This may seem like a random post on a site dealing almost exclusively with New Mexico politics and policy, but with the election of the free market-oriented Javier Milei as Argentina’s next president, we will see if a formerly great South American nation that sadly pursued socialist policies for decades, can pull out of its tail spin.

It is a nation that RGF president Paul Gessing spent four months from March to June of 2001 living in and working as a fellow with a libertarian/free market think tank.

Argentina was one of the 10 wealthiest nations on earth in 1900, but quasi-socialistic/fascistic Peronist policies embraced in the post-war years led the nation to poverty. In fact, after my departure from Argentina in 2001, the nation suffered a default in which it devalued its currency.

Is Milei a mere “blip” on the radar or will he be able to help his nation pull out of its death spiral? No one knows. But there ARE lessons for even a state like New Mexico which has been poorly governed for much of the past century.

With a great deal of attention focused on MLG’s plan to foist unwanted electric vehicles on New Mexicans one could be forgiven for almost missing this story from KRQE Channel 13. The story addresses a new report from the Legislature’s own internal think tank, the Legislative Finance Committee.

According to KRQE (quoting) LFC analysts, while money going into education has increased, student enrollment has decreased about 1% each year for the last few years. “Given the demographics and projections that we’re hearing, we don’t see that recovering in the near future either.”

Said Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup), “Roughly $6 billion we’re pumping into our public education system better, and we’ve got zero to show for it.” You can read the LFC report here. 

Among the numerous problems cited is “chronic absenteeism.” Sadly, New Mexico is pouring more and more money into a system that is serving fewer students. Even a “free” system can’t get students to attend.

It’s long past time for needed reforms to allow school choice (like Arizona) AND enact Mississippi-style reforms.

At the Rio Grande Foundation we have written extensively about Gov. Lujan Grisham’s disdain for “democracy,” let alone a representative republic, but last night’s (Thursday, November 16) vote by her un-elected EIB takes the cake.

Unsurprisingly, despite overwhelming numbers of New Mexicans in opposition, the SEVEN member Board voted on a mere 3-2 basis (in support) to mandate a drastic increase in the number of EV’s sold in New Mexico.  You can find the list of all 7 members here while the vote was as follows: Bitzer and Trujillo voted NO and Ely, Garcia, and Suina all voted YES. Two of the Board’s seven members DID NOT VOTE: Honker and Cates.

In other words, MLG couldn’t even get an outright majority of her un-elected board to support her policy to force cars that New Mexicans don’t want on them. That sets aside inherent biases and conflicts of the members like Sandra Ely being a paid employee of the Environment Department AND being married to prominent, recently retired environmental attorney Steven Michael.

There are numerous reasons to litigate and we’re confident that lawsuits will arise from this “kangaroo court” in which massive policy changes are being initiated by a board acting without so much as a majority of its own membership.

When we found out last July that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham planned to follow California’s lead by strictly limiting New Mexicans’ choice in vehicles, we knew that pushing back against this regulation is what RGF was made for.

We are NOT an industry group. We made our decision to act because the ability to purchase the vehicle of your choice is fundamental to both personal and economic freedom. We aren’t “in the pocket” of car companies or car dealers.

So, we launched KeepYourCarsNM.com, which enabled individuals to send their detailed comments to the EIB in opposition to the Gov.’s proposed regs.

Both RGF’s Paul Gessing and Marina Herrera gave testimony on two separate occasions in person to the EIB.

Last night during public comment, the Rio Grande Foundation hand-delivered 7 boxes of 2,505 letters of opposition to the Gas Car Ban (one box for each member of the EIB). And that was just the number of letters we had two days before the public hearing to make sure we could get everything printed in time!

That’s right, we delivered 17,535 sheets of paper to the EIB at their Wednesday, November 15 meeting.

Since then, over 1,000 additional individuals have told the EIB to say “NO” to the Gas Car Ban. Yes, 3,517 individuals sent in their opposition via KeepYourCarsNM.com.

Unlike emails sent in to the EIB from numerous environmental groups, we gathered signatures from individuals in nearly every demographic and community in New Mexico. This includes:

• The Pueblos
• The Navajo Nation
• Nuevomexicanos, Hispanos, and Chicanos
• Individuals from every single House District in the state.

In addition, RGF published an opinion editorial in the Albuquerque Journal and numerous other newspapers statewide, our messaging in opposition to mandates (not EV’s themselves) was picked up in numerous radio and TV stories, and we generally carried out a campaign unlike anything seen before in New Mexico.

While the EIB is still deliberating on whether or not they’re going to strip you of your freedom to choose a vehicle, the Rio Grande Foundation stands at the ready to challenge these absurdly bad policies.

Paul attended and spoke at the EIB meeting. I can also relay info about the number of people who used our KeepYourCarsNM.com website.

All members of GOP Legislature oppose MLG’s EV mandate.

RGF pours cold water on “free buses,” but a 6-3 majority on Council supports them anyway.

We briefly recap what was decided in the election last week.

Virgin Galactic largely pulls out of New Mexico and other big news about the company.

Paul talked to Channel 7 about Keller’s taxpayer-financed book.

ABQ spent $80,231.98 on Biden’s trip back in August. 

KRQE Channel 13 did a very good story on the meetings currently being held at the Environmental Improvement Board that could dramatically curtail your ability to buy a gas powered vehicle in New Mexico.

Aside from RGF’s brief comment at the end there are some well-done comments throughout including from Sen. George Muñoz, a leading Democrat in the Legislature who opposes fellow Democrat Lujan Grisham’s overreach on this issue. Kudos to Sen. Muñoz.

Even if you take everything the climate alarmist lobby has to say about CO2 emissions and climate change at face value, the problem is NOT here in the United States, it is coming from China and to an extent India and nothing we can do here in the US (let alone New Mexico) will mitigate against that. See story below and map/chart below that.

The Environmental Improvement Board is still taking public comment on the Gov.’s plan to force you to buy an electric vehicle. You can send them a note pushing back against their mandate here, but time is short. 

According to a new study reported on in the New York Post, government subsidies have made EV’s look affordable even when they aren’t.

The stark reality is the average EV costs at least $53,000 more over 10 years than conventional vehicles, effectively doubling the price of the average new car.

But $22 billion in government handouts to EV owners and manufacturers absorb the extra expense at every stage of the vehicle’s life, from raw-material sourcing to battery charging.

Gov. Lujan Grisham is planning a big ramp-up in EV subsidies to complement her planned mandates. Ironically, the budget to fund those subsidies is largely derived from the oil and gas industry. Furthermore:

While EV advocates claim charging costs are equivalent to $1.21-per-gallon gasoline, the real amount is an order of magnitude more.

Including the charging equipment, subsidies from governments and utilities and other frequently excluded expenses, the true cost of charging an EV is equivalent to $17.33-per-gallon gasoline — but the EV owner pays less than 7% of that.

On this week’s interview Paul interviews Andrew Handel, Director, Education and Workforce Development Task Force of the American Legislative Exchange Council about the new report of which he is lead author, “Index of State Education Freedom: A 50-State Guide to Parental Empowerment.”

Paul and Andrew discuss various aspects of educational freedom and its components. New Mexico is not 50th or even 51st in this index of educational freedom, but how does it perform and what metrics does it do well on and which of them need work especially given the State’s poor education outcomes.

In the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic the Keller Administration spent $97,000 of taxpayer dollars to publish book; sold fewer than 100 copies. The City’s inspector general trashed the project as a “waste of taxpayer money.”

We concur and shared as much with KOAT TV Channel 7. You can see the report here.

Not only was Mayor Keller’s performance as Mayor during COVID 19 poor (largely following the Gov.’s lockdown approach), but this book was clearly written as a campaign piece in support of the Mayor, not as a “after action report” to facilitate understanding of the policies that worked and didn’t work both with Pandemic, but also the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020.

Recently RGF President Paul Gessing sat down with  KOAT TV Channel 7 to  discuss some of the numerous problems with the City of Albuquerque’s “free” bus program. Sadly, the City Council on a 6-3 vote approved making the program “permanent.” Only three councilors (Lewis, Sanchez, and Grout) opposed the bill. 

You can read the “study” which supposedly justifies the “free” bus program here.

In advance of the meeting next week of Gov. Lujan Grisham’s unelected Environmental Improvement Board during which they will decide whether or not to strictly limit the availability of gas powered vehicles, Republicans in BOTH houses of New Mexico’s Legislature have registered their opposition to the plan.

Here is the Senate GOP’s letter. 

Here is the House version.

Polls indicate that a majority of Americans don’t want to buy an EV as their next car. Those majorities are even bigger for low income and elderly people which New Mexico has in large numbers. 

Do New Mexico Democrats, especially in the Legislature, support the Gov.’s latest overreach? We’ll be asking them and so should you!

Spaceport America’s lead tenant Virgin Galactic had finally begun launching it’s manned space tourism flights this year after the facility had been open for more than a decade. And, while the stock price had been destroyed, it seemed like things were finally moving in the right direction for both the company and the taxpayer-funded facility, right?

Wrong. 

According to SpaceNews, The company just announced that (after a series of successful flights in recent months) Virgin Galactic will reduce the frequency of flights of its current suborbital vehicle and stop them entirely by mid-2024 as it concentrates resources on the next generation of vehicles.

Virgin Galactic announced Nov. 7 it would be laying off staff and reducing other expenses to concentrate resources on the Delta class, The company also said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it would be cutting 185 jobs, or about 18% of its current workforce.

Not surprisingly, what limited economic benefits New Mexico had been receiving from these launches will soon evaporate as “company staff who work on the vehicles at Spaceport America in New Mexico will go to a new factory near Phoenix the company expects to complete in the second quarter of 2024 to help with the assembly of the first Delta-class vehicles.” In other words, Virgin Galactic workers are moving out of state.

Virgin Galactic reported $1.7 million in revenue in the third quarter from its spaceflight as well as “membership fees” from customers, and projects $3 million in revenue in the fourth quarter. The company had a net loss of $105 million in the third quarter.

Biden Got Manufacturers To Build EVs But He Can’t Force You To Buy One

You could lose access to a key feature (AM radio) if you buy an electric car. 

Ex-Ford CEO warns of fierce challenge ahead for electric vehicles

Across almost every segment of the electric-vehicle industry,  demand seems to be slowing.

Hertz is slowing the electrification of its rental fleets, citing poor resale value and higher-than-expected repair costs.

“From where we stood six months ago, it’s going to be a challenging time for everyone involved in the EV market right now.”

State (Colorado) offers residents major incentive to give up their gas cars

Colorado is now offering EV rebates up to $6,000 for new vehicles and up to $4,000 for used ones. These rebates can be combined with the federal tax credit of $7,500 meaning that purchasers of EV’s can receive up to $13,500 courtesy of the taxpayer.

Given the massive $3.5 billion budget surplus (courtesy of oil and gas) we expect MLG to ramp up the subsidies for EV’s since the market (people buying cars) aren’t enthusiastic about them.

If you oppose Gov. Lujan Grisham’s EV mandate and other policies to bribe/force you into an EV, please send them a note here.

It took several months for our public records request to be fulfilled (Biden’s  visit was on August 8), but the Rio  Grande  Foundation has learned that the City of Albuquerque Spent $80,231.98 on policing and other security during the President’s visit.

The amount is rather less critical than the approach taken by the Keller Administration which invoiced the Trump campaign for $211,175.94 for an overnight visit in 2021. In the wake of Trump’s visit Mayor Keller told the Daily Show, “I don’t really expect us to get paid,” he said. “But it’s important that we do, and you know, we would do it for anyone else, so he’s no different.”

Wanna bet whether Keller and the City invoiced Biden on this? Within the overall City budget of $1.3 billion both amounts are trivial and we WANT presidential candidates and presidents of BOTH parties to visit our City and State.

It’s election day. Here are some of the important issues and races being voted on in New Mexico and nationwide.

The City of Albuquerque Council will be voting on whether to make “free buses” a “permanent” program this Wednesday. A City report downplays the impact the program has had on crime rates, but in reality does nothing of the sort.

Our case against ABQ City Council’s “donation” to Planned Parenthood has merit according to the judge.

According to the Washington Post home schooling grew dramatically in the wake of the COVID pandemic but not especially in New Mexico (according to the best available data).

Inflation has hit New Mexicans when it comes to car insurance.

Stories questioning the merits of EV’s are coming fast and furious.

ABQ City Council will be voting on Wednesday evening on whether or not to. make the City’s “free” bus program permanent. Media stories purport to show the results of this city report as showing that crime did not worsen thanks to the program.  (another report here)

“Free” bus fares began on January 1, 2022. They have been in place ever since. Sadly, the City report has too many charts like the one below.  The fatal flaw is that no data is produced from dates prior to the program being implemented.

Yes, good data is hard to come by because of COVID ridership changes and other issues, but providing incident data only back to the start of the “free” fare program fails to show any impact at all. It’s meaningless.

That said, the massive uptick in narcotics on city buses highlighted below would seem to be a big and growing issue to be addressed on city buses. The City ultimately needs to go back to the drawing board to find evidence for and against “free” buses.

According to the City’s report net revenue would be $1,785,000 if fares were collected. As an aside, the report itself was not readily available on the City’s website. We had to ask a friendly councilor for the report which we have. posted and linked above. 

Vandalism has gotten MUCH worse since the “free” bus program took effect but the report notes that “some” of these problems are at bus stops not on buses themselves. A breakdown of that would be helpful. 

For starters, if you haven’t already voted, please do. Election Day is Tuesday November 6, 2023. You can find out where to vote here.

Starting with some important National issues to watch:

Kentucky’s Democratic Governor Andy Beshear has been leading GOP Attorney General Daniel Cameron, but Beshear’s opposition to school choice and COVID lockdowns during his term have become late issues.

In Mississippi, GOP Governor Tate Reeves is hoping his recent income tax cuts overcome negative stories about scandals with state grants.

In Virginia, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin has an approval rating of 56 percent and hopes voters will give him a mandate for conservative governance by giving the GOP a legislative majority.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has become one of the most partisan in the country, approving a Democratic gerrymander for Congress, ruling a voter ID law unconstitutional, and changing the state’s election law during COVID in a way that encouraged fraud. An election for the court is on Tuesday’s ballot. Unions have poured in millions for the Democratic candidate.

Ohio Issue 1 could be a harbinger of things to come on the abortion issue. If voters in a trending “red” state vote in support of abortion rights it could have profound impacts on post-Dobbs abortion politics.

If adopted Issue 1 would establish a state constitutional right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and continuing pregnancy.^[1]

Colorado HH: would undermine Colorado’s best-in-the nation taxpayer protections by allowing the state to retain and spend revenues that it would otherwise be required to refund to residents.

Closer to home in New Mexico

Santa Fe is voting on proposals to target taxes on the wealthy to fund housing construction for low income residents. Santa Fe’s proposed excise tax measure would result in a new 3% tax levied on home sales of more than $1 million.

Albuquerque: City Council races

There are 4 total races, 3 of them have significant ideological implications for city governance. City council could be a more robust ideological opponent of Mayor Keller’s “progressive” agenda or it could become more of a “rubber stamp.”

Albuquerque Public Schools board: APS school board which has been a moderate board could become more union dominated or could be more conservative than it has been.

7 candidates running for Mayor of Las Cruces.  The City is electing a new mayor for the first time since 2007. The race along with city council races will involve ranked choice voting.

Las Cruces school board is up for election as well.

The case (brought by RGF President Paul Gessing) (with legal representation from the Liberty Justice Center) over Albuquerque City Council’s “donation” of your tax dollars to Planned Parenthood will move forward. A Bernalillo County Court denied the City of Albuquerque and Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains’ motions to dismiss Gessing v. Yara, a case challenging the City’s illegal donation of taxpayer funds to the private organization.

City Councilwoman Tammy Fiebelkorn explained that she sponsored the $250,000 donation “to provide vital support for Planned Parenthood.”

In a ruling issued November 1, the Court found that the plaintiffs have made a creditable case that the “agreement” between the city and the organization is essentially a sham, purporting to purchase services from Planned Parenthood while in fact paying out taxpayer money to a politically favored group.

The primary issue at stake is New Mexico’s “anti-donation clause” and whether a government body can simply “donate” taxpayer dollars to a private, political organization.

Home schooling is often forgotten about in the political debate over school choice. There are good reasons for that here in New Mexico as (despite our State’s myriad educational problems, it is reasonable when it comes to home schooling regulations), ranked “B” in one recent report.

The home school community generally prefers to stay out of the limelight in Santa Fe unless politicians start regulating them heavily (even MLG has not attacked them so far).

But, as you can see below thanks to a recent story from the Washington Post in terms of growth home schooling is growing quickly thanks in part to the Pandemic. And, while numbers have fallen off a bit from the peak, numbers remain quite high.

Surprisingly, given New Mexico’s relatively light regulatory touch, New Mexico didn’t see a particularly large increase in the wake of COVID (see below). Nor is New Mexico a particular hotbed of home schooling (so far as the available data indicate).

On this week’s conversation Paul talks to Carlos Garcia of Garcia Automotive. Garcia is one of the State’s largest car dealership networks. Paul even purchased his car from them!

New Mexicans (like all Americans) have been buffeted by rising costs in recent years. According to a new report from Marketwatch notes that insurance rose 34.1% in 2023 alone. According to the report, “New Mexico saw a steeper increase in auto premiums over the last year than most states in the U.S” which saw an overall increase of 16%.

Why is that? Again, from the report: Claims payouts are the single biggest expense for insurance companies, representing 70%-80% of auto insurers’ expenses in a given year. Medical claims are a significant portion of those payouts, meaning that increases in healthcare expenses result in increased payouts for individual medical claims.

The Cost of Car Repairs and Replacements Is Up

Finally, New Mexico has one of the highest rates of auto theft in the country. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NCIB), New Mexico saw 475.5 car thefts per 100,000 residents in 2021. That rate is the fourth-highest of all states and the District of Columbia.

The authors of the report don’t see insurance costs coming down and, if Gov. Lujan gets her way with the forced shift to electric vehicles insurance prices could rise further as EV’s are more expensive to insure than are gas vehicles.

Below are some comparisons for the EV vs. gas powered models of similar cars. In the meantime, you can share your opposition to the forced move toward EV’s here. 

While MLG and others talk a big game about “green” energy, wind and especially solar receive massive subsidies.

Toyota’s chairman “I told you so” about EV’s while alarm bells ring over slowing sales.

The most ridiculous government job in New Mexico? Also, here are details on the $6 million in “economic development for the Four Corners.” 

RGF supports the Senate Finance Committee Chair’s effort to better understand film subsidy impact.

Albuquerque ranked 8th on a new list of retail theft hotspots.

MLG flies to Australia and brings back a hydrogen company.