With a primary election occurring in New Mexico in less than a month and the world having changed dramatically since the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, we at the Rio Grande Foundation wanted to get Republican candidates for the US Senate in the primary to discuss the “new” world  which we find ourselves in.

The Foundation has interviews lined up with all three candidates. The first interview happened on April 30, 2020 and was with Gavin Clarkson. You can find out more about Mr. Clarkson’s campaign here. 

The Rio Grande Foundation does NOT endorse any candidate of ANY party. These interviews are an attempt to find out more about the views of each Senate candidate in a rapidly-changing economic and political environment.

Never let a crisis go to waste. That has been the mantra on the left for decades although former Obama advisor Rahm Emmanuel was among the most notable to actually utter it publicly.

There can be no doubt that the current crisis presents both peril and opportunity for New Mexico’s political leaders. The left led by Voices for Children (as illustrated in the tweets below) shows what they are thinking: Raise taxes! 

New Mexico Republicans have largely been out of power for 90 years. They had virtually nothing to do with the recent overspending from “progressive” Democrat Gov. and Legislature. They didn’t shut down the economy. The GOP has a rare chance to push back against likely efforts to raise taxes by actually shrinking New Mexico’s bloated government.

Signing the Rio Grande Foundation’s pledge not to raise taxes due to this crisis would seem to be an obvious opportunity to differentiate the GOP in particular from the opposition. We have collected signatures from Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians, but for a GOP which has been out of power for so long it is surprising that some remain unwilling to publicly and emphatically state that tax hikes are NOT the answer to the current crisis.  You can reach your legislators here. Ask them to sign the pledge.

ALL candidates for the Legislature have received this pledge and we will be publishing the list of signatories before New Mexico’s special session of the Legislature happens this summer.

He’ll be discussing the Rio Grande Foundation’s efforts to open New Mexico and the economic impact this situation is having.

Tune in!

The following letter was sent to Gov. Lujan Grisham’s Economic Recovery Council by the Rio Grande Foundation and Power the Future New Mexico under the banner of their combined effort FairlyOpen New Mexico. PDF with logos is posted here.

Dear Council Members:

Thank you all for stepping up in this difficult time for our State and Nation to serve to help Gov. Lujan Grisham open New Mexico’s economy. None of you need reminding of the devastation wreaked upon New Mexico’s business community and budget during the last few months.

With that, the groups behind an initiative called “Fairly Open New Mexico” (The Rio Grande Foundation and Power the Future NM) would like to call your attention to the recommendations that we have made as to how we/you can help our State get going again.

First and foremost, opening New Mexico as soon as possible is critical to ANY effort to get our State moving. We know that this Virus has not been evenly distributed across our Nation or our State.

We applaud the recent moves to slightly open various businesses on May 1, 2020. That said, a lot more can and should be done to get New Mexico moving again.

For starters, it would seem that areas that have been relatively free of the Virus can and should be allowed to open up businesses and their local economies as long as basic guidelines are followed. Everything from golf courses to dog groomers would seem to fit this category, but the focus should be on obeying State guidelines, not on “essential” vs. “non-essential.”

Local officials in areas with limited/no virus impact should also be allowed to open right away but they DO need specific guidance and help from State officials. Social distancing seems to be the watchword. Let’s allow those areas to open up right away as long as they can comply with simple guidelines issued by the State. And if there are detailed, scientifically-sound rules to be followed, local governments can be sure to appropriately follow them.

The same concept should be applied to businesses. We believe that ALL small businesses should be allowed to reopen at the same standards applied to box stores. Detailed plans for reopening including health criteria to be used for businesses to reopen should be made available. This should be a public document.

Finally, we need transparency. We have urged the Gov. to be as open and transparent as possible in her use of models relating to the spread of the Virus. The Economic Recovery Council, while it meets in private, must issue detailed reports to the public explaining what assumptions are being made about the economy, tax revenues, job losses and who is losing them, budget deficit projections, and other basic economic data.

Absent a clear reporting of both the data being used as well as the recommendations being made (and by whom) we fear that the work of this Council will be for naught.

We ALL want to defeat the Virus AND restore New Mexico’s economic health.

Thank you for your time and attention. If you would like further information about our efforts and concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Paul J. Gessing                                                              Larry Behrens
President                                                                        Western States Director
Rio Grande Foundation                                            Power The Future

Better late than never. It has been more than two weeks since the Rio Grande Foundation put forth “Eight shutdown decisions the Gov. should reverse immediately.” The good news is that the Gov. has acted and opened a handful of businesses we recommended be opened including gun stores, golf courses, state parks, and certain medical providers.

The medical portion was NOT included in the Gov.’s press conference yesterday, but the announcement linked to above contains the gist of the loosening restriction although the language is not particularly clear.

We STILL believe strongly that churches should be reopened in a reasonable manner and same with liquor stores.

Overall, the Gov. needs to move beyond (and she has somewhat with her order giving additional freedom to retailers) picking and choosing various industries as “essential” or “non-essential.” Implementing clear, broad guidelines both in terms of local governments as well as businesses as outlined in our FairlyOpen.com petition is the direction that  she must go.

Corey and Paul discuss various choice options and how the pandemic situation has made us all homeschoolers while also giving virtual learning a shot in the arm. The two discuss how education SHOULD be funded in a sensible world and numerous other public policy issues in K-12.

You can listen to the show below:

You can watch a video recording done by the Cato Institute here:

As we move forward during and hopefully past this Virus epidemic, how do we assess the job done by Gov. Lujan Grisham (and indeed any governor)? The New York Times recently praised her response and at least one poll shows  strong support among New Mexicans for her efforts in halting the outbreak.  Notably, polling data can change quickly as President George HW Bush saw for himself as he went from 90% in the polls during the Iraq War to losing his re-election 18 months later.

Of course, we are still IN this crisis. We don’t know when it will end. But, eventually opinions will be formed. Here are some thoughts on that process:

The first step to coming to an understanding of the situation using statistics. This data must be used collected accurately and relayed clearly and honestly.

Here is the best information we’ve seen in terms of state by state data on COVID 19. It is critical that data be adjusted for population size. Some data including that from New Mexico’s Department of Health are  presented without adjusting for population. That is a problem, but so is the fact that testing is uneven. The best available data are deaths per million. On this metric the data are as follows for NM and some relevant states:

Colorado: 138
Oklahoma: 57
New Mexico: 54
Arizona: 46
Texas: 27
South Dakota: 20
Utah: 15
Wyoming: 12

There are many factors impacting the spread of this Virus and New Mexico’s outbreaks have been concentrated in Navajo areas (not necessarily other tribes or pueblos). You could add various western states to the mix above (or subtract them), but New Mexico is on the high side when it comes to deaths per million.

As will be discussed in a follow-up post, New Mexico as been relatively strict in its “lockdown” approach to businesses and individual activity. South Dakota which has had relatively few deaths has famously remained relatively open (despite the Gov. Kristi Noem being heavily criticized for this).

South Dakota also happens to be sparsely populated like New Mexico and has a Native American population that is similar in size to New Mexico’s.

The Rio Grande Foundation and Power the Future have launched a new website, FairlyOpen NM. New Mexicans can sign the petition urging Gov. Lujan Grisham to create a clearly administered fair and open process for opening up New Mexico’s economy. If a Home Depot or Lowe’s can be opened, how about a nursery, church, or other business? Decisions should be based on clear data presented openly not broad assertions of government power.

MLG places NM on lockdown until May 15, Grants Mayor, where is the economic plan? Great editorials in ABQ Journal the past few days on ABQ BernCo fairy tale budgets and reopening NM.

One business owner’s challenge in opening her business: https://errorsofenchantment.com/guest-column-madelyn-jones-on-saving-her-bridal-store-in-the-age-of-corona-virus/

Egolf, “We face ‘the most significant budget deficit in state history.”
https://www.abqjournal.com/1447718/we-face-the-most-significant-budget-deficit-in-state-history.html

NY Times cascade of bad journalism leads us to appear in another article: https://errorsofenchantment.com/plastics-wont-save-oil-and-gas-sector/

A Michael Moore film worth watching makes a devastating case against so-called “green energy”: https://errorsofenchantment.com/a-michael-moore-film-worth-watching/

Under NM State law it is actually illegal for stores to limit purchases of individual items by customers.

Liberty on Quarantine our new effort will involve US Senate candidates starting with Gavin Clarkson this Thursday evening.

As per the media reports, the Gov. has named her economic recovery council. You can find all the members listed here. 

Our initial reaction at the Rio Grande Foundation is “it’s about time.” New Mexico’s economy has been in lock-down mode for nearly 2 months. Oil and gas prices/revenues have plummeted and New Mexico faces unprecedented budget and economic issues per Speaker Egolf. 

At RGF we are not overly concerned that the group will meet in private, but the reports issued to the public in a timely fashion and MUST be clear and concise. We the  people MUST be given thorough reports on the topics being discussed and what the various people are advocating.

Which leads to our third major point: several of the task force members are directly involved in businesses that receive funding/special favors from New Mexico Government and her Administration.

The film industry is the most notable example and major recipient (according to the LFC they’ll get $750 million over 5 years) so Brian O’Leary will be able to defend those subsidies from the inside. Peter Trevisani of the NM United will be on as well. His team got $4.1 million for a proposed stadium in the 2020 session. Finally, Jeremy Turner runs a company that is involved in “renewable” energy particularly in the transmission field. While it is hard to discern exactly how much in the way of government subsidies and favors his company received, it is clear that the Gov.’s policies have favored his industry from the Energy Transition Act to the reinstatement of solar incentives. 

We at the RGF don’t know ALL of the members, but have worked with Brian Moore and Carri Phillis, both of whom will carry the weight of advocating for fiscally-conservative and economically-open policies. It will be interesting to see if they are able to influence the group and its (and the Gov.’s) decisions.

Aside from Sen. Finance Committee Chair John Arthur Smith (the “adult in the room” in Santa Fe when it comes to budget issues) virtually no prominent Democrat had made any significant public statement about New Mexico’s  dire budget situation. To his credit Speaker Egolf changed that when he penned the following op-ed in the Albuquerque Journal. 

He makes a number of broad statements in the article, most of which are uncontroversial, but there are a few dubious statements worth calling into question.

1. Before this pandemic, our state was fighting to change our economic trajectory, and the Legislature made major investments into education, teacher salaries, small business, local economic development and economic diversification.  The Legislature grew spending by 21% in just two years in a way that was not sustainable. Taxes were also increased. The policies enacted in 2019 and 2020 would not create a stronger NM economy. 
2. No one could have predicted the swiftness or severity of our change in fortunes. When the State budget is 40% oil and gas, the Legislature SHOULD be both fiscally prudent and working to diversify the economy. It simply has not happened. A sharp downturn happened in NM just over a decade ago.Senator John Arthur Smith knew at the time the budget passed this year was NOT prudent.
3. We are in this together. This is a nice talking point, but it is not government employees who are losing their jobs at this point. Rather, it is the private sector workers who face being deemed “non-essential” and thus being let go.  

Most troubling is the lack of solutions we’ve seen so far. Gov. Lujan Grisham and the Legislature need to put forth some detailed ideas on how they plan to address what will undoubtedly be a VERY serious budget situation in our State.

The following article appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News on April 26, 2020.

For all intents and purposes New Mexico is closed for business until at least April 30 per the Governor’s recent orders. Whether you agree with the way the Gov. has handled the COVID 19 crisis or if (like me) you think some of her measures have been unnecessary and heavy-handed, the fact is that New Mexico has done better than most other states in terms of preventing the spread of the virus.

The Gov. deserves credit for that.

But, every day that goes by the budget and economic state of New Mexico worsen. In addition to her focus on “flattening the curve” the Gov. needs to begin focusing more attention on the economy and State budget even prior to a potential special session when the worst of the virus has passed.

For the past two years with abundant revenues, the Gov. played the role of “Santa Clause” to her left-wing base. She benefited politically from the record amounts of oil and gas money flowing into the State’s coffers. With the Legislature’s help she created new programs like a modified “free college” program and a new pre-K entitlement. She also placated environmental groups by shutting down the San Juan Generating Station coal plant. She rewarded those in government by giving out 17% raises to members of her cabinet and spreading generous raises throughout the rest of New Mexico government.

The Santa Claus routine was fun I’m sure. But if Sen. Finance Committee Chair John Arthur Smith is right, and New Mexico faces a $2 billion shortfall, this could leave New Mexico with a smaller budget than the one signed by Susana Martinez ($6.3 billion). In other words, Santa Claus will have to become the Grinch very soon.

The fact is that spending must be cut dramatically and starting now. New Mexicans just can’t afford higher taxes. In fact, they couldn’t afford higher taxes even before the economic downturn and collapse in oil prices. A 2018 report by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranked all US states on their fiscal (overall financial) conditions.

New Mexico ranked a dismal 45^th overall, but in the area of “service-level solvency” New Mexico ranked dead-last in 50^th place. According to the report, this metric measured “If spending commitments demand more revenues, are states in a good position to increase taxes without harming the economy?” In other words, tax burdens in this State are already heavy. Raising them in this difficult time will inflict significant pain on an already reeling economy.

No politician enjoys cutting budgets or reducing funding for cherished programs. But the alternative of raising taxes in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression is far worse.

Businesses, especially small ones, are struggling to keep the lights on. For the sake of our society and the continuation of News Mexico’s unique culture, we need as many of those businesses to reopen after this crisis is over.

There seems to be agreement that a special legislative session is coming in June. We understand the Gov. may want to wait for the Legislature and (potentially) additional stimulus money. But, she needs to start explaining to the people of New Mexico the serious budget issues facing our State and outlining a plan of action.

The Virus may remain her top priority, but New Mexicans, especially those who own and work for small businesses, are scared for their economic futures. We want to hear her plans for minimizing the economic pain and maximizing the speed of the economic recovery.

The Rio Grande Foundation is asking all New Mexico legislators and candidates for the Legislature to sign a petition we’re circulating at https://riograndefoundation.org/pledge/ not to raise taxes until at least one year from now (after the 2021 session). Now is the time for fiscal restraint, not forcing hard-working New Mexicans and businesses to bear the burden of past overspending.

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

Don’t get any ideas. We haven’t gone “Corona Crazy” at the Rio Grande Foundation. We vehemently disagree with Michael Moore almost across the board. But his new documentary Planet of the Humans, (which is embedded below and can be viewed for free)  contains a stunning evisceration of so-called green energy and the people profiting from it. It was released on April 21st for free viewing on YouTube .

Much of the early portion of the movie (an hour or so) amounts to a well-done takedown of “green” policies like New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act. In other words, leftists DO understand the real drawbacks to “clean” energy in the sense that they actually wind up being more polluting than the original fossil fuels they purport to replace.

The  film approaches the environment from a position to the LEFT of the “mainstream” environmental movement.  You won’t agree with it, but it is NOT made for you. Send it to your liberal friends. They can’t turn down Michael Moore, right?



For more on Planet of the Humans, James Delingpole has a great column on Breitbart and the Washington Times has published an excellent article by Valerie Richardson. The Guardian’s review is also worth reading.

The following is a guest article written by Madelyn Jones. She owns a bridal store here in Albuquerque.

As the owner of a bridal store here in Albuquerque I am furious about the current shutdown and the way it has been carried out. The Gov. has single-handedly trampled my livelihood and the Constitution. Worse, we the people have no recourse.

Here is my story.

Bridal gowns are dresses that are ordered from the factories of the bridal designers. Unlike regular merchandise dresses are not in a warehouse ready to go. They are made when the bride orders. The process takes from 6 months or more to get the dresses.

When the dress arrives we have to process it by looking at the dress for problems along with steaming the dress and contacting the bride for her try on to make sure everything is ready to go. Along with the bride’s dress are the other orders for bridesmaids, mother of the bride, and tuxedos. Everything is done by ordering and paying ahead of time.

We followed the rules and closed our store to new business and furloughed our employees. We went to the store everyday because we have shipments arriving daily that we have to pick up and process so the customer can pick up their purchases. All of this can be done through appointments and minimal to no social contact.

Our store was checked one day by the fire department for being closed which we were. We were OK’d . Since then APD traffic division came and removed us from the building saying we could not be in our store at all and issued a warning document that says if we are found in the store again we will be fined, jailed and or lose our business license.

Our major concern is that we have 35 dresses waiting in our store for brides and this is the busiest time of the year for weddings and we can’t access their dresses without disobeying the rules.

We are very concerned about our business and our employees but our customers have paid for their purchase and are being denied their product. I am no lawyer or doctor but common sense tells me government has overstepped its boundaries.

Our Governor has changed the all clear date so many times, I no longer believe that she has any intention of opening businesses until she is forced to by businesses opening up without her permission.

The Rio Grande Foundation and Power the Future New Mexico are collecting petitions for a plan to “Fairly Open New Mexico” that applies science and data to ALL businesses and activities in a transparent and consistent fashion.

Dr. Lisa Shin is an optometrist with a private practice based in Los Alamos, NM. She is on the board of the Rio Grande Foundation and she spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2016. She is also Korean-American.

Dr. Shin and Paul discuss the economic shutdown and how it is impacting her business. They also talk about the importance of eye care in diagnosing other health issues. Finally, how is the loss of tax revenue and jobs in health care impacting New Mexico and its economy.

Dr. Shin presents specific precautions which she plans to use when the Governor allows her to reopen her office post-Coronavirus.

Albuquerque – The Rio Grande Foundation and Power The Future New Mexico joined together to launch FairlyOpen.com on Thursday. “Fairly Open New Mexico” calls upon leaders in Santa Fe to take responsible actions to get New Mexicans back to work and restart our state’s lagging economy. Since “non-essential” businesses were shut down, more than 70,000 New Mexicans have filed to receive unemployment. Across the state, small business leaders are pleading with leaders in Santa Fe for help.

The two organizations that make up “Fairly Open New Mexico” are not asking for easing of regulations but asking for those regulations to be applied fairly. Specific actions include:

• Allow small businesses to reopen at the same standards applied to large box stores.
• A detailed plan for reopening, including required health criteria, to be used for businesses to reopen. This should be a public document.
• This plan should recognize not all counties are the same and should include scientific reasoning upon which restrictions are being based.
• Governor Lujan Grisham and her administration should immediately share the models upon which they are basing their quarantine/business restriction decisions.
• The Governor should hold virtual-meetings to answer questions with county commissions and local leaders across New Mexico.
• The Governor should outline her budget and economic policy recommendations for the upcoming special session as well as any cuts she has already made to the State government.

“New Mexicans want to halt the spread of the Covid 19 virus, but they also want to live their lives and get back to work. The Gov. needs to make planning for the future an open and fair process” said Paul Gessing, President of the Rio Grande Foundation.

“While we fight a public health emergency, the economic devastation across our state can’t continue to be ignored,” said Larry Behrens, Western States Director for Power The Future. “Families all across our state have more questions than answers from leaders in Santa Fe and they deserve better. New Mexicans can be trusted to know how to best protect themselves and their communities as they begin the long road back to recovery.”

New Mexicans who support this effort are encouraged to go to FairlyOpen.com and sign the petition.

Contact: Paul Gessing – 505-264-6090, pgessing@riograndefoundation.org

Larry Behrens – 505-699-2302, larry@powerthefuture.com

The Rio Grande Foundation is often accused by our opponents of being “shills” for New Mexico’s oil and gas industry. Other times it is the Koch Brothers. It doesn’t matter. We are apparently never motivated by our support for free market principles.

Recently we were quoted in the New York Times in support of eliminating bans on plastic grocery bags. That quote was subsequently picked up by another journalist who made the odd point that the “boom” in plastic usage post COVID 19 could “save” the oil and gas industry.

According to the World Economic Forum chart below, 4% of worldwide oil and gas use is for plastic. It would take a pretty big boom in plastic usage to move the needle on overall oil and gas consumption.

We at the Rio Grande Foundation support the right of stores and consumers to choose the bag types that work for them not because of the oil and gas industry, but because it is pro-freedom and the right thing to do. That may surprise our enemies, but we are full of surprises.

On this week’s podcast, Paul has a brief discussion with New Mexico Rep. Larry Scott, a Republican from Hobbs. Scott is also in the oil and gas industry which saw prices go negative for the first time ever. What does it mean for the industry and NM’s budget?

Paul and Wally take over from there with a few additional points about oil prices…how low can they go? Furthermore, the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day is coming up and CO2 emissions are plummeting. This should make the environmentalists happy, right? No, they claim we need several years of even larger decreases in CO2 emissions to “really” address global warming.

RGF is working to get legislators to pledge not to raise taxes in wake of CoronaVirus: http://riograndefoundation.org/pledge

Bernalillo County Passes a budget with irresponsible 7% growth and new employee hiring. Albuquerque also faces a budget shortfall.

RGF’s recent “Eight Shutdown Decisions Gov. MLG Should Consider Reversing Right Now”generated a record response and website traffic. On the issue of reopening NM’s economy:

Calibers gun shop receives a “Cease and desist” order from Gov. MLG.

Superior Express Car Wash in Artesia was shut down by NMSP. There was no person to person contact. Automated wash. Why shut it down?
Police attend funeral covered on front page of ABQ Journal, no social distancing.

The Archdiocese of Las Cruces Bishop Peter Baldacchino became the first-known U.S. prelate to lift a diocesan ban on public Mass April 15, 2020, and told priests they may resume sacramental ministry if they follow state health mandates.

New Mexico’s GOP wins unanimous Court Case against mail-in elections. Gov. Lujan Grisham says on Twitter that “In-person voting poses a grave threat of heightened transmission of #COVID19. I remain confident NM’s primary election can be conducted almost entirely if not entirely through mail to ensure the safest possible exercise of New Mexicans’ right to vote.”

Her spokesman Tripp Stelnicki stated “You don’t have to ask the death cult their opinion or publish their quotes. False equivalence now is actually life or death. There is no “both sides” to this. There is one group preaching accelerated illness & death because they “love” “business” & if you can’t see through that?”

Finally, Rep. Javier Martínez who chairs the House Tax Committee in the New Mexico Legislature wrote, “Years of policies that uphold historically racist systems like..failures 2 invest land grant fund in youngest kids, failures 2 build water systems in communities w/out, failures 2 build an economy that works for ALL..are big part of reason why #Covid19 is hitting us the hardest.”

In this time when more New Mexicans than ever are getting a vast majority of their food at grocery stores (as opposed to restaurants), we uncovered a bit of a quirk in New Mexico’s tax code that is not even clarified in many documents put out by the Tax and Revenue Department.

As most New Mexicans are aware, groceries are generally not taxed. If you go to the grocery store and pick up your groceries curbside, that service is not taxed.

However, if the store is charging a fee for service delivery from a New Mexico grocery store to your home in New Mexico, the entire grocery order is now taxable at the full tax rate.

So, if you pick up $500 worth of groceries (not an unheard of sum given the challenges these days) from your local Wal Mart you pay no tax, but if you get the same groceries delivered in Albuquerque you pay nearly $40 in taxes.

Setting aside whether Bill Richardson’s decision to exempt groceries from GRT and raise the rate to pay for it was a good decision, this kind of complexity is definitely not good tax policy. Of course, the GRT itself is bad tax policy.

UPDATE: Thanks to our friends at Think New Mexico who uncovered this information about NM’s grocery tax guidelines following federal SNAP regulations. There is a pilot program under which states can exempt grocery delivery from taxation, but NM is not part of it yet.

The 50th Earth Day will be commemorated this Wednesday. 

Thanks to the CoronaVirus outbreak and the utter collapse in all modes of travel, experts are predicting steep drops in CO2 emissions (a drop of 5% or more this year depending on how prolonged the situation is). In fact, a few weeks ago we said that this pandemic has placed us in conditions akin to the Green New Deal.

Of course, while most Americans and many around the globe live in misery or at least great frustration and discomfort from being unable to travel and engage in a wide variety of everyday activities and demand for oil plummets, the environmentalists claim more is still needed.

We at the Rio Grande Foundation don’t take a firm position on the merits of climate change and how much of a crisis it actually is, but it would seem that environmentalists are simply not going to get people to live such constrained lives once this crisis has passed. Instead, if they genuinely wish to address CO2 emissions they should focus on transitioning electricity generation to nuclear power and (rather than building expensive and germ laden transit systems) should consider policies like tax credits that encourage remote work (thus reducing fuel consumed commuting).

With low oil prices and much of the economy frozen in place, tax revenues are plummeting. But, the last thing New Mexico business owners need is higher taxes as the economy attempts to recover.

In an effort to protect taxpayers in the aftermath of the global Coronavirus pandemic, the Rio Grande Foundation sent a letter to candidates for legislative offices requesting they sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. If you are a candidate for the New Mexico Legislature this November, please send an email to: info@riograndefoundation.org  simply saying “I sign the pledge” and letting us know exactly who you are. We will release the results shortly.

The letter was sent as follows:

Dear New Mexicans,

As a member of the New Mexico Legislature or a candidate to hold that office, one of your primary goals is to help New Mexicans get back to work. This downturn has been driven partially by the economic shutdown associated with the Corona Virus, but also in part by steep decline in oil prices.

Whatever the cause of the downturn, New Mexico government plainly spent beyond its means in recent years and has plenty of spending to cut before tax hikes are even considered. While the economy remains largely shut down and the start of our economic recovery remains unknown, we do know that New Mexico’s economy faces a steep challenge that will not be assisted by tax hikes on businesses and other hard-working New Mexicans.

I want you to pledge to the people of New Mexico not to raise your taxes as a result of the current economic downturn. In practical terms, this means no NET tax hikes through the end of the 2021 New Mexico legislative session.

The candidates were asked to respond to the request and pledge to not increase taxes as a result of the economic downturn.

On this week’s podcast interview Paul talks to Tom Clifford, PhD about New Mexico’s precarious budget situation.

While Tom has extensive political and budgetary knowledge including time spent working for the Joint Tax Committee in Washington, he is known to most for his recent work with Gov. Susana Martinez as Secretary of Finance and Administration, In this role, Tom acted as the Governor’s senior advisor for economic policy.

What would he tell Gov. Lujan Grisham right now? How bad is the budget situation and what should be done about it? Tom helps us find answers to these vexing but pressing problems.

On this week’s podcast, Paul and Wally discuss the Foundation’s newly-published list of Eight Shutdown Decisions the Gov. Should Reverse NOW.

President Trump just convinced several oil-producing nations to sign a deal to limit oil production. What does it mean? Can the federal government simply limit oil production?

So far the Gov. has not seriously started to discuss or address the economic issues with this crisis. She has created a task force, but still not taken any significant steps to address the economy.

Will there be a mail-in election for the June primary? New Mexico’s GOP has filed a lawsuit, but Paul and Wally discuss the pros and cons of this idea as well as its potential impact in a primary as opposed to a general election.

Finally, is “austerity” here again? Did we have “austerity” in the economic crisis of 2008-2009?

Feedspot.com names Tipping Point New Mexico one of the “Top 20 Public Policy Podcasts You Must Follow in 2020”

Tipping Point New Mexico is the official podcast of the Rio Grande Foundation that addresses public policy issues facing New Mexico, hosted by Paul Gessing, President of the Rio Grande Foundation, and Wally Drangmeister.

Launched in 2018, the podcast features two episodes weekly and is nearing its 200th episode (we’re at 188 now). With special guests and topics ranging from the Railrunner to real estate and from optometry to printing, we do more on the podcast than just talk politics.

Some of our recent guests include Ken Starr (former independent counsel during the Whitewater controversy of the Clinton Administration), Grover Norquist (tax reduction advocate and President of Americans for Tax Reform), and John Boyd (New Jersey-based corporate site selector).

Feedspot.com has recently listed the Rio Grande Foundation’s public policy podcast on their list of the top 20 public policy podcasts to follow in 2020. Whoop!

Check out our latest episodes at tippingpointnm.com and join us live on Monday afternoon as we stream Tipping Point New Mexico: LIVE! on Facebook.

New Mexico faces a potential 35.7% budget decrease ($2 billion out of a $7.6 billion budget). The budget  plans to spend $342 million with $172 million of that coming from volatile gross receipts tax revenues which will undoubtedly be down even by the time the budget begins on July 1.

Local governments across our State will likely face big shortfalls from the economic shutdown relating to the virus alone, let alone the massive decline in oil prices.

But Bernalillo County just passed what can only be described as a shocking 7% budget increase.   Yes, as noted in the article, commissioners can redo the budget as financial conditions warrant, but why even pass a budget that is dead on arrival?

Instead of passing an unrealistic budget, Bernalillo County and other local governments should be eliminating wages passed in recent years and considering ways to eliminate fat and overspending in what will undoubtedly be a very difficult time.