appears to present less risk is school, especially elementary school. Why? Young children seem to spread the virus less often than adults do. “Research has shown that if you put social-distancing protocols in place, school is actually quite a safe environment,” Andreas Schleicher, who studies schools for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, told NPR.

Closing schools and switching entirely to remote learning, on the other hand, has big social costs. Children are learning less, and many parents, mostly mothers, have dropped out of the labor force. The U.S. is suffering from both of these problems and from a raging pandemic.

The upshot is that increasing numbers of parents have few choices when it comes to educating their children. That is, unless they can pay for and get their child enrolled in one of the religious or private schools around New Mexico that have been providing in-person learning throughout the school year (despite arbitrary occupancy restrictions imposed by the governor).

The governor and the union-dominated political power structure of the state has been implacably opposed to helping parents and families as they face dire challenges in educating their children thanks to the pandemic and the shutdown of in-person teaching. Earlier this year New Mexico sued the Trump Administration to stop any CARES Act funding from being directed to non-public schools, other states (including two of New Mexico’s neighbors) have found creative ways to directly help families impacted by the shutdown of in-person learning in many school districts.

• Oklahoma is providing $30 million from the CARES Act to support families impacted by the virus-induced shutdowns. “These programs will allow for students and families of diverse backgrounds to access the quality resources they need in order to continue their education journey amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Gov. Stitt.
• Idaho has created a $50 million program using CARES Act dollars to spent on eligible educational materials, devices and services. Parents can apply for benefits totaling $1,500 per eligible student and a maximum award of $3,500 per family.
• Texas used $30 million to help special needs students whose families have been forced to deal with a difficult situation in the pandemic. Families of some students with disabilities may be eligible for $1,500 per child in aid to use toward services including tutoring, therapy and digital resources.

But, here in New Mexico the options most children are really limited.

• Students, often young ones without typing and computer skills engaged in virtual learning, sometimes without great Internet access;
• Spending scarce resources in these difficult times on private schools while continuing to pay taxes for government schools;
• Or, withdrawing students completely from government schools and having one or more parent or family member dedicated to educating children at home.

These are not great options for many New Mexico families. Returning to in-person learning is undoubtedly the best available option. It would also be great if New Mexico came up with something similar to what is happened in neighboring states at least as a start to helping families deal with the consequences of the ever-shifting educational playing field. Alas, New Mexico didn’t get to 50th in education by making good decisions.

Paul J. Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. 

Gov. Lujan Grisham’s COVID restriction policies officially “jumped the shark” this week when the combined effects of her 25% occupancy mandate (or 75 people including staff (a tiny number for a big-box store) conflicted with her edict that allows the New Mexico Department of Health to close workplaces down for two weeks if they have four or more COVID-19 rapid responses in a 14-day period. (see photos below).

While the four Rapid Response concept has some merit, the reality is that larger workforces (like big box stores) are going to have more cases than smaller ones and several of them have indeed been shut down.

Worsening the situation is the Gov.’s “let them eat cake”mentality expressed by her spokesperson by claiming that the grocery store lines were “a Republican talking point.”

As bad as this is for the urban denizens of Albuquerque or Santa Fe (particularly the elderly), imagine the challenge of living in a rural part of New Mexico where the nearest grocery store is a 45 minute or even a 90 minute drive away.

As an American I never thought I’d see people having to line up to wait in line for food. The capitalist system remains functional as food and other essentials are being produced, but the government’s COVID response is failing.

On this week’s interview show, Paul sits down with Grover Norquist, president and founder of Americans for Tax Reform. Grover is one of the most prominent voices for free markets and lower taxes in Washington.

The dust is still settling in the presidential election and there are two runoff elections underway in Georgia that could determine control of the US Senate. How did conservative issues and policies fare in the 2020 election? Grover and Paul go over ballot measures on everything from marijuana legalization to ride-sharing companies and racial preferences. Grover is optimistic both about the future of freedom and lower taxes around the nation.

Paul and Grover conclude the discussion by discussing how legislative control shifted at the state level and whether a prospective Biden Administration will tack leftward on various economic policies or whether there will be opportunities for Democrats and Republicans to work together over the next few years.

This tweet was posted on Thursday, November 19. The writer is New Mexico Speaker of the House Brian Egolf’s Chief of Staff. Of course, most major New Mexico school districts have shut down in-person learning and the rest are doing “hybrid” learning at best. Sports were shut down in New Mexico including golf and cross country.

And this all comes on top of the fact that the left’s own advocacy group ranks New Mexico 50th for children’s well being. This, in spite (or more likely because of) New Mexico’s 90+ years of Democrat dominance.

As RGF responds, have YOU heard anything from Speaker Egolf about the way Gov. Lujan Grisham has handled the lockdown? Has he said New Mexico schools should reopen or that fall non-contact sports should be played? We haven’t heard whether the Speaker will support efforts to reign in the power of this or any governor to take such drastic action as we have seen during this crisis over many months and without legislative input.

Recently, New Mexico’s Educational Retirement Board (ERB) made the decision to divest itself from private prisons. Supporters of such a move have painted such companies in a very negative light with little justification.

Patrick Brenner, a policy analyst with the Rio Grande Foundation, submitted the following letter to the Albuquerque Journal. It was published on Monday, November 16, 2020.

I read the guest column, “ERB right to help dismantle unjust prison system,” published in the Albuquerque Journal on Nov. 8 and feel compelled to offer a response. The author is certainly entitled to her opinions about the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s decision to divest from private prisons, but she appears to be unclear on some of her facts.

The family separation mentioned in the column is a serious issue, but GEO does not manage any shelters or facilities housing unaccompanied minors, nor does it run any border patrol holding facilities along the U.S. southwest border.

What GEO does do is provide safe and humane residential care, including at the modern immigration Processing Centers it manages for the federal government that feature amenities such as artificial turf soccer fields, flat screen TVs in living areas, and indoor and outdoor recreation. These amenities are not usually available in government-operated facilities.

Unfortunately, the divestment campaign is based on an incorrect narrative and a mischaracterization of the role of GEO and other private contractors in this field who ultimately must answer to federal and state governments who are both their customers and regulate the terms of their contracts.

The latest Economic Freedom Index of North America report is out from the free market Canadian think tank Fraser Institute.

Overall, New Mexico ranks 42nd nationally in the Index which ranks US states on various measures including: “government spending,” taxes, regulations, and legal system/property rights. All of New Mexico’s neighbors are among the most economically-free states in the nation.

As can be seen in the chart below that, while people in the most economically-free half of jurisdictions have higher incomes than others, it is the least economically-free jurisdictions like New Mexico that really lag behind dramatically. It is not surprising that New Mexico is among the most impoverished states in the nation.

Twitter is a useful and frustrating tool. Bill Jordan who lobbies on behalf of one of the many liberal groups that lobbies the Legislature here in New Mexico recently posted the following. Now, we know that the rich don’t really pay less taxes than the poor in NM (we’ve had this discussion/argument with Bill numerous times). And, New Mexico corporations also pay millions of dollars in corporate income taxes as well as other taxes to the State of NM (much of which is used for education).

You can see the corporate tax data on page A-2.1 of the Gov.’s budget which shows that the State collected an estimated $133 million for FY 22.

But, Bill DOES have a point. A line item called “refundable” CIT credits vastly reduces the corporate tax burden. A friendly lobbyist in Santa Fe helped us figure things out. Much of that “refundable” loss comes in the form of film subsidies. 

Check out the paragraph below which is from page 11 of this report from the Legislative Finance Committee:

In other words, thanks to film subsidies being “booked” against corporate income taxes in ways that seem to reduce New Mexico’s corporate tax revenues to zero (or even below). The Rio Grande Foundation has consistently opposed film subsidies from day one, but Voices would rather misleadingly claim that corporations don’t pay taxes and ignore what is really happening.

Gov. Lujan Grisham places New Mexico on full lockdown again. Paul and Wally discuss the implications. Notably, New Mexico’s booming real estate sector (residential is especially strong) is NOT considered an essential business this time around. 

How long will this two weeks REALLY last? Wally and Paul believe it will be quite a bit longer. There is a lot to discuss on this important issue.

Albuquerque City Council pushed the vote on mandatory sick leave back by a week. Paul and Wally agree that imposing such a policy under the current more thorough lockdown would be even more problematic than before.

Oddly, while Gov. Lujan Grisham constantly tells us that her anti-COVID efforts are based “on the science” Leading health bodies like the CDC have recommended in-person learning. And, as a November 16 email distributed nationally from the New York Times put it:

The one indoor activity that appears to present less risk is school, especially elementary school. Why? Young children seem to spread the virus less often than adults do. “Research has shown that if you put social-distancing protocols in place, school is actually quite a safe environment,” Andreas Schleicher, who studies schools for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, told NPR.

Closing schools and switching entirely to remote learning, on the other hand, has big social costs. Children are learning less, and many parents, mostly mothers, have dropped out of the labor force. The U.S. is suffering from both of these problems and from a raging pandemic.

What’s going on with the schools? Most big districts are shut down. Not much help for families while other states have been helping.

Finally, the NM House GOP makes an interesting proposal for the 2021 legislative session

The folks at Voices for Children have never met a government program they didn’t want to expand. They want higher taxes (especially on higher income New Mexicans) but their big-spending plans are their “bread and butter.”

But, like so many on the left they revile the industry that provides approximately 40% of New Mexico’s budget, oil and gas. Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino expounded on this point earlier in the year and recently James Jimenez of Voice for Children did the same.

And don’t forget, Gov. Lujan Grisham has also stated that she wants to “transition New Mexico out of fossil fuels.”

What you don’t hear from any of them is any detailed plans for replacing the jobs and tax revenues of oil and gas. The best you get from Jimenez is the following platitude, “Our legislators need to tap into our state’s well of ingenuity and knowledge and figure out how to accelerate the diversification of our economy and state revenue sources.”

Now that the weather has turned colder and drive-in movies are really not a thing in New Mexico, good luck watching movies outside the home. But, in an illustration of the political nature of the Gov.’s ongoing COVID 19 policy, New Mexico’s film industry will continue to work under their previously-negotiated agreement with the Gov.

For the time being, not much is happening in New Mexico’s film industry. And, while we definitely decry the massive subsidies given to this chosen industry by New Mexico taxpayers, we really have no issues with the Industry being allowed to operate under a separate set of restrictions and protocols.

One industry that is NOT being considered “essential” this time around is real estate. Despite the lockdowns, real estate in New Mexico (mostly residential) remains very hot as people from high cost states flee those places as they can now work remotely.

Golf courses which have operated safely (no known cases of COVID) since they were last shut down by the Gov. have also been shuttered.

The Gov.’s latest 2 week shutdown order again takes the “one-size-fits-all” approach that has gotten us to where we are now. As one local fitness facility owner told KRQE Channel 13, “As a small business owner, we’ve worked so unbelievably hard to keep our studios open, disinfected, socially distanced, so we are doing all the right things, the fitness industry takes [COVID] very, very seriously, and if you look at those [Rapid Response] watch lists, we’re not on it. I don’t care if you’re a big box gym [or] a teeny tiny Orangetheory. We’re not on it.”

On this week’s podcast interview Paul talks to Katharine Stevens, an early childhood expert with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC.  Starting out, Paul and Katharine discuss the tragic impact of COVID 19 and the abandonment of in-person learning on children. Also, Katharine shares details on her recent report Still left behind: How America’s schools keep failing our children in which she details on a state-by-state basis how America’s public schools are failing to move the needle on results.

Finally, Katharine has written about New Mexico’s plans for universal pre-K and, with the results of the recent election, Paul notes that there can be no doubt that the Legislature will tap the permanent fund and institute such a program. Katharine shares why this will not solve the State’s educational attainment challenges.

• “Why expanding New Mexico state pre-K won’t help the children who need help the most”
  
• Joe Biden’s plan for universal preschool forgets key to children’s success: Parents.
  
• Parent coaching advances young children’s language development: Summary and Study
• Children who start school early more likely to get ADHD diagnosis — even if they don’t have it (original Harvard study here)

With cases spiraling out of control in New Mexico (despite a mask mandate and many businesses STILL closed since March) New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham has imposed a strict lock down (supposedly for just two weeks).

Despite the supposedly critical nature of this new crackdown it doesn’t start until Monday. Restaurants and recreational facilities are among the long list of businesses being shut down for the two week period although it is hard to believe the restrictions will actually be lifted by then.

Will the new restrictions positively impact the spread of COVID 19? With the spread having increased pretty consistently since early October the exponential spread is both far worse than ever and happening at a rate that would be hard to keep up.

Whether the latest lockdown is effective or not there is no doubt that another lockdown will be painful for New Mexico’s economy and businesses.

In today’s paper we are notified that Santa Fe and Rio Rancho schools will be abandoning any in-person learning for the time-being. We also know that this “forced-virtual” model is not working for a majority of students and that leading health bodies like the CDC have recommended in-person learning.

So, with so few school districts serving those who desire in-person education, what choice do parents have? Gov. MLG and the union-dominated political power structure of the State has been implacably opposed to helping parents and families as they face dire challenges in educating their children thanks to the pandemic and the shutdown of in-person teaching.

In fact, New Mexico sued the Trump Administration to stop ANY CARES Act funding from being directed to non-public schools, other states (including two of New Mexico’s neighbors) have found creative ways to directly help families impacted by the shutdown of in-person learning in many school districts.

• Oklahoma is providing $30 million from the CARES Act to support families impacted by the Virus-induced shutdowns.  “These programs will allow for students and families of diverse backgrounds to access the quality resources they need in order to continue their education journey amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Gov. Stitt.
• Idaho has created a $50 million program  using CARES Act dollars to spent on eligible educational materials, devices and services. Parents can apply for benefits totaling $1,500 per eligible student and a maximum award of $3,500 per family.
• Texas used $30 million to help special needs students whose families have been forced to deal with a difficult situation in the pandemic. Families of some students with disabilities may be eligible for $1,500 per child in aid to use toward services including tutoring, therapy and digital resources.

It would be great if New Mexico came up with something similar to these other states. Alas, you don’t get to 50th in education by making good decisions.

On this week’s podcast, Paul and Wally go through this past Tuesday’s election results at the federal and state levels. How did Paul and Wally do in their predictions? Trump is not giving up. Georgia will have two runoff elections that could determine partisan control of the Senate. Here in New Mexico Wally and Paul note the high turnout and the challenges that creates for conservatives here in NM. Mark Ronchetti acquitted himself well, Yvette Herrell won her CD 2 race, but Speaker Egolf says he’ll redistrict CD 2. Can he do it?

Also, if the results hold in the presidential race, will Gov. Lujan Grisham leave New Mexico to work for the Biden Administration? Paul and Wally discuss the upcoming 2021 New Mexico Legislature and some of their likely priorities which could include marijuana legalization, tapping the Land Grant Permanent fund, and tax hikes?

Might they pass a statewide sick leave mandate? Will they directly hit the oil and gas industry? Finally, what will the 60-day Legislature look like? Will it be in-person or virtual and how will that work for a 60-day session?

Gov. MLG’s latest COVID 19 update included no new restrictions. UNM and NMSU athletics are heading toward conflict w/Gov. as they are the ONLY two men’s Division 1 basketball teams in the nation that cannot currently practice?

Albuquerque City Council will be taking up yet another mandatory paid sick leave proposal. As currently drafted it will apply to 10 or more employees starting in January 2021 and 3 or more employees starting in January 2022.

Finally, RGF attempts to get ahold of 40-day enrollment numbers from the Public Education Department.

Recently, RGF president Paul Gessing had the opportunity to discuss the 2020 election results with Bob Clark on 770 KKOB radio. Then he sat down with Bob Gore of the East Mountain Conservatives also to discussing the results.

Links to both are posted below:

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The Rio Grande Foundation signed this opinion piece along with numerous other business groups. The Sick leave ordinance is being introduced at the ABQ City Council meeting on Monday, November 9, 2020.

Back in July, Darin Sand, vice president for development at Goodman Realty, told the Albuquerque Journal “We are diversifying and looking to other cities and states in terms of future investments, and I think that’s smart … because of the political environment here.”

He was one of several local business owners who expressed concerns about their ability to do business in Albuquerque in the article, “ABQ businesses manifest financial ruin.” The story highlighted in stark detail the impacts of the economic lockdown. It also showed ways in which state and local economic policies make life difficult for local businesses.

Yet the Albuquerque City Council will be bringing up the issue of a paid sick leave mandate. This comes on top of a minimum wage increase passed in 2019 by the N.M. Legislature that will take the city’s lowest wage from $9.35 an hour to $10.50 an hour starting in January. That’s a 12% increase.

Not many local businesses have achieved 12% growth this year. In fact, the list of local business closures in recent months, due mostly to COVID-19, is long and growing fast. Does the City Council really want to hasten the demise of even more of the stores and restaurants that make our city and state unique?

Albuquerque voters rejected a paid sick leave mandate in 2017. And the City Council rightly decided to put off the issue back in June of this year. It is hard to see what has changed that would merit the imposition of yet another increase in the costs of doing business.

If anything, with the state’s economic lockdown dragging on and Albuquerque’s unemployment rate elevated, the state of most small businesses is even more precarious than it was this summer. A widely-acknowledged trend to arise from the COVID 19 pandemic is that many big corporations are doing fine or even better than before, while small businesses are struggling. Numerous local businesses have yet to reopen at all since March, and yet the City Council is considering imposing additional costs and regulations on them.

The ongoing COVID situation should not be an excuse to impose more costs on local businesses. At the beginning of the outbreak Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which requires employers with less than 500 employees to provide paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. This paid leave is then paid back to the employer by the federal government. This is effective through Dec. 31 and likely to be extended with the next federal relief package.

It is, of course, small, family businesses that will be most negatively impacted by another costly policy. That’s because unlike big corporations, each new mandate makes doing business incrementally harder as they have less cushion and are not diversified in numerous areas of the country.

Valuing small business is why we’ll all celebrate Small Business Saturday later this month. While many of us have enjoyed the ability to have products and services delivered during this pandemic, it is also worth noting that Amazon doesn’t sponsor many youth baseball and soccer teams around town.

While businesses in Albuquerque face numerous difficulties, we do value our workers and want them to be healthy. In fact, workers often stick with small businesses because they more resemble a family. We know COVID-19 has impacted all of us, not just our bottom lines, but our friends, families and employees. We’ve heard “We’re all in this together.” If that is truly the case, now is definitely not the time for Albuquerque’s City Council to put more regulations on struggling local businesses.

On this week’s podcast, Paul interviews James Taylor, president of the Heartland Institute. Based in Chicago, IL, Heartland’s mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems, but it is most known for its work on energy and climate issues.

Taylor joins the podcast to discuss Joe Biden’s energy policies and specifically his attacks on “fracking” and the oil and gas industries in general and how those policies would actually harm the environment. Taylor and Gessing discuss Biden’s version of the “Green New Deal” as well as efforts in California and New Mexico to move away from gasoline-powered vehicles.

As I write this the dust STILL has not settled from the 2020 election, but here are a few thoughts:

• Regardless of who ultimately prevails in the presidential election, the fact that Republicans held onto the US Senate (UPDATE: this is pending the results of two runoffs in Georgia) means that there will be no court packing or addition of new states for at least two years.
• Voter turnout in New Mexico was over 68 percent which set a record. Normally this bodes extremely poorly for the GOP in New Mexico which is outnumbered by Democrats in this State. But, 2020 WAS NOT a “bloodbath” for the GOP. In fact, Yvette Herrell won her race handily and Mark Ronchetti had a very strong performance against Ben Ray Lujan in the Senate race. Ronchetti has a bright future in New Mexico politics.
• The GOP had a more coherent election strategy than in years’ past with its “Respect New Mexico” effort and other GOTV efforts. Turnout was good on the GOP side, but Democrats also turned out and in New Mexico the GOP simply can’t compete purely on turnout.
• Albuquerque has gone far to the left. Whether it is just the growing urban/rural divide, an influx of more liberal voters, or voters not responding to the GOP message, by all measures the GOP was wiped out in Albuquerque. Of four GOP state senators that came into 2020 with districts largely in city limits, only Mark Moores remains.
•   The New Mexico Legislature will be very “progressive” moving forward. In years’ past the GOP had at least “some” influence with moderate Democrats like John Arthur Smith. Those days are done and not only did the GOP NOT pick up seats, it lost one. Marijuana legalization is likely. So is tapping the permanent fund and so are tax hikes.
• Finally, with a “progressive” New Mexico Legislature in place, it is unlikely that Gov. Lujan Grisham will face challenges to her near-dictatorial powers on COVID 19, but it is also quite possible that she could leave New Mexico if Biden is declared the winner. Only time will tell if the “progressives” running the Legislature will demand separation of powers and whether MLG or Lt. Gov. Howie Morales will be running the show.

Like everyone else out there we at the Rio Grande Foundation remain keenly interested in the results of the election. We too are disappointed that so many New Mexicans looked at the policies that have been in place in New Mexico for 90 years (to awful effect) and said, “More please!”

It has not always been thus, or, at least some prominent New Mexico business people took VERY principled free market positions. I know after reading the excellent recent Albuquerque Journal story about home builder Dale Bellamah (whose name lives on in street names across the City of Albuquerque) that I’ll take note when I see his name on street signs around town.

Here are some great quotes from the story about him which illustrate the values that helped Mr. Bellamah achieve great things.

He scoffed at government interference when it came to business. He opposed putting a cap on the price of goods and enacting rations proposed by President Harry S. Truman in 1947. He argued the measures were “contrary to the American way of living and destroys free enterprise.”

Two years later he fought against a proposed bill that would establish a low-cost housing program in response to a shortage of homes. He said it was a step toward “breeding a nation of irresponsibles” and the bureaucratic fumbling would end up costing taxpayers more money.

But Bellamah did care about the working man and the plight of the poor. He left his entire estate, estimated between $30 million and $50 million, to a charity foundation he established a few years before his death.

Notably, Bellamah wasn’t born with a “silver spoon” in his mouth. In fact, according to the Journal article”His mother died when he was 12. By then his father was invalid and could not work, so Bellamah was forced to find employment.”

There are plenty of great business leaders in New Mexico and Albuquerque today, but the political winds and social pressure cause them to keep quiet.

How many students were enrolled in New Mexico’s public education system after the first 40 days of the 2020-2021 school year? That is a critical number for determining funding for New Mexico’s public school funding. Also, in the midst of dramatic changes due to the COVID 19 pandemic, this information is especially relevant for understanding how families are reacting to “virtual” and “hybrid” learning policies that are being imposed statewide.

Schools completed the 40 day threshhold back in mid/early October, but, when RGF requested the information from the Public Education Department we received the following letter which basically said, “wait until mid-December.”