On this week’s interview Paul talks to Attorney Germaine Chappelle about the Energy Transition Act and some of its real-world impacts in the Four Corners area (current and prospective). Specifically, Chappelle is working on behalf of the Central Consolidated School District (a heavily Navajo district) to make good on the law’s requirements that certain power generation be located within the District’s boundaries for purposes of helping the District’s property tax revenues which saw a 60% reduction due to the closure of San Juan Generating Station.

With more than a week still left in early voting and Election Day right around the corner, New Mexico’s legislative Democrats are already touting the “need” to raise taxes on New Mexicans next year. Check out the Santa Fe New Mexican for details.

In recent years attempts have been made to raise New Mexico’s taxes on alcohol. As the information here highlights, New Mexico’s taxes on alcohol are NOT low. And, while increased treatment would be welcome that could easily be taken out of existing alcohol taxes. A move to allocate more of the alcohol excise taxes to treatment was attempted but failed in the 2024 session.

There is simply no reason to hit average New Mexicans with a tax hike when the State remains flush with cash.

Of course, no discussion of personal responsibility, the lack of productive work in preventing bad behavior, and other potential policy changes.

But, if you think tax hikes aren’t “on the table” for 2025 (especially if Democrats keep or expand their legislative majorities) you are simply wrong.

The Rio Grande Foundation has steadfastly opposed the tax hike which appears on Las Cruces voters’ ballots this year. As we’ve noted, this tax hike would be quite significant and harmful to citizens and businesses alike.

RGF’s president recorded a brief explainer video on the tax hike and the many reasons for voters to reject it. You can find early voting sites around Las Cruces here.

RGF sent postcards like these to Las Cruces “swing” voters (not staunch Republicans or Democrats) immediately prior to early voting getting started.

Expanded early voting is in full swing and turnout has been heavy so far from all the reports we’ve seen. NOW is the time to get out and vote in person and bring a friend or two or family member to the polls. Here is a useful tool for finding voting locations near you. 

When you DO go vote, don’t forget about the judges. The Albuquerque Journal had a great Sunday editorial about judges and the article makes a compelling case for NOT retaining Judge Emeterio L. Rudolfo. It also makes a good case against trusting the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission which operates as a rubber stamp for incumbent judges. We DO believe that the Journal should have highlighted Bernalillo County’s Cindy Leos as a poor judge as well although she was rated a “yes” for retention by the Journal.

Regardless of that disagreement, kudos to the Journal for advocating voters take a closer look at the judiciary as a means of addressing our crime issues!

Here are further recommendations from the Journal’s editorial:

The Rio Grande Foundation has been implacably opposed to the heavily-subsidized New Mexico RailRunner Express since its inception during the Richardson Administration. Mostly this is due to the high cost of the train system which has seen ridership decline over time and then plummet during and in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic.

While we have long questioned the outrageous waste of tax dollars and urged policymakers to shut the train down, the Legislative Finance Committee recently reported (as did the Santa Fe New Mexican) recently reported that the train needs to increase ridership by 23% to BREAK EVEN in terms of CO2 emissions. In other words, as it stands now and until ridership increases dramatically, the Rail Runner is bad for the environment.  Of course, even that calculation fails to consider the emissions that went into building the train sets, laying the track, and more cost (and carbon) effective alternatives like commuter buses (which we advocated for at the time).

While exact comparisons are difficult to make because the report strictly considers weekday ridership, we believe that the train would need to return to 2019 levels just to break even on CO2 emissions.

Of course, while the Rail Runner continues losing millions of taxpayer dollars annually and spewing unnecessary carbon into the atmosphere SOME would like to EXPAND the system even further. Left wing State Senator Bill Soules has for years been pushing a taxpayer-funded train from the Mexican city of Chihuahua to Denver, Colorado. While Soules would undoubtedly describe himself as an “environmentalist” (as would the vast majority of Democrats in the Legislature who gave us and keep funding the Rail Runner) what Soules and others fail to understand is that trains like the Rail Runner are only “green” if they are ridden by large numbers of people.

Will New Mexico’s political leadership do anything useful with this information? It’s highly unlikely. Barring a major budget crisis it is hard to see anyone addressing the environmental or budgetary harm of the Rail Runner. But, we have yet another thing to say “we told you so” about.

ACE’s mission is to advance K-12 educational freedom, with a focus on securing financial support for families so they may access the quality education of their choice. Erik and Paul have a wide ranging conversation on helping families access high quality education including the exciting economic achievement data from ACE’s scholarship recipients.  Learn more about how you can apply for New Mexico Scholarships from ACE.

As a sitting US senator who has never been either a legislator or governor, Martin Heinrich has not had much to say about state-level policymaking in New Mexico. Albuquerque City Council does not impact education and Congress’ role in education is rather limited as well.

So, why would Heinrich take time specifically to Tweet that he is opposed to charter schools? See below:

The type of charter schools my opponent has worked on only perpetuate disparities. It’s great that she’s able to leverage charitable giving to 11 small charter schools.

My focus is and will always be on the 900 public schools across New Mexico.

— Martin Heinrich (@MartinHeinrich) October 14, 2024

It is hard to say exactly, but what it DOES show is that Heinrich embraces New Mexico’s monopolistic and failing government K-12 system. While disappointing, it is not surprising that Heinrich has embraced such a strong anti-choice approach. The education system’s unions remain a top special interest in the Democratic Party and they don’t like charter schools. Besides, Heinrich is generally NOT a freedom guy when it comes to your ability to buy a gas stove or the car you want (and many, many others).

In 2019 Gov. Lujan Grisham attempted to limit the number of charter schools in New Mexico and failed due to bipartisan opposition. The issue has not come up since. We’ll see what the future holds for Sen. Heinrich.

Paul and Wally discuss RGF’s op-ed. The “rich” already pay more than their “fair share” of taxes. Deconstructing the leftist “freedom” agenda. City of ABQ Ballot measures, what’s the point? New Mexico EV shares rise slightly to 4.78%. Evolution of economic freedom in New Mexico. Sen. Martin Heinrich accepted campaign donations from both Avangrid and PNM. How this is both relevant and not. Unions encapsulated in longshoremen’s strike.

Every two years the Cato Institute ranks all 50 governors in America in its Fiscal Report Card. Cato identifies as “libertarian,” but they focus on spending and taxes in this report. Former New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (a Republican) received the top score in the report in 2018. Alas, Michelle Lujan Grisham is no Susana Martinez.

Instead, while the report acknowledges MLG’s willingness to reduce taxes somewhat (they don’t acknowledge the State’s gusher of oil and gas revenues as the cause of this fiscal opportunity) they also note that: “Spending has soared under Lujan Grisham, which pushed down her score on this report. The general fund budget increased from $7.5 billion in 2019 to $12.4 billion in 2024, which is a 10 percent average annual increase.” Her spending growth was the highest among US governors (Table A1).

Regardless of her dramatic spending growth New Mexico remains flush with cash and thus has stuffed billions of dollars into its permanent funds (rather than reducing taxes).  This would be reasonable if New Mexico’s economy were diversified and strong, but that is simply not the case.

Could Lujan Grisham be worse?  Perhaps, but no other state in America has as many needs or as much money as does New Mexico. Sadly, MLG has failed miserably to “move the needle” on education, crime, or economic diversification.

Notably, Katie Hobbs of AZ received a D, Utah’s Spencer Cox a “C,” Colorado’s Jared Polis a “B,” and Greg Abbott of TX a “C.”

Republican Kim Reynolds of Iowa received the top overall score while Democrat (and VP candidate) Tim Walz of Minnesota was the worst performing Gov. in the nation.

Since the Arizona Legislature adopted universal education savings accounts in 2022. After two years the impacts of the program are becoming clear. Our friends at the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute recently shared the following fact sheet. Overall, the program serves a diverse spectrum of Arizona students and cost much less than the Arizona government school system. Arizona dramatically outperforms New Mexico in education outcomes despite similar demographics.

New Mexico needs innovative education reform solutions considering its dead-last ranking and lack of improvement. Alas, Michelle Lujan Grisham and the union-dominated Democrat Legislature have failed to enact needed reforms like those in Arizona.

For the first time in recent history leftist candidates have embraced rhetoric that attempts to embrace “freedom.” Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has done it. Michelle Lujan Grisham did it. And at least one prominent left-wing candidate for the New Mexico Legislature has done it.

Of course, when the left talks about “freedom” they usually just mean abortion. We believe that abortion is a complex issue, but as a starting point there should be no tax dollars spent on abortion. Very few left-wing candidates (and certainly not Gov. Lujan Grisham) care to address the “freedom” of those who wish NOT to fund a procedure they find immoral.

In a recent op-ed, legislative candidate Sarah Silva talks about “freedom from school shootings,” but she makes no mention of HOW to preserve that freedom. One can imagine it is some form of gun control, but the details are left vague.

And, of course, the freedoms left without discussion by the political left include (but are by no means limited to):

• Freedom to keep your earnings;
• to choose the best educational option for YOUR child;
• which could also include freedom to NOT have your child indoctrinated into radical gender theory (among others);
• freedom to choose weather or not to take an experimental vaccine, wear a mask, and whether to remain open or otherwise manage your business in a public health scare;
• freedom to speak (including online) without government censorship;
• freedom to drive the car you want (without subsidizing someone else’s purchase) and use the energy from reliable sources;
• freedom from crime and rampant lawbreaking.

Whatever your priorities are when it comes to YOUR freedoms, it is hard to see how leftist “progressives” who see government power as being nearly unlimited will defend your freedom. What do you think? Send us an email to info@riograndefoundation.org if we missed a freedom you care about. Or, if you think freedom begins and ends with abortion, let us know why that is so critical to your outlook.

For City of Albuquerque voters there are two ballot measures that, if adopted, would change the City of Albuquerque’s charter. While there are numerous serious challenges facing the City of Albuquerque (and we’re not supporting or opposing these specific proposals) we find the dedication of time and energy to these relatively trivial matters in a time of crisis to be a head-scratcher. The following information is taken from the League of Women Voters’ breakdown of the two charter amendements:

1. Shall the City of Albuquerque Charter be amended to modify the procedures to appoint city administrative officers and appoint and remove the Chief of Police and Fire Chief?

The proposed amendment would require the mayor to reappoint, and the council to approve all city administrative officers, the Chief of Police and the Fire chief at the beginning of each new term. It limits the time city administrative officers may serve without council approval. It would also allow the council to terminate employment agreements of the Chief of
Police and the Fire Chief with a two-thirds plus one of the membership of the council (that means seven councilors).

Notably, as the LWV points out CURRENTLY “Council may terminate the police or fire chief at any time within the terms of the employment contract without giving a reason by a vote of seven councilors.”

Our Analysis: We agree with critics who believe Police Chief Harold Medina is doing a poor job and we’d like to see him replaced. This amendment does nothing of significance to increase accountability.

2. Shall the City of Albuquerque Charter be amended to modify the procedures for determination of separation of powers issues under the city charter?

Our analysis: Talk about opaque and unclear! This ballot language says absolutely nothing of substance about the actual proposal.

To understand what is going on, we check with the LWV. The current charter establishes a committee of three with one appointment by the mayor, one by the council, and a third member chosen by the two appointees. If either the mayor or the council fails to make an appointment, as has happened in the past, then the negotiation process is stalled. This amendment requires that these committee members by appointed within 60 days and effectively would allow either the mayor or the council to appoint all three committee members if one of the parties fails to make a committee appointment within the set time.

Our overall analysis: Tim Keller is not a good Mayor. He is soft on crime and his policies are generally ineffective. City Council is somewhat more reasonable, but they are unable to garner 6-vote majorities to push back against the Mayor in any coherent way. So, efforts to hold the Mayor accountable or impose policies preferred by the majority of City Council are often watered down to the point of irrelevancy. That seems to be the case with these amendments.

A brief article appeared in the Albuquerque Journal describing the potential changes.

RGF recently hosted a timely luncheon with Trent England of Save our States. Trent and his organization spend their time defending the Electoral College and fighting plans for “ranked choice voting.” This is an extremely timely issue as we are in the middle of a presidential election. More importantly, Tim Walz who is running for VP with Kamala Harris recently called for abandoning the Electoral College.

Here is 40 minutes of Trent England systematically dismantling arguments against the Electoral College:

On this week’s conversation Paul and Wally discuss the excitement of Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta and the passing of Scott Appleman and John Arthur Smith.

Paul recap the Electoral College events with Trent England and highligths the next RGF event.

A new study highlights America’s Great Transfermation. 

New Mexico’s crisis of progressive governance.

Gender ideology to hit UNM volleyball.

As early voting gets started at the Clerk’s office on October 8. Here are some of the items on your ballots this fall.

With implementation of Gov. Lujan Grisham’s unrealistic mandate that 43% of new vehicles sold in New Mexico be electric by summer of 2026, the Rio Grande Foundation is closely tracking changes in New Mexico’s EV sales share. According to the latest data from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, New Mexico’s EV market share rebounded somewhat to 4.78% in the 2nd quarter of 2024. That is up slightly from  the 4.59 percent of vehicles sold in Q1 (which was actually down from the prior quarter), but a 4 percent increase isn’t going to get New Mexico anywhere near the 43% demanded by the Gov.

As Michelle Lujan Grisham pours New Mexicans’ tax dollars into EV charging stations and EV subsidies New Mexicans remain deeply skeptical about purchasing an EV (and even more skeptical about making one their primary vehicle). It is car dealers who are in the crosshairs and must sell exponentially higher numbers of EV’s than are currently desired.

How much money will car dealers lose in the push to sell EV’s? How many jobs and tax dollars will be sent to states lacking EV mandates such as Texas?

One of the most noteworthy and impactful annual reports that we study at Rio Grande Foundation is the Economic Freedom of North America report from the Canadian Fraser Institute. Sadly, as with most such reports, New Mexico tends to rank poorly on economic freedom, especially relative to its neighbors. The states in red are the “least free” while the blue ones are the most free.

But WHY does New Mexico rank so low on economic freedom in this particular index? The index which has been published since 1981 relies on government spending, taxation, and regulation to come to a final data point. To summarize, New Mexico’s government spending has increased dramatically relative to other states. It’s taxation has dropped slightly and its regulations have improved from truly awful to mediocre. Sadly, since 1981 New Mexico’s overall score has gone down. This information is presented in two different formats below.

According to a new report by the Economic Innovation Group the amount of reliance on government transfers as a percentage of personal income has grown dramatically in recent years (see maps below). Back in 1970 New Mexicans were MUCH less reliant on federal transfer payments (although more dependent than many other states).

As rates of dependency went up across the nation New Mexico followed the trend toward ever greater dependency.

Why is increased dependency on government a bad thing? For starters, our nation is deeply in debt (more than $36 trillion) and the primary causes are “entitlements” like Social Security and Medicare.

Also, it seems that there are some strong correlations between increased government dependency and declines in happiness. It also seems that when government gives resources to one group at the expense of other groups that there will be inter-group hard feelings and jealousy.

Can America reverse course? It is hard to say. While there are significant differences between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump neither one seems interested in addressing entitlements or even reigning in government spending dramatically.

Check out the following chart showing rise of government transfers below:

“Rescue Albuquerque’s downtown.” 

“It’s not a stretch to say that Albuquerque residents believe the City is facing multiple crises”

“Status quo is bad — bold action is mandatory. Things have to change. Rot festers crime and a general lack of safety.” 

These are just a handful of quotes from Sunday’s Albuquerque Journal. They are predominantly talking about downtown Albuquerque, but they are really talking about problems throughout New Mexico’s largest city.

Sadly, while it is easy to see that crime, homelessness, and large numbers of vacant buildings are problems, the reality is that the solutions being discussed are not really solutions to the problems being faced. Interestingly even more “progressive” Santa Fe has decided to take matters into their own hands (to an extent) by hiring private security to patrol the tourist-heavy Plaza. 

It seems like this HAS to be considered in Albuquerque as well as other areas of the State where rampant crime is a problem. If local governments can’t or won’t put enough police on the streets it seems the City should use its resources (not pushing the costs off to businesses) to improve safety.

Another innovative option would be to do what New York City did an have private companies manage City parks.

Of course crime is the top problem in ALL our bigger cities, but it is not the only problem. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Democrats who control the Legislature love to talk about “diversifying” our economy, but that really means pouring our tax dollars into costly film subsidies and failing solar companies, not actually making New Mexico an attractive place to do business for anyone.

A thriving business environment would bring people and economic activity to ALL areas of our state (including our downtowns). Of course, New Mexico has more than enough  to do EVERYTHING policymakers could possibly want to improve security and diversify the economy, but they aren’t doing it.

New Mexico government from Michelle Lujan Grisham down to local city government has failed to provide even the most basic needs for residents of the State’s largest cities. With plenty of money available at the State level it is astonishing (but not surprising) that Lujan Grisham and the Legislature haven’t been willing to solve these crises.

Rio Grande Foundation is hosting (along with New Mexico’s Federalist Society chapter) our final luncheon event of 2024. Details below:

This event is co-hosted with the New Mexico Federalist Society.Nicholas Ganjei is Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution. This committee is certain to be at the center of efforts by either a Republican or Democrat administration to shape the federal judiciary over the next presidential term. The next four years could see Supreme Court vacancies or dozens of circuit and district court judge vacancies across the nation, which will profoundly impact the administration of law in the United States. You don’t want to miss this informative talk by a Capitol Hill insider detailing the politics, policy, and strategy that go into the nomination of judicial nominees, as well as what we can expect in the next presidential term.

October 23, 2024
11:45 to 1:30
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
Chaco III Room
2401 12th St NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104
Register: https://donorbox.org/events/685128

About the Speaker:

Nicholas (Nick) Ganjei currently serves as Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, where he oversees all legal matters related to criminal justice, border security, judicial nominations, antitrust, and intellectual property.

Prior to his time on Capitol Hill, Nick was the Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas where he served as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the district, which includes 43 counties, four million people, and stretches across 35,000 square miles from the Oklahoma border to the Gulf of Mexico. In that role, Nick oversaw a staff of approximately 120 prosecutors, civil litigators, and support personnel across six division offices and was responsible for all federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation involving the United States in the district.

Prior to his time as Acting United States Attorney, Nick spent ten years as a federal prosecutor in both Las Cruces and Albuquerque, investigating and prosecuting fraud, public corruption, organized crime, narcotics, and human trafficking cases.

Standing Events

Recently RGF hosted Trent England of Save our States to discuss why the Electoral College is important to preserving the United States as a democratic Republic. He cuts through numerous myths regarding both the Electoral College and ranked choice voting.

Paul Gessing of the Rio Grande Foundation appeared with Bob Clark on his usual Foundation Friday to discuss New Mexico’s unspent capital outlay money, crumbling roads, and numerous other issues of importance to New Mexicans.

On this week’s interview Paul sits down with Peter Rice. Peter is the owner and lead reporter of Downtown Albuquerque News, an online news outlet that covers downtown Albuquerque.

The San Jose State women’s volleyball team has a biological male playing for them. According to a recent New York Post article (and other reports) the Boise State and Wyoming volleyball teams have refused to play San Jose State’s team. Aside from the fairness issue there are well-documented safety concerns about having men play competitive volleyball against women.

If you are a fan of Lobo Athletics you may know that Boise State and Wyoming (as well as San Jose State) are all in the Mountain West which is the conference UNM’s Lobos compete in. San Jose State comes to Johnson Gym on October 17 to play the Lobos. We shall see what approach UNM’s volleyball team takes when confronted with a man invading their sport.

Also, with so much chaos having hit the Mountain West Conference it would seem that UNM and other members of the conference might have leverage to push back against allowing male athletes to participate in women’s sports. Of course, UNM is politically far-left even by university standards.

There are a number of ballot measures both bonds and mill levies as well as constitutional amendments on the ballot this fall. Here are some details. The first group are on ballots statewide:

Bond Question 1 authorizing the state to issue $30,758,100 in bonds to fund senior citizens’ facilities.

Bond Question 2 $19,305,000 in bonds to fund public libraries.

Bond Question 3 $230,258,400 in bonds to fund public higher education institutions (this is one we take issue with as New Mexico’s higher education system is bloated). 

Bond Question 4 $10,297,100 in bonds to modernize public safety radio communications systems.

Constitutional Amendment 1

Extends a property tax exemption, currently only allowed for one hundred percent disabled veterans and their widows and widowers, to veterans with less than a one hundred percent disability and their widows and widowers and basing the amount of the exemption on a veteran’s federal disability rating.

Constitutional Amendment 2

Increase property tax exemption for veterans from $4,000 to $10,000 and index it to inflation

Constitutional Amendment 3

Authorizes the dean of the UNM Law School to designate the chair of the judicial nominating commission (rather than serving themselves). The designee will be an associate dean, faculty member, retired faculty member, or a former dean.

Constitutional Amendment 4

Authorizes county commissioners to set salaries for county officers (commissioners); this is currently set by the Legislature based on county size (This is one that taxpayers and voters should focus on. Allowing county commissioners to set their own salaries certainly raises concerns).

Local issues of concern

Las Cruces voters are deciding on a big increase to their gross receipts tax.

In Bernalillo County voters will decide whether to renew a 6.4 mill for UNM Hospital for 8 years: Local taxpayers subsidize the rest of the state through their support of UNM Hospital. There SHOULD be reforms made to share this burden, but that will ONLY happen if local voters demand it.

Bernalillo County voters will be asked to decide whether to keep Judge Cindy Leos on the bench in one of several retention elections. The judge will need to achieve 57% of the vote in order to remain on the bench. We have shared our concerns about her track record as a judge.

If you have a ballot issue on YOUR local ballot that we failed to discuss here, please send us an email: info@riograndefoundation to let us know where you’re from and what the issue is. We’d like to have a comprehensive list by the start of early voting.