Bill Richardson
A day after both candidates seeking to replace him commented publicly on the state’s film incentive program, Gov. Bill Richardson wants to clarify a few points.
Here’s the statement I received today from Eric Witt, the governor’s advisor on film and media industries:
“We are pleased that both gubernatorial candidates recognize the success of the film industry in New Mexico and its growing importance to a broad spectrum of our economy. Two points of clarification should be made regarding the post. First, the current administration has been entirely consistent regarding data on the economic impact and job growth attributable to the state’s film industry. Rather, it is a group of critics of the film industry who do not and cannot seem to offer consistent or even supportable empirical evidence of the industry’s effect to back their critiques; they’re all over the place in terms of “data,” which is not surprising given that their opposition is largely political in nature, and not reflective of the actual underlying economics.
“Second, other commonly cited so-called “studies” of the state’s film industry are fundamentally incomparable to the Ernst & Young study in terms of scope, methodology, and applicability to New Mexico’s specific (and unique) incentive structure. I laid this out in a recent piece published in the Albuquerque Journal, which can be found here: http://www.abqjournal.com/biz/1441727biz06-14-10.htm.
“Thank you for the opportunity to clarify these important distinctions as the campaign season moves forward.”
Read the gubernatorial candidates’ thoughts here. For more on the debate about the film incentives, click here, here and here.