Jim Scarantino Departs New Mexico Watchdog

I am moving onto other adventures. My wife and I have decided to seize an opportunity to enter early “aspirement”–the intentionally direct opposite of “retirement.” We have the coming year nearly booked: a month in Italy that begins by paying respects at the WWI battlefields where my grandfather–then only 16 years old–fought in the trenches; a month on the East Coast visiting family and big cities; I am singing with Opera Southwest in its October performances of Rossini’s “The Italian Girl in Algiers” and hopefully next March in “La Traviata”; lots and lots of hiking and backpacking, with the full length of the Continental Divide Trail as a goal; a couple weeks in Cuba with a friend posted to Havana by the State Department; and more activities than I can fit into this post. New Mexico Watchdog will now be in the very able hands of Rob Nikolewski, whom I have come quickly to respect as a hard-driving, meticulous, impartial and inquisitive reporter of the highest standards. The Rio Grande Foundation will soon be looking to hire someone to take over my duties for the investigative reports that put us on the state and national journalistic maps. I have been honored to work with the Rio Grande Foundation since 2008 bringing to light stories about tax dollars misused and government run amok...more

NM and The US Dept. of Education's "Race to the Top"

The US Dept. of Education awarded $3.4 billion to nine states and the District of Columbia in this competition. Winners received at least 440 points out of 500. New Mexico scored 305 points.

Noted about NM’s application:
1. strengths in student assessment;
2. skepticism regarding the reform plan and stakeholder commitment; and
3. lack of an action plan (who, how, what, when) with a detailed budget.

Highlights of NM’s application include:
• Zero out of 28 points on “using evaluations to inform key decisions”;
• Zero out of 15 in “ensuring equitable distribution of effective teachers and principals in high poverty schools”;
• Zero out of 14 in “improving the effectiveness of teacher and principal preparation programs”; and
• 40 points out of 40 for ensuring successful high-performing charter schools.
* Information compiled by the Legislative Finance Committee.

It is my hope that candidates will be sincere and focused in addressing educational issues. Likewise, as voters we must be discerning and not allow the rhetoric to distract us from what needs to be accomplished for our sons and daughters. Perhaps, it is time we hold elected officials accountable for results and not merely socially promote them. I urge you to carefully consider the devastating effect these poor outcomes are having on our students and our community.

You may remember Governor Johnson pushed to change the independently elected State Board of Education to a Secretary of Education structure. Under this organization, the governor would appoint the Cabinet Secretary, and we would finally have accountability! The Legislature never allowed the Johnson Administration to move in this direction.

Governor Richardson promised educational reforms and results; just give him the tools to be successful. The Legislature agreed to send this change to the voters for their consideration. He also pressed the voters to change our State Constitution to take more money from our Severance Tax Permanent Fund to invest in education. The electorate, knowing the importance of a quality education, granted both of these initiatives.

We are now at the end of Governor Richardson’s second term. New Mexico’s 40+% dropout rate has worsened during his term of office, and there are plenty of reasons (excuses) for the failure of our students. The US Department of Education’s Race to the Top under President Obama provides some unbiased perspective.

As we celebrate Labor Day, let us commit to fully preparing our students for the work force with quality education!

Received from Lee Rawson

NM ran up $97.8 million in unemployment overpayments in 2009; third-highest rate in the US and sixth-highest in fraud

The crummy economy has sent a lot of New Mexicans to the unemployment office in the past year but after analyzing the numbers from the US Department of Labor, some state residents are getting more benefits than they should — a lot more. Last month, the Labor Department released national figures estimating that the country overpaid by $7.1 billion in unemployment benefits for the calendar year 2009. That caused me to wonder how New Mexico fared in relation to other states. The Labor Department needed a couple weeks to complete its state-by-state breakdown and now the numbers have been released. The results? New Mexico ranks third in the country in the percentage of unemployment overpayments, with some 28.68 percent ($97.8 million) of the total benefits sent to New Mexico unemployment recipients should not have been delivered. Only Louisiana and Indiana had a worse percentage. And New Mexico sixth in the nation in the rate of fraud for unemployment payments, with $16.8 — or 4.93 percent — stripped from the state unemployment insurance fund in 2009. Why are the numbers so bad?...more

Washington Wire Q & A: Gary Johnson

Libertarianism is enjoying a recent renaissance in the Republican Party. Texas GOP Rep. Ron Paul won the presidential straw poll earlier this year at the Conservative Political Action Conference, then his son Rand, running on a largely libertarian platform, ousted a more traditional Republican to become the GOP’s Senate nominee in Kentucky. Now, it appears that former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, known mostly as a vocal advocate for the legalization of marijuana, is positioning himself to test that momentum in the 2012 Republican presidential primaries. Johnson, 57-years-old, has formed a political committee, the Our America Initiative, to pay for his travels across the country, including to key political hot spots such as New Hampshire and, last week, Florida. Is the GOP ready for a pro-legalized pot, anti-war candidate? Washington Wire spoke with Johnson about drugs, spending, gay marriage, war, and some new self-reflection on how pure his libertarianism really is. Here’s an excerpt...more:

Gary Johnson ‘flattered’ that Ron Paul mentions him for 2012

Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul told The Daily Caller in June that if he doesn’t run again for president in 2012, there’s someone else with similar libertarian-leaning views he could see himself supporting: former Republican New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. “I thought that was terrific,” Johnson said in a phone interview with The Daily Caller. “You know, I’m a Ron Paul fan. I endorsed Ron Paul in his run for president, so I did see that, and I was flattered by it.” But that’s all the former governorwould say about any sort of presidential ambitions, invoking hisoften-repeated reason that because he’s chairman of a 501(c)(4)organization — whose primary focus by law cannot be politicalcampaigning — he can’t discuss his political future. “I can’t betalking about political office,” he said. Yet 2012 is obviously at least somewhat on his mind as Johnsonmentions that former Republican Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who ranfor the GOP nomination in 2008, operated under an independent expenditure organization — and not a PAC — before announcing his run...more

Report: 40% of NM filers owed no federal income tax

A new report from the Tax Foundation shows 40 percent of New Mexico tax-return filers last season racked up enough credits and deductions to end up owing the government nothing, putting the state at No. 4 for tax liability. The Washington, D.C.-based anti-tax group, in an analysis of Internal Revenue Service data, said Monday that of New Mexico’s nearly 924,000 filers for the 2008 tax year, about 372,000 – or 40 percent – turned up with no liability. That tally didn’t include residents whose income was below a threshold that requires filing a return. Nationwide, 51 million of the 143.5 million filers – or 36 percent – had no liability after counting up deductions and credits, the foundation reported...more

NM seeks to recover losses, fees from iffy deals

New Mexico's State Investment Council plans to hire an outside law firm to pursue the possible recovery of losses from failed investments and questionable fees paid to third-party marketing agents. The council oversees the management of New Mexico's endowment funds valued at about $13 billion. A council subcommittee recommended in March that the attorney general consider bringing a lawsuit to recover damages or losses from investments made because of potential play-to-pay influences. Several council members complained that Attorney General Gary King hadn't acted quickly to bring investment lawsuits. Moise said the decision to hire a law firm was made after consulting with King. A pension scandal in New York has raised questions about New Mexico investments made by the council and a state educational pension fund. The co-founder of a firm that advised the council has pleaded guilty in the New York case and acknowledged that some investment deals in New Mexico were done because of pressure from politically connected individuals. The names of those people have not been disclosed. Federal investigators are looking into New Mexico investments and the use of third-party marketers or placement agents that shared in millions of dollars in fees...more

San Juan County 912 Project draws politically-charged crowd

The San Juan County 912 Project gives Farmington resident Ruby Cowgill and other ordinary people a political voice, she said. Cowgill attended many of the 912 meetings since it began almost a year ago. She has learned about the Constitution and local politics. She likes that fellow 912ers respectfully listen to her opinions. Nine stands for nine principles, including belief in God; 12 stands for a dozen values, including honesty, sincerity and hope. The group promotes itself as open to all political viewpoints, but local members acknowledge mostly conservatives occupy its ranks. The group has basic goals: get governments to follow the Constitution and promote fiscal responsibility and free markets, Lee said. Members oppose health care reform, cap-and-trade legislation and stimulus spending. The 912 Project is an educational organization that plans tea party rallies, said Tom Mullins, a San Juan County Republican candidate for the U.S. House who attends the meetings and rallies. "The common bond of all of these organizations is limiting the size of government and protecting the Constitution,'' Mullins said...more

Teague Mimics Kokesh, Comes Up Short

US Rep. Harry Teague (D-NM) announced last week he is cosponsoring a bill which would cut Congressional salaries by 5%. Months earlier, NM-3 Republican candidate Adam Kokesh challenged his fellow Republicans to take a much larger cut in pay, closer to 70%. "It's unthinkable that representatives get paid three times as much as the average American," says Kokesh. "In times like these, we need to show the American people some humility. Once I am elected, I will introduce legislation to cap Congressional salaries at the national average income." Kokesh is pleased to see lawmakers following his lead on this issue. Over 4,000 people have joined the Facebook group he started called "I Want to Give Congress a Pay Cut." US Rep. Ben Luján (D-NM) has not yet cosponsored the pay cut legislation...Press Release

Former Elections Chief Alleges Corruption in Secretary of State's Office

New Mexico’s top elections official and her deputy have engaged in rampant impropriety at the Secretary of State’s Office during the past year, according to AJ Salazar, who resigned Feb. 26 as the Office’s bureau of elections director. In Salazar’s resignation letter, obtained by the SUN un-edited and un-redacted, he alleges Secretary of State Mary Herrera: • ordered exempt employees at a meeting held during work hours to obtain 1,000 petition signatures each for her re-election bid “in violation of election laws,” • protected a politically connected IT employee from termination who allegedly hacked into the office’s network, • failed to properly store voting machines to be used in the upcoming election, and • pulled back legislation that would have brought transparency to the office’s Confidential Address Program. Salazar also implicated Deputy Secretary Don Francisco Trujillo in some of these activities and accused him of undercutting Salazar’s authority by creating a contradictory chain of command within the Office...read more

Rio Grande Foundation Demands Majority of Environmental Improvement Board Recuse Itself

Paul Gessing, President of the Rio Grande Foundation, has demanded that the majority of the Environmental Improvement Board recuse itself because of conflicts of interest and substantial questions about their fairness and impartiality. The demand was made at the March1, 2010, hearing to receive public comment on the petition by New Energy Economy asking the EIB to issue a rule capping CO2 emissions at 25% of 1990 levels. Gessing told the EIB he that the very integrity of the process, aside from the merits of the issue, was undermined because “there was more than a reasonable basis to question the impartiality and fairness” of these members of the EIB in considering this petition. Those questions arise from financial and employment ties between Green and the petitioner New Energy Economy and his representation as a lobbyist on energy and environmental issues for four parties to the NEE peitition who have hired him through the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy. Gollin and Dillingham are, respectively, an officer and director of organizations that are allied with NEE in promoting the very same emissions cap they are being asked to impose upon New Mexico as members of the EIB...read more

NM Attorney General's Senior Counsel Doubles as President of Law Firm Pushing CO2 Emissions Cap

Stuart Bluestone wears two hats. He is Senior Counsel to Attorney General Gary King. He is also president of the board of directors of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, the law firm representing petitioners pressing the Environmental Improvement Board to impose an unprecedented statewide cap on emissions of carbon dioxide and gases they claim are causing global warming. Bluestone has served as a director of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC) since 2007. During that time, he has also served as Senior Counsel to Attorney General Gary King. In January 2010 he was named as president of the board of the NMELC. NMELC is a law firm that represents private individuals and organizations in a wide range of environmental matters across the state. It sues private and public entities, participates in appeals, intervenes in lawsuits and administrative proceedings, and seeks to influence and persuade administrative agencies in adjudications and rule-making. It is the legal counsel representing the petitioners who are pressing the EIB to impose a cap on gases they claim are causing global warming. The cap they seek would cut carbon dioxide and other emissions by 25% below 1990 levels, the most drastic such emissions cap in the country. Electric power utilities, representatives of manufacturing, mining and agricultural industries, chambers of commerce and others fear this cap will have a devastating impact on New Mexico’s economy and tax base...read more

Another Member of Environmental Improvement Board with Conflict of Interest

Gay Dillingham is yet another member of the Environmental Improvement Board suffering from a serious conflict of interest in hearing the petition to cap CO2 emissions in New Mexico. Dillingham is a director of an organization that is part of an alliance to promote the very same sort of emissions caps she is being asked to consider as a member of the EIB. Moreover, New Energy Economy, the group which has brought the petition before the EIB, belongs to the same global warming activism alliance as the group which Dillingham helps direct. Dillingham has was appointed to the EIB in 2003 and served as its chair until recently, when Gregory Green, a lobbyist and consultant for environmental groups, assumed the role. We have previously reported on Green’s conflicts of interest in hearing the New Energy Economy petition, including the fact that he has been hired as a lobbyist by an organization, the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, that includes at least two organizations that have joined the petition pending before the EIB. [Two other members of the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy have entered appearances in the case. But as of this posting, we lack confirmation that they have become parties to the proceeding by signing onto the New Energy Economy petititon]. Dillingham is a founder of and serves on the New Mexico Board of Directors of an organization called New Voice of Business. New Voice of Business is a formal ally of 1Sky, a nationwide group advocating emissions caps and other measures it claims are needed to counter man-made global warming...read more

RailRunner Costs Eating NM Alive

The recent infusions of cash to keep the RailRunner running continue a history of project costs and operating losses exceeding expectations. The RailRunner’s red ink means money is being denied other surface transportation needs. While the RailRunner continues to get money to cover its shortfall, major transportation needs are going unmet. The intial cost projections for the RailRunner were so far off target the question arises whether the Legislature and the public were intentionally misled. The RailRunner was supposed to cost the state of New Mexico only $122 million. That’s what legislators and staffers claim they were led to believe, according to a December 9, 2005 report by the Albuquerque Journal. But by December 2005, the New Mexico Department of Transportation put the cost of the RailRunner to the state at $318 million. The cost of the RailRunner to the state of New Mexico has now grown to over $475 million. That’s the sum cited by the Legislative Finance Committee in its January 2009 report to the Legislature. Of the $600 million in highway projects assigned to the I-25 corridor, the RailRunner’s costs consumed more than 79% of designated funds. The RailRunner’s cost has weighed heavily on the state’s ability to fund future highway construction and maintenance. Adding the costs of the RailRunner to the state’s debt service has further reduced the funds available for needed highway projects. As the LFC summarized the situation in 2009, “As federal appropriations continue to shrink, this may result in increased state funding for debt payments, leaving less funding available to meet the state’s highway construction and reconstruction needs.”...read more

Kicking the Train Down the Track

The Rail Runner is New Mexico’s $400 plus Million black hole. In 2008, voters decided to try and help fill the bottomless pit by approving a gross receipts tax that is supposed to bring in $12 Million a year – a little over half the $22 Million operating budget. The Rail Runner burns $22 Million a year, receives fare revenue of $2.9 Million and GRT revenue allegedly equaling $12 Million (figures vary wildly). Including the claimed $750,000 budget gap, the Rail Runner receives approximately $6.35 Million from “other sources” – nearly a third of their annual budget. Understand that these “other sources” are the same sources as every other tax dollar thrown into the abyss – New Mexico taxpayers. We foot the bill to the tune of 87% of the train’s annual budget. Only 13% of the Rail Runner budget is paid for by those who consume the state’s transit “product.” Now, Big Bill wants to use $643,500 from Obama’s slush fund to keep the train alive for one more year...read more

NM Dem Group Advocates $300 Million Tax Increase

A group of New Mexico House and Senate Democrats advocates raising taxes by more than $300 million to balance the state's budget and avoid deep cuts in health care services and education. One proposal outlined Thursday will roll back personal income tax cuts and capital gains reductions that were enacted in 2003. Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson opposes that, contending that the tax cuts are an economic development tool for recruiting businesses with high-paying jobs. The group of mostly liberal Democrats, calling itself the "Working Families Caucus," mapped out their budget-balancing proposals during a news conference and said they're hopeful they can overcome opposition to tax increases from conservatives, particularly in the Senate. "We're up to the battle in the caucus," said Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque...read more

New Mexico State Legislator Introduces Bill To Move State's Money

New Mexico state representative Brian Egolf has introduced a bill to move the state's money out of Bank of America and into banks and credit unions chartered in New Mexico. "I saw the Move Your Money video the day it came out and thought it made a lot of sense," Egolf told HuffPost. So the Santa Fe Democrat wants to move as much money as he possibly can -- that would be $1.4 billion. Egolf's bill would direct the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration to "give a preference to a community bank to act as the fiscal agent of the general fund operating cash depository account." Egolf said the account, which is essentially the state's checking account, holds $1.4 billion and is managed by Bank of America. Egolf's bill directs state officials to study the feasibility of dividing up the account and distributing it between community banks and credit unions throughout the state. He said he discussed the measure with Gov. Bill Richardson (D) for an hour on Thursday, and that the governor supported the measure...read more

Guv leaves door open on income surtax — again

Last week Gov. Bill Richardson left the door ajar on the idea of raising the rate on what the state’s highest earners pay in the state’s income tax. He did it again today. “I have serious reservations,” he said during a late-morning news conference in his 4th-floor Capitol office. But he quickly added, “I haven’t drawn a line in the sand. I believe we need targeted spending cuts and $200 million in revenue.” House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, dropped a bill Wednesday that would add a 1 percent surtax on single individuals earning more than $133,000 annually, starting immediately. The bill also add the surtax to married couples and married individuals filing individual returns. Another tax bill dropped Wednesday would tax goods bought online. Advocates argue that taxing goods bought online is a matter of fairness. Goods purchased at brick-and-mortar businesses are taxed...read more

Yes, N.M.’s budget woes are bad. But pain is relative.

With impending service cuts, taxes sure to increase and a cash-short state road fund, life in New Mexico might seem, well, not so enchanting. But it turns out pain is relative. You’re lucky you don’t live in Arizona, Nevada or California. Each state recently made the top 10 list of states in peril, according to a report from the Pew Center on the States. Colorado just missed by a whisker. Yes, New Mexico might face a $1 billion shortfall next year, meaning pain will spread far and wide in the form of service cuts to program and tax increases. But New Mexico looks downright healthy compared to the walking dead among its neighbors. California was given a score of 30, and those states whose scores came nearest to that point based on several factors were judged as the worst off. Arizona scored 28, and Nevada 26, earning them a place in the Top Ten states in peril. Colorado, by comparison, scored a 21, narrowly missing the worst-off list thanks to New Jersey (23), Wisconsin (22) and Illinois (22). Like many other national rankings, New Mexico brought up the rear, scoring a 12, although this time a low ranking was a positive. New Mexico earned a spot among the states least like California, joining Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Wyoming...read more

Teague to vote against House health care bill

Congressman Harry Teague, D-N.M., issued a release late Friday afternoon saying that while he believes “we need to reform our health care system,” he will not vote for the House version of a health care reform bill. The statement says Teague is voting against the health care bill because it fails to do “enough to rein in insurance companies” and that he is “concerned that American taxpayers will end up footing a nearly $900 billion tab for a bill that doesn’t do enough to ‘bend the cost curve’ in a way that permanently reduces both costs and the national debt.” “I had hoped to have an opportunity to vote for a health insurance reform bill that would guarantee every American access to affordable, quality health care, and rein in the skyrocketing health care costs that are keeping people and businesses out of the system and driving up our national debt,” Teague wrote. “Unfortunately, the current bill before Congress falls short of that and I am left with no choice but to vote against it.” Teague is facing a tough election in 2010 against his predecessor, former Congressman Steve Pearce, R-N.M. Pearce left the 2nd Congressional District seat in an unsuccessful run for Senate last year...read more