The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by Peter St. Cyr)

The last thing we can afford is a repeat of the dynamics on display during the October special session

Between now and the regular session, I hope New Mexico’s political class will dispense with the increasingly boring potshots and posturing and do what’s in the best interest of New Mexicans: Work together to find a solution to our towering state fiscal crisis.

When the state Legislature convenes in January to balance the budget — which some say will mean plugging a $1 billion deficit — we need an environment in which folks roll up their sleeves and work together in a balanced manner. The last thing we can afford is a repeat of the dynamics on display during the October special session.

To start, the governor needs to recognize his own culpability in that fiasco of a special session that delivered him a bill mandating 7.6 percent cuts to executive state agencies, including some Medicaid programs.

Being governor doesn’t mean you are a feudal king with the power to dictate to the state’s lawmaking body exactly how to do their constitutionally mandated job. When you approach them like that, you can expect them to be a little ticked off — and maybe give you legislation not to your liking.

In the same vein, legislators should own up to the fact that they haven’t protected their autonomy sufficiently over the years. This showed during the special session when they refused to exert control over their privileges and consider bills to raise revenue alongside those to cut spending. Not doing so created an untenable situation in which legislators couldn’t take a balanced approach to solving the budget deficit.

And it’s quite hard, if not next to impossible, to support the bill they did pass as a result, given the degree to which it penalizes state workers.

‘Richardson/Denish’ didn’t cause this fiscal crisis

Marjorie Childress

The corrosive political climate is exacerbated by Republican gubernatorial candidates who flood the media with ridiculous claims that “Richardson/Denish” caused the state’s fiscal crisis, as though we aren’t somehow mired in a national economic meltdown that not only began but matured during a Republican administration. The pickle we’re in was caused by an unregulated field day in the banking sector that didn’t just hurt New Mexico, but hurt the entire global economic system.

Given the actual history of the mess we’re in, its very hard to take the Republican broadsides laying the crisis at the feet of “Richardson/Denish” seriously. Especially since Richardson himself should be a Democrat the Republicans love. He passed his own version of the “Bush tax cuts” back in 2003 when he slashed the top personal income tax rates.

And he one-upped the Republicans by not including a sunset clause like the one President Bush included in his tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire in 2011.

If Republican legislators do their work at the regular session in a similar vein as their cohorts running for office, it won’t help along the spirit of cooperation that’s desperately needed among our political leaders.

Raise taxes, make cuts, pull back capital outlay

As painful as the thought may be to Republican legislators and to Richardson, in January we need to seriously consider rolling back those cuts  to the state income tax rate on top income earners, and there are other avenues for raising revenue that need to be considered as well. Otherwise we’ll be balancing the budget on the backs of the vast strata of New Mexicans who live at or near poverty, and it won’t be pretty.

In the meantime, Richardson should veto the 7.6 percent budget cuts to executive state agencies. Unfortunately, the wording in the budget bill concerning Medicaid is sloppy, and could lead to deeper cuts than 7.6 percent in executive agencies if the governor chooses to hold Medicaid harmless.

Let’s be clear. If the governor actually cuts Medicaid programs, he’ll damage a lot of the goodwill that exists for him in this state. It’ll go down in history as one of the final things he did while in office, and it won’t be a point of pride.

But going with his interpretation of the bill, not cutting Medicaid will force him to make deeper cuts than 7.6 percent to other programs. Leaders of the state Legislature acknowledged the legitimacy of the governor’s interpretation last Friday when they sent a letter to the governor urging him to not cut Medicaid.

The last thing we can afford are cuts as deep as the budget bill would require if the governor implements it. A guiding principle in the coming months as state leaders grapple with how to balance the budget is that the jobs we still have should be saved.

Like the rest of the country, our unemployment rate has already doubled. In a poor state like ours, government jobs are critical — making up 24 percent of our economy. To further exacerbate our economic stress by cutting jobs will make this recession even longer and even more painful.

The unpopular reality is that legislators are going to have to raise taxes along with budget cuts and the pulling back of capital outlay dollars. It’ll take a lot of collaboration and hard work to get just the right mix so that both jobs and critical services aren’t compromised. A little humility all around would help set the stage for how best to get that done.

Childress writes about politics for the New Mexico Independent, and for m-pyre, a local blog founded in 2004. She also works for the SouthWest Organizing Project. Views expressed in this column are solely her own, and do not reflect the positions or opinions of any organization or person she is affiliated with. You can reach Childress at mrchili9@gmail.com.

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