More Legislative Spending...

The recent Special Session of the New Mexico Legislature was supposed to address budget issues. It was supposed to address excessive spending. The only thing the budget got was lip service. Instead, the Legislature passed a bill making yet again another Cabinet department with all the associated salaries, bureaucrats, & spending. This new Cabinet department is called, New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD). What this new department is supposed to do is "ensure that all New Mexico families and young children have equitable access to high-quality early childhood opportunities."

Wait one...  Isn't that part of the reason why we have Children, Youth & Families (CYFD)?  To ensure all New Mexico families and kids have access to services & opportunities? Right now, there's an RFP up on the CYFD website regarding early childhood education. So now we have TWO Cabinet Departments doing the same work? Talk about duplication of effort! Double your pleasure, double your fun! Double your taxes is more like it!

CYFD has long had a Child Development Bureau, which attends to early childhood education and other early childhood development programs. The CYFD Child Development Bureau was established in 1989 and became operational in 1990. Tell me please, why do we need another Cabinet post to do what a different & existing Cabinet post is already doing?  Why not same some taxpayer dollars and just improve what's already there without another Cabinet Secretary at $150K, Deputy Cabinet Secretary at around $130K and then everyone else: Administrators, Admin Secretaries, Secretaries, Social Workers, yadda yadda yadda. In 2017, Monique Jacobson, Secretary of the CYFD, requested a $26M budget increase to $275M in state funds & when adding in Federal monies, a budget of $503M.  That's a lot of taxpayer dollars for a Department that has a poor reputation, a reputation rife with reports of scandals and controversies.

CYFD has a reputation for getting kids out of bad situations and putting them into situations nearly as bad. In 2018, 13 kids filed suit against CYFD stating that New Mexico lacks a system that ensures placement in stable placement in safe and supportive homes. A 14-yr old kid in the suit had at least 11 placements in his 2 times in state custody, before he was sent to a facility in Colorado where he suffered mistreatment that included black eyes & other wounds. Yet, CYFD kept him there for a year, knowing of the mistreatment. The lawsuit was settled in Mar 2020 with representatives saying that the settlement provides needed reforms. As part of the settlement, CYFD agreed to pay $2.4M in legal fees for the plaintiffs as well as their own legal fees. There were no monetary damages.

In my opinion, for what it's worth, the State should repair the broken system we already have rather than invest into another system that is a duplication of effort. It makes more sense to diagnose & repair a system that already encompasses what the new system is supposed to do. Anyway, that's the way I see it as a taxpayer.

Yours in New Mexico...

A Moment of Sanity...

The Democrats in the New Mexico State Legislature had a moment of sanity yesterday. Miracles do happen!

The moment of sanity was brief, very brief.

New Mexico is primarily a rural state. We have 3 large population centers: Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces. Those centers lean far to the left, especially Santa Fe. The rest of the state is quite rural and rather conservative. A four hour drive to anywhere is pretty much considered "local". Ranchers and other rural folks rely heavily on our vehicles and they serve a wide variety of purposes, everything from herding cattle to transporting kids to school.

One of the Democrat state representatives, Matthew McQueen, who represents parts of Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Torrance, and Valencia Counties, sponsored a very regressive fuel tax, HB 173 Gas Taxes New Funds and Distributions. It would raise the gasoline and diesel taxes in the state from about 17 cents / gal to 47 cents / gal, which is an increase of 176%!!! Why?  All in the name of Gov Michelle Lujan-Grisham's "Green New Deal" also known as the "Energy Transition Act" which was passed in secret proceedings with no voter input, no public discussion, no impact studies, and with no regard for the taxpayers' wallets. The "Energy Transition Act" mandates that New Mexico moves to 100% carbon free energy. This law is essentially a carbon tax and it has resulted in lost energy jobs, higher utility rates, and reduced state revenue. This in a state where the ONLY industry is oil and gas.

Lunacy, I tell you!

Anyway, McQueen's bill was winding its way through the legislature and it had been passed by the Tax & Revenue Committee on an 8 - 3 party line vote. It had the support of high school kids to "combat climate change" and it was said to be for repairing roads, however, a goodly portion of the revenues raised were tagged to buy the State electric vehicles and charging stations. Mind you, this is for a rural state that is 342 miles wide by 370 miles long and it is the 5th largest state in the Union. Where's the common sense? I truly believe Leftist Democrats have no common sense. The only thing they have is a wanton desire to pick pockets.

Thankfully, sanity prevailed in the Appropriations Committee where it was tabled.

Rep Jason Harper (Rio Rancho) said, "I'm shocked that Democrats are continuing to burden hard-working New Mexicans with increased taxes." 

Rep Gail Armstrong (Magdalena) said, "This is a rural versus urban situation. I'm voting rural."

Oh... before I forget, here are the Representatives who want to really pick your pockets with a 30 cent fuel increase.

Javier Martinez (D, Dist 11, ABQ)
Jim Trujillo (D, Dist 45, Santa Fe)
Abbas Akhil (D, Dist 20, ABQ)
Micaela Lara Cadena (D, Dist 33, Mesilla)
Christine Chandler (D, Dist 43, Los Alamos)
Brian Egolf (D, Dist 47, Santa Fe)
Doreen Gallegos (D, Dist 52, Las Cruces)
Antonio "Moe" Maestas (D, Dist 16, ABQ)
Christine Trujillo (D, Dist 25, ABQ)

If you are a Democrat and are tired of increased taxes, little representation, high crime, and your voices being stifled, I suggest you #WalkAway from the Leftist Democrats and join the Republicans. I know I walked away several years back and I've never been happier. Join me!