Errors of Enchantment

Lobo football fans awoke this morning to find that their head football coach of the past 11 seasons, Rocky Long, had resigned. While the losing 2008 season was definitely tough on the coach, he made a point of stating that New Mexico football will never flourish until the fans decide to turn out in greater numbers to support the program. What does this have to do with public policy in New Mexico?

Well, Albuquerque's political establishment is considering the construction of a brand new taxpayer-financed arena in downtown Albuquerque. Possible anchor tenants include an arena football team and a WNBA franchise. While studies are done with an eye towards justifying the expenditure, despite difficult economic times, the real question is "If you build it, will they come?" After all, Lobo Football is a Division I, "major league" product. If fans won't support them, will they support women's professional basketball?

The record is mixed. Fans turn out for the Isotopes and Lobo basketball, but not for the Thunderbirds minor league basketball, not for Lobo Football (at least not enough to make the team as successful as its /">Mountain West peers, and not for the Scorpions hockey team.

It is hard to say what makes the teams that succeed do so and why other teams lack fan support, but I don't trust our City Council and Mayor to spend a bunch of our money to figure it out, do you?

Posted by Paul Gessing at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to KOAT TV:

The Albuquerque Downs are moving to Moriarty, and the city's major hopes extra funding will come with it.

Mayor Adan Encinias is asking the state for $4.5 million to help cover infrastructure costs for the new racino. Plans for the track are complete, and this is the only issue standing in the way of breaking ground. The Downs president hopes to begin racing by the summer of 2010.

While I am completely agnostic as to whether or not the Downs should move, I find it hard to believe that Moriarty deserves $4.5 million of our tax dollars for the privilege of hosting the Downs. After all, isn't state-sanctioned legalized gambling and horse racing supposed to be an economic boon for the area?

Rather than asking taxpayers in the rest of New Mexico to foot the bill for Moriarty's infrastructure, perhaps they could leverage some of those future tax revenues in the form of bonds in order to pay for the needed roads etc. In the best of economic times, Moriarty's case for $4.5 million of our tax dollars would be on shaky footing at best. In current, tough times when cutbacks are being made across the state, Moriarty should be asked to come up with something a bit more creative than fleecing the rest of us for their Racino.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In what has to be considered the least surprising news story of the day, one of the myriad studies from consultants hired to sell er...study the downtown arena has been released. The study, done by a firm called Conventions, Sports, and Leisure, found that the market characteristics for the proposed $400 million arena are "very favorable." I did some googling on this firm and (not surprisingly) found that they are a rubber stamp or cheerleader for taxpayer-financed development.

By no means are they an objective source of information. Check out this report on the proposed Durango convention center. Among other red herrings and factual mis-steps the document states that "the overall convention and trade show industry reflects stability and annual growth." This is simply not accurate. As this study from the Brookings Institute points out "The overall convention marketplace is declining in a manner that suggests that a recovery or turnaround is unlikely to yield much increased business for any given community, contrary to repeated industry projections." Conventions, Sports, and Leisure is papering over this inconvenient truth.

The Albuquerque study, the executive summary of which can be found here has its share of red herrings as well. My favorite is that the proposed event center's location near the Rail Runner station would help make it a success. Downtown Albuquerque is such a night spot that according to the schedule available on the Rail Runner website there are no evening Rail Runner trains currently in operation. In fact, the last trains leave at 6:30pm.

Since most sporting events don't start until 7pm or 7:30, this will have to change. One way or the other, taxpayers will be footing the bill both for the events center and for the Rail Runner to run late into the night. Of course, since the trains only run at one-hour intervals, if you miss your train, you'll have plenty of time to hang out. The whole thing is a boondoggle on top of another boondoggle!

Posted by Paul Gessing at 02:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have written previously in this space about our new legislative tracking website, NewMexicoVotes.org. Recently, we released our "missed votes study" which simply tallies up which legislators are showing up to vote when they are supposed to.

Certainly, there are often legitimate excuses (illness being one example) for legislators to miss votes, but nonetheless, we feel that voters should have some idea if their elected officials are doing their jobs or not. One story from the Santa Fe New Mexican is available here. The Associated Press also picked up the story which can be found here.

The missed votes study itself can be found here.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's no doubt that New Mexico government is sorely lacking in transparency. That is one reason that improving transparency has become a central focus of our work. See our legislative tracking site: www.newmexicovotes.org. Of course, nothing is more basic to transparency than knowing what is on the ballot. Thus, it is all the more disappointing that it is so hard for voters to find out exactly what they'll be voting on in five weeks.

The only information I could find in my internet search of 2008 ballot measures turned up this site from ballotpedia. Unfortunately, the Secretary of State's website had no information available. Bernalillo County claims to have a "sample ballot," but the information presented at this link is less than optimal.

Colorado too is ahead of New Mexico. This handy site has links to a list of candidates and ballot measures.
This is not the way things are done in other states. Check out Arizona's Secretary of State website has ballot measures online in both Spanish and English. New Mexico needs to get its act together by publishing all ballot measures and candidate lists on the Secretary of State website. Contact her here.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

While there have been several postings on this site about Jonah Goldberg, I thought the readers might enjoy reading Jonah's comments about his visit to New Mexico. I think I made the mistake of saying something nice about Bill Richardson in front of him though...

Posted by Paul Gessing at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New Mexico is just one of dozens of states nationwide with massively funded state pension systems. According to this article, "by 2020, coverage will no longer be considered solvent." Also, "the authority has an unfunded liability of about $4.1 billion but that has dropped from about $5 billion." This improvement is the result of rate increases in recent years.

Surprisingly, despite the massive shortfall, New Mexico is actually in relatively good shape, at least according to this analysis.

There seems to be several major problems here:

1) Politicians have an incentive to over-promise what they pay state workers in the future relative to what they are paid right away. This is a means of cost-shifting onto future politicians and generations;

2) The inevitable tax increases hurt taxpayers even though they are largely unaware of the future massive burden they will be faced with;

3) From a pensioners standpoint, it is tough to be on a fixed income when fees and rates keep rising.

The single most important solution to this problem is to move away from defined benefit pension plans and give employees greater control over and responsibility for their own retirements.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As the Albuquerque Journal reported on Wednesday, New Mexico Treasurer James Lewis travels as a part of his job -- a lot. The Journal followed up with an editorial questioning who is paying for Lewis's flights around the globe and to what extent those who pay for Lewis's flights might be doing so to curry favor with the man that -- as The Journal points out, "is the elected official in charge of billions of dollars in New Mexico's investment portfolio."

While it is hard not to read about Lewis's inflated airfare costs -- $3,600 first class to Atlanta, business to Brazil -- and $2,200 in hotel charges, my question is why the State of New Mexico should be investing billions of dollars. I know it is in the Constitution, but wouldn't the permanent fund money be better off in the hands of New Mexicans' instead of politicians? Isn't it the very definition of socialism to have governments to own and control businesses?

It may be impossible to abolish the office as a whole, but shouldn't we as individual New Mexicans control whatever revenue is generated by taxes on extractive industries? Aside from that, government really shouldn't be in the business of investing. Instead, New Mexico should adopt the Alaska model and return oil and gas money to taxpayers. This would serve another positive function by creating a constituency for ongoing mining/drilling.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

During the recently-completed special session, the New Mexico Legislature passed a tax "rebate" program. As has been discussed here and elsewhere, the "rebates" weren't so much designed to give money back to taxpayers, but to redistribute money from those who paid taxes to those who do not.

The following information underscores just who pays and does not pay taxes. Remember that rebates are only being given to those who make less than $70,000 annually.

What is the number of returns in each bracket? What is the percentage breakdown in each of those ranges of returns with payments?

Thus, those who pay 75% or New Mexico's income taxes get nothing while large numbers of taxpayers who paid no taxes get the largest checks from the state. Not much of a "rebate" was it.

HT: Matt Kennicott

Posted by Paul Gessing at 05:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was down in Alamogordo over the weekend and had the opportunity to stop by and visit with Mike Haymes and the gang over at AM 1230. Check out the podcast from August 15 (at the bottom of the top-most list) at this page. We discuss the proposed Spaceport tax increase for Otero County, the special session, and an array of other topics.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you follow what happens in New Mexico politics, you are probably aware that Governor Richardson has called a special session which is set to begin in about a week. Although the session was called, at least in theory, to work on health care, the Governor has proposed a tax rebate package (which also contains some new spending) in order to return some of the State's excess oil and gas tax revenue to taxpayers.

While we at the Rio Grande Foundation support any effort to return money to taxpayers, as I point out in this opinion piece from the Las Cruces Sun-News, there should be no new permanent spending in the special session, in part due to the volatility of oil and gas revenues. On the flip side, legislators should study ways to stimulate New Mexico's economy and ensure the State's long-term success, such as by permanently reducing income tax rates.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recently at the Rio Grande Foundation, we have been working harder than ever to get our message out in the community and around the state. A particular emphasis of our work is to reach out to those in areas, like Deming, that are often forgotten by denizens of Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Deming to speak to the Deming Rotary Club and talk to a reporter with the Deming Headlight You can read the interview here.

If your group needs a speaker, please contact us at 505-264-6090 or email info@riograndefoundation.org.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As I just discussed in a blog posting, Albuquerque's leaders are overly focused on downtown at the expense of taxpayers and other areas of the City. The schedule for the New Mexico First discussion at which I'll be a panelist can now be found online. A background report (including comments from the Rio Grande Foundation) is available here.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Apparently, Albuquerque's City Council has been listening to too much Petula Clark recently, because their obsession with downtown is approaching fever pitch. First and foremost, the recent decision to allocate a whopping $700,000 to study an arena and events center has seemingly placed this latest redevelopment issue on the fast-track with New Mexico First set to hold a meeting on the issue on Thursday, the 17th (I'll be a panelist).

Then there's the $28-million-a-mile streetcar that consultants recently recommended should be built from San Mateo to Downtown. The presentation can be found here. The presentation is full of platitudes and happy talk about the supposedly tremendous impact the streetcar will have in the form of additional residents and employers moving into the areas served by the system. But it is never stated why Albuquerque's system will cost $28 million a mile while a "peer system" in Little Rock cost a mere $7.8 million per mile. Also, while anecdotal evidence that the streetcar will draw additional riders over the current bus system is presented, specific service improvements over the current Rapid Ride buses which run in the same area for far less money are nowhere to be found.

The fact is that the streetcar has support primarily among those who believe that other areas of the city exist primarily to support downtown. If a streetcar and events center are important to the public and are financially viable they will be built with private money when and where it makes sense to do so. Politicians shouldn't force the issue on taxpayers.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today's headline in the Albuquerque Journal says it all: Tesla will be making its electrically-powered roadsters in California, not New Mexico. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:

California's offer includes the state's purchase of $100 million in manufacturing equipment, which it will then lease to Tesla. The company will have the option to buy the equipment at the end of the lease term tax-free, for an estimated savings of $9 million. California will also make job training grants to Tesla of up to $1.5 million.

The Rio Grande Foundation has been critical of such payouts in the past for the very fact that companies like Tesla are simply playing governments against each other to extract the largest payout possible. This certainly seems to be the case with Tesla.

While the loss of Tesla will undoubtedly be portrayed as a major loss for New Mexico, the reality is that Tesla's cars are based on unproven technologies and the company needs a sweetheart deal because no private investor -- at least one who is concerned about earning a reasonable return on his investment -- would consider making such a significant investment.

As the Wall Street Journal points out, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has a terrible economic record and faces extreme economic difficulty. While the payouts to Tesla will be extremely small relative to California's overall economy, New Mexicans shouldn't lose any sleep over losing Tesla to Arnold and his big payoff.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A few weeks ago I blogged about the importance of candidate surveys from Project Vote Smart. With the primary election on Tuesday, the Rio Grande Foundation and several other New Mexico-based non-profits surveyed candidates on several issues of interest to each group.

The results of the House Candidate surveys can be found here and the Senate surveys can be found here. The questions that we chose were number 3 and number 9, but each of the questions is relevant in its own way to voters hoping to make an informed decision. If candidates in your area chose not to fill their survey out, make sure to tell them that voters need to make an informed decision and they can only do so if candidates are willing to take firm positions on the issues.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you missed the luncheon hosted by the Rio Grande Foundation and the New Mexico Prosperity Project last Wednesday, you missed out on a really outstanding event. The folks over at AWOL Civilization were kind enough to blog about the event here.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 05:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recently, I praised Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez for his relative budget restraint. While I stand behind that praise, the ongoing debacle involving the City's efforts to buy 22 acres of land near Vista del Norte, ostensibly for a balloon-landing site (but really to keep Wal Mart from building a store there) undermines efforts to strengthen the City's economy.

After all, if businesses are to locate here, they need to know that the carpet will not be pulled from underneath them for political reasons. The City, (specifically taxpayers) is now paying the price for abrogating property rights in the area that is now ABQ Uptown. Rather than buying the land, the City should encourage the developer to go ahead with plans to put a Wal Mart or whatever they want to do with it. If landing balloons is really an issue, perhaps the City can work with the developers to develop the land in a way that allows balloons to land in the area? We can't simply stop growing as a City in order to be balloon-friendly.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The issue of "corporate welfare" has taken on greater importance over the years on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum. And, although it is hard to have corporate welfare in the absence of large corporations with giant lobbying budgets, a recent article by Barry Massey of the Associated Press illustrates an example right here in New Mexico.

In fact, an Albuquerque-based company called Blast-N-Clean received $162,500 to demonstrate its cleaning system to nearly a dozen cities and counties. Legislators earmarked money for the work although local governments didn't ask for the pilot projects in some instances. As I point out in the article, this "Certainly sounds like this is something that should come out of the company's own marketing budget, not the state budget." I also argue (as I have done before) that we need to reform the capital outlay process. Better still, this money should be returned to taxpayers.

Nothing against Blast-N-Clean or any other company, but they should live or die based on the quality and innovative nature of their product, not their ability to suck money from taxpayers.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to the New Mexico Business Weekly, there is a new initiative afoot among some business groups to attract educated New Mexicans who have moved out of state, back to the state. Mark Lautman, director of economic development for the master-planned, mixed-use community of Mesa del Sol, is just one local leader who believes that the demand for labor will outstrip the supply in the next 25 years and get more out of our native population.

Initiatives being promoted by the business coalition include creating an online database where companies can post work force needs and job opportunities. A $400,000 grant from the US Department of Labor will pay for much of the program.

While this is by no means a massive expenditure of public money, it would seem that the program is going to do very little to alleviate the perceived "shortage" of highly skilled workers in the state. While there are no quick fixes when it comes to attracting talent, it would seem that two things could be done by policymakers:

1) Let workers keep more of their money by cutting taxes. States that lack an income tax -- Washington, Florida, Texas, Nevada, and New Hampshire to name just a few of the nine -- grow faster economically and have higher income levels than their peers. Further cutting New Mexico's income tax rate (or eliminating the tax entirely) would attract high-end jobs and workers.

2) Produce more highly-educated workers. The fact that New Mexico needs to improve its education system is no secret. New Mexico's drop-out rate hovers near 50 percent and by almost any measure, New Mexico's educational system is among the worst in the nation. If we want to fill skilled jobs we need an education system that produces more of them.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More than two years ago, Juan Dominguez of Rio Arriba County entered into a leasing agreement with T-Mobile, allowing them to place a cell tower on his property. The tower gives reception to many cell users in the Chimayo area.

Some citizens in the area have banded together to form the Chimayo Council on Wireless Technology. The Council feels that the appearance of the cell tower desecrates sacred sites within eyeshot, such as the Plaza del Cerro (an original colonial Spanish plaza) and a commonly used pilgrimage route to the Santuario de Chimayo. They also say that the tower defiles the hills around Chimayo, which are venerated by the Tewa people. In fact, the town is named after one of these hills, Tsi-Mayoh.

Unfortunately for the Council, Mr. Dominguez owns the property on which the tower is located, not the citizens of Chimayo, nor any body of religious people or historic preservationists. He has given his consent for placement of the tower. Nonetheless, the Council has correctly asserted, according to the State Historic Preservation Office, that T-Mobile had some errors in its application to the county government, including incorrect coordinates for its location.

SHPO is requiring T-Mobile to resubmit a corrected application, after which state officers will evaluate the tower’s level of historical malevolence. If they deem that the tower is violating the visual pleasance of historical sites, the state office will escalate the case to the Federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which, under authority granted to it by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, may “make recommendations regarding historic preservation to the… heads of… federal agencies.” The federal agency involved in this case would be the Federal Communications Commission, which will make the final determination should the matter remain unresolved.

Sound like a bureaucratic nightmare? And all poor Mr. Dominguez wanted was to make some extra cash. T-Mobile has said that they cannot relocate the tower and keep their service effective. Not only are multiple levels of government involvement encroaching on Mr. Dominguez’ property rights, but they may also be hindering T-Mobile’s ability to run its company successfully in the area.

If the folks at the Chimayo Council on Wireless Technology have as much support from the community as they claim, they should consider buying Mr. Dominguez’s property or at least they could purchase the right not to have a tower built on the property.

Posted by Corey Davis at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Current Secretary of State Mary Herrera has disclosed information from a federal investigation being conducted by the Elections Assistance Commission accusing the former holder of her office, Rebecca Vigil-Giron, of using $6.4 million of federal money for her own publicity. The federal funds, provided under mandates of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, were supposed to be used to plan and run the 2004 and 2006 federal elections, but according to Trip Jennings of the Albuquerque Journal (Former Official Faulted for Ads, Feb. 19, 2008), Herrera has suggested that Vigil-Giron used the funds for public service announcements “often featuring herself.” Vigil-Giron is now running to represent the Albuquerque district in Congress.

The fact of the matter is neither Secretary of State has a very positive record when it comes to running elections. During the state’s recent democratic caucus, scores of hopeful voters were incorrectly told that they were not registered and were forced to fill out provisional ballots so their registration status could be confirmed before their votes were counted. Mary Herrera’s spokesperson “defended the [voter] database prepared by [Election Systems and Software], one of the nation’s large private election vendors,” even though it was apparent that the list was rife with mistakes.

After the 2004 presidential elections, representatives from all eight political parties united to file a lawsuit against Rebecca Vigil-Giron and the State of New Mexico (Lopategui et al versus the State of New Mexico), alleging that thousands of votes were miscounted by electronic voting machines statewide and hoping to provide measures that would prevent similar failures of democracy in the future. Among stories of voting machine malfunctions, “One poll worker described watching 141 voters come to the precinct, enter the polling booth where a voting machine awaited, stay for a short period, and leave. At the end of the day, there was only one vote counted for president.” While plaintiffs and defendants collected evidence for the lawsuit, Ms. Vigil-Giron motioned to dismiss the case, which was denied by Judge Eugenio Mathis.

It is obviously inappropriate for officials to use public money to boost their name recognition. Even though Ms. Vigil-Giron did appear in the public service announcements, they did their job of educating potential voters on the registration process. On the other hand, Ms. Herrera’s office was responsible for the voter list that butchered the democratic caucus. Public concerns like voter registration lists are one of a handful of public services that should be the responsibility of public officials, not private companies. New Mexicans apparently need to work harder to find competent officials to serve in the Secretary of State’s office.

Posted by Corey Davis at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Anyone who regularly reads this blog knows that we do not engage in personal attacks. We may have policy disagreements, but we don't generally go after people as individuals. That said, I'm not really sure Governor Richardson has been on an even keel since he return from the campaign trail. First was the statement that doctors were being "greedy" for not going along with his health care plan. While I think this statement is false on its face, it is hard to see the political wisdom of publicly attacking the very health care professionals whose mission it is to make us well. Besides, doctors are people we all deal with personally and, while we may associate their presence with both physical and financial pain, they are certainly viewed more favorably than the nameless and faceless insurance companies.

Of course, attacking doctors was only the start for Richardson. Today he essentially told the Legislature -- both houses of which are dominated by his fellow Democrats -- "bring it on" (subscription required) when some lawmakers suggested he's entered his lame duck phase as governor.

As if this belligerent attitude were not enough, the Governor topped his rhetoric off by publicly disagreeing with his Attorney General (also a Democrat) regarding what should be a relatively minor bill deadline and then challenging his Lieutenant Governor over whether she is deserving of security or not.

Something is just not right. While it is to be expected that the Governor would disagree with Republicans and veto their projects from the just-signed budget, he seems to be lashing out at anyone and everyone who crosses him, possibly due to his frustrations on the campaign trail.

While we at the Rio Grande Foundation don't agree with him very often on policy matters, it would seem that the "wounded bear" routine won't do much for his efforts to pass his health care agenda and other items. Perhaps he'll shake it off, but until he does, he isn't doing himself any favors...and that's probably a good thing for taxpayers.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Regular readers of this blog are undoubtedly aware that we have no love for the unelected bureaucrats over at the Albuquerque-Bernalillo Water Authority. We tangled with them over their outrageous attempt to use eminent domain to take over a privately-owned water utility, New Mexico Utilities Inc. That case is still tied up in court.

Now, Councilor Michael Cadigan has succeeded in allocating even more power to the un-elected bureaucrats at the Authority by giving them tremendous power over building and planning activities. Just over a month ago, Cadigan had been quoted as saying the Authority should have these powers and recently the Authority granted themselves the power -- notice how that's done!

The Albuquerque Journal had the right take on things in this morning's paper, saying "the authority's board should rescind its vote and forward its ideas to the City Council and County Commission, where public policy can be hammered out in a more democratic process."

It is unfortunate that we have allowed water, the lifeblood of our city (not to mention development and individual property rights), to be controlled by an unelected group of bullies. Instead of putting a government agency in control, we should privatize the authority and make it accountable to its customers.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Albuquerque Tribune editorialized in favor of Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez challenging the City's term limits law by running for a third term, saying it "did no harm." This may be true, but how about Albuquerque voters, more than 70 percent of whom supported term limits back in 1994?

When the Constitution doesn't address an issue, as is the case with term limits for city officials, shouldn't the default be to obey what the citizens say unless there is an issue of direct harm or a minority is being unjustly attacked? Sure, Mayor Marty can run for another term and he may get elected, but that doesn't mean it is best for the City or that it's the right thing to do.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 03:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bill Richardson has dropped his bid for President. While we certainly are not shy about criticizing Richardson's policies here in New Mexico, the reasons for Richardson's failure to gain traction are only partially his fault. A big part of Richardson's difficulties stems from the process itself.

First and foremost, Richardson did not run a great campaign. He made too many gaffes and tried to have it both ways on policy issues that required an obvious stance. This recent discussion between Richardson and Barack Obama on the issue of carbon caps and whether or not it would increase prices for consumers is a perfect example.

As for the reasons that were not necessarily his fault, except for the Iraq War, Richardson was a "centrist" relative to his fellow Democrats. On taxes, guns, and trade, Richardson was to the right of his fellow Democrats.

Unfortunately for Richardson, Democratic primaries tend to reward those on the left and penalize centrists. Only in the general election do centrists have the advantage. Even though we at the Rio Grande Foundation weren't overly enthusiastic about Richardson as a President, his run did bring great attention to New Mexico. From that perspective, we are sad to see him drop out.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 08:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing appeared on Channel 5's "In Focus" public affairs show a few weeks ago to discuss , the Rail Runner, transportation, and other important topics. The show can be accessed at the following link. There are three windows that you may click on and my appearance is in the third (bottom) window. The first two windows were a prelude to the show with a discussion between Transportation Commission Chair Johnny Cope and Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, Vice Chair of the Transportation committee. Neither of these two individuals inspire much confidence in those who believe that innovative thinking is necessary to solve New Mexico's transportation problems. Enjoy the show!

Posted by Paul Gessing at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Guess what? You as a New Mexico taxpayer are now part owner (subscription required) of an $11 million supercomputer with a total cost of $42 million to get it up and running. Another free article is available here.

So, what use might you have for such a computer? None as I pointed out recently in the NM Business Weekly. Most of us will do just fine with our PC's and Mac's which are getting more powerful and better all the time. The computer is nothing more than corporate welfare with a side of inflated ego.

With roads and bridges in dire need of money and taxpayers in Bernalillo facing tax hikes to pay for the jail and other needs, it seems hard to believe that a supercomputer is the greatest priority for New Mexicans. It will be interesting to see if any claims of economic impact/business attraction are made or if the whole thing is merely swept under the carpet.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recently, I wrote in the Albuquerque Tribune about the impending lab cuts and whether they might be a good thing in the long run for New Mexico's economy. I argued in part that it is the private sector, not the government that creates wealth and I stand by my point.

Nonetheless, I was attacked in a letter to the letter by a reader who argued that government does indeed create wealth. He argues that, "His (Gessing's) condemnation of government as not producing wealth is baseless," and that "I equate profit with wealth."

Unfortunately for the letter writer, what government does is simply take money from productive citizens and use it for something that people may or may not really want. With government, it is not easy to tell because there is no pricing mechanism. Sure, roads are important, but the government also shifts money away from roads to build the Rail Runner. That is sucking wealth out of society.

The public schools, particularly APS, may be better than nothing (although that's debatable), but are they creating wealth for our society in an efficient manner? Might it be better for the private sector (not necessarily for-profit) to take over?

The fact is that government may create wealth for you if you happen to want what the government is providing, but real wealth is provided when government is small and doesn't interfere with the rest of us who are producing real wealth in the marketplace.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Los Alamos and Sandia Labs are on the chopping block in Congress. That is a fact and it has many of the Labs' employees and local economic officials in a panic. But is it such a bad thing for New Mexico's long-term economic future? In a recent opinion piece in the Albuquerque Tribune, I argue that cuts at the Labs might be an opportunity to ween New Mexico's economy from the federal teat and adjust our tax policies in ways that will generate long-term economic growth.

After all, New Mexico has long received more federal largesse relative to what its taxpayers pay than any other state, but it hasn't done much to improve our economic picture or poverty levels. As the economic impact of these layoffs is felt, our political leaders would be wise to enact some pro-growth reforms (like cutting the income tax or reducing the regulatory burden) in an effort to bring businesses to the state.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For the average politically-unconnected Albuquerque-area developer, dealing with local governments is a nightmare of red tape. Anti-development politicians and anti-“sprawl” and/or “not in my backyard” citizens have passed numerous laws that make it a wonder anything is built. Out-of-control impact fees, high taxes, opaque zoning laws, capricious government officials (see Wal Mart’s experience in Vista del Norte), and onerous “green” building codes all make the process difficult and time-consuming.

On one hand we now have policies that stifle new development and contribute to the decline of existing areas? But, on the other hand we have Tax Increment Financing (TIF) laws here known as TIDD which are targeted at massive new developments that seem designed to help Albuquerque area to grow as rapidly as possible. In these seemingly-conflicting issues seems to be control. Massive new developments are okay, but only if they are acceptable to politicians. New legislation introduced by supposed foe of TIDD, Michael Cadigan, is a perfect example. It's okay...if you do things my way.

Unfortunately, TIF or TIDD is all about political control as development expert Randal O'Toole points out in this podcast. Opponents of TIDD should remain principled in their opposition and work to make Albuquerque an easier place to build rather than extending political control even further. Unfortunately, that is not the tendency of politicians.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With the news that Doña Ana County is delaying its implementation of a gross receipts tax increase to fund the Spaceport, one might wonder if that project, like the Rail Runner extension to Santa Fe, is in trouble. We can only hope.

The problems are twofold: First and foremost, as discussed in the Las Cruces Sun article above, other counties are not jumping on board the project by passing their own tax hikes as quickly as Doña Ana did. Also, as with the Rail Runner, Spaceport management is asking for more money than originally estimated.

With all of the Foundation's complaining about the Rail Runner and Spaceport, one might mistakenly believe that we have something against "economic development." That actually couldn't be further from the truth. Rather, we believe that individuals, not governments, drive economic development and will allocate resources far more efficiently than governments do. Both the Rail Runner and Spaceport seem to be bearing this out.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 07:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By now, most readers of this blog have heard that Senator Pete Domenici is not running for re-election in 2008. This is big news not just in New Mexico, but nationwide, since this makes it increasingly certain that Democrats will retain control of the US Senate. That said, what does Domenici's retirement mean? Well, Heather Wilson has already jumped in to the race, but that was almost a certainty as she was going to be redistricted out of her seat soon anyway.

It is also quite possible that Reps. Steve Pearce or Tom Udall may jump into the race as well. My hunch is that Wilson has the best chance of winning a statewide race among these three because she is the "not too hot, not too cold candidate." (Pearce may be too conservative for the north and Udall may be too liberal for the south)

Of course, some are saying that Richardson will jump into the race which means he'd have to be considered the front-runner. Personally, I'd like to see former-governor Gary Johnson jump into the race....

Posted by Paul Gessing at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

RailRunner rides that same old line.
It’s good! It’s good! You’ll see, in time.
Ne’er mind the costs, we’re going to town!
What? How many more die till we shut it down?

Bill’s ok. He’s at his station.
“Let’s just have an investigation”
Our schools are crumbling. That’s ok!
We’ll hold classes, anyway!

Learn to drive!
Avoid Railrunner! Stay alive!

Engineers wasted. Families too.
What’s all the fuss? All the ado?
Ne’er mind the costs, we’re going to town.
What? How many more die till we shut it down?

We’ll spend more, make it safer!
Money from oil and gas and oh, the taxpayer!
We can afford it. Yes we can!
What’s the matter with you, man?

Education be damned! RailRunner is mighty!
Ne’er mind those kids, we know they’re flighty.
We’re doing things right. They’ll ride the rails.
One day it will all be just a tale.

RailRunner, RailRunner we long for more.
And, Sister SpacePort is at the fore.
Legislators of sense not common.
Let’s say a prayer. Amen.

-- Vic Bruno

Posted by Paul Gessing at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

They say newspapers are a dying industry. Yes, there is no doubt that people have more ways to get information than ever before and some would even argue that blogs like the one you are reading now are helping to kill the industry. All of this may be true and, with the Albuquerque Tribune up for sale with a very real possibility of closure, the point is driven home.

That said, newspapers actually generate healthy revenues and are still a profitable business to be in. The fact is that the sale of the left-leaning Tribune represents a great opportunity for an entrepreneurial, market-friendly, wealthy individual to take over the newspaper and turn it around, preferably while focusing its journalism on investigating the wide range of abuses of power that go on in this state.

Newspapers may not have the circulation they once did, but their impact cannot be denied because people who read newspapers tend to be the best-educated and best-informed members of the population. Regardless of who buys the newspaper, I hope the Tribune survives, but I do think ownership of media outlets represents a unique opportunity for believers in the free market to reach out to the population as a whole.

Posted by Paul Gessing at 02:24 PM | Permalink</