Former Gov. Gary Johnson (Photo by Robotclaw666/flickr.com)

When former Gov. Gary Johnson left office in 2003, the state’s budget was about $4 billion. In the last seven years it has grown by 50 percent, while the state’s population has grown 6 percent.

NMPolitics.net’s Peter St. Cyr checked in with the former governor, who is traveling out of state this week, to get his take on the current budget crisis in Santa Fe.

Some people have criticized Gov. Bill Richardson’s leadership in dealing with the current budget. If faced with a similar situation while you were governor, what would you have done differently?

Johnson: If I had been a benevolent dictator, instead of governor, I would have cut back government even further, and no one would have noticed the loss in goods or services. With that said, I would argue that you haven’t noticed an increase in government goods and services with spending increases.

When I was the governor we didn’t have shortfalls like we have now. I’ll admit we didn’t have an economic downturn like we do today, but I would have, in a logical way, reduced government even further.

You left the budget with a surplus and the state with cash reserves.  It’s likely they’ll be tapped out to fix the shortfall.

Johnson: Yes. They’re going to deal with spending all the reserves. The law requires reserves be established, but they are reserves for this reason, so I believe they can be drawn down in emergency situations.

Voices on both sides of the aisle say there need to be structural changes in the way government works in Santa Fe. From what you see today what needs to be done now, during the special session, and then later moving forward?

Johnson: Really what you have got to do is have across-the-board reductions. So much has been added to government in the last seven years. They built in a lot of recurring expenses on non-recurring revenue, and now they’ll have to cut back on their largess.

This is a meal prepared by legislators and the governor for the past seven years — now they’ve got to eat it.

They’re going to be able to get away with it by breaking open all the piggy banks and using up all the reserves. They’ll understate current liabilities going forward, i.e. lower Medicaid costs. It’s really just smoke and mirrors. If they don’t fix it now the problem will just be exasperated out to the next legislative session in January.

They’re betting on the economy turnaround rather than deal with this. This situation that we have right now needs to get manageable. Is it manageable tomorrow? Probably not, but they can’t wait for the economy to improve.

Specifically what would you be looking to cut?

Johnson: Let’s start with the jet. Why did we buy a jet? It’s a very small sliver, but very indicative of the spending in Santa Fe. We spent more than we had to spend. When I was governor I rode in the state helicopter six times. It cost $500 an hour, so I had a cell phone and managed to make calls. Today, there’s a brand new helicopter and it costs $1,500 and hour to operate it.

Will you make any predictions on the budget fix?

Johnson: It’s going to take hard work. But, I’m suggesting they’re not going to face up to it now. They have to have the resolve to do it. The reality is we’re all going to have to make do with less. In January, I think we’re going to be looking at “guard-your-wallets” time. I expect we’ll be looking at a lot of tax increases.

Do you think there will be political fall out in next year’s election?

Johnson: I hope the fallout is that nobody gets re-elected. We need to fill it (government) up with new people who will actually be reality-based and address the very real problems that currently exist.