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Martinez admits shift away from campaign pledge
Susana Martinez
Gov.-elect Susana Martinez says cuts to “certain bureaucracies,” including education and Medicaid, might be necessary to balance the state’s budget.
“No final decisions have been made, but it certainly is a possibility,” the Martinez transition team told NMPolitics.net this week when asked if education and Medicaid funding might be cut.
That’s an acknowledgement that Martinez is shifting away from one of the central promises of her campaign. She said repeatedly on the campaign trail that she opposed any cuts to education and Medicaid.
Faced with worsening budget deficit numbers, Martinez has recently shifted the language she used away from that campaign promise, talking instead about protecting “classroom spending” and “basic health care for those most in need.”
But this week’s statement to NMPolitics.net is Martinez’s first public acknowledgement that she is moving away from her campaign promise.
Martinez’s team recently asked state agencies to identify ways to cut 10 percent from their budgets. A statement about that given to reporters this week mentioned protecting “classroom spending” and “basic health care.”
“Given the fact that the budget deficit nearly doubled after the campaign, she recognizes that it might become necessary to look for savings in certain bureaucracies in order to maintain core functions,” the transition team said in the prepared statement.
Asked by NMPolitics.net whether “certain bureaucracies” might include education and Medicaid, spokesman Danny Diaz said Martinez and her team “are closely reviewing and analyzing all expenditures within the budget to ensure efficiencies are identified, critical programs prioritized and real savings realized.”
Seeking political cover
The Martinez transition team also provided the statement indicating that, while no final decisions have been made, cuts to education and Medicaid are possible. But, in doing so, it sought political cover by pointing to an Albuquerque Journal article in which Senate Finance Chair John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said worsening budget numbers might compel Martinez to revisit her campaign pledge and give her “some flexibility to maneuver.”
Smith has previously told NMPolitics.net that Martinez’s campaign promise wasn’t realistic. He said he believed that, “once you get the campaign people away from her… she’s going to look at it in a different light.”
In addition to opposing education and Medicaid cuts, Martinez said during the campaign that she opposed tax increases and taking money from the permanent funds to deal with the state’s fiscal crisis. That left cuts to the other 40 percent of state government as Martinez’s plan to balance the budget.
The Richardson administration currently estimates a deficit of about $450 million, which, according to The Associated Press, would require cuts of around 20 percent to areas of government other than education and Medicaid if such cuts are the only solution used to balance the budget.
Martinez said during the campaign that she feared the Richardson administration wasn’t being honest and that the fiscal situation was worse than budget estimates indicated. But she made the pledge to balance the budget without cuts to education and Medicaid anyway.
When she started shifting language away from her campaign promise, she said the $450 million estimate was “far worse” than even she expected.
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Well, this may be the first time she has told the truth. Congratulations….
Yes, those 2003 tax cuts should be repealed, but the brackets should be adjusted for inflation.
Besides getting rid or Richardson’s jet plan, the incoming Guv should consider shutting down the Richardson Rail Runner. The RRR was a political boondoggle and promises to remain a huge drain on our State budget in perpetuity. It was an outrageous waste of our limited resources as a State to acquire right-aways, set track, acquire train engines and cars, purchase related maintenance facilities, parts and equipment, acquire and incur the cost building numerous passenger stops/depots, and then fund it all with pay-for-play schemes that ended up costing taxpayers even more. Our incoming Governor should consider putting the Rail Runner on mothballs pending a through analysis of what this thing is actually costing the taxpayer, and whether it’s even worth keeping operational. We’re already stuck with the fixed costs and debt payments that will go on for years, but the operating and maintenance costs (which aren’t fixed) are ongoing and very significant. Don’t bother asking the State Legislature to do this for the new Guv though. They’re the ones that got us into this mess to begin with by rubber stamping everything King Richard wanted, regardless of cost or merit. And Dems are now set to keep Ben Lujan at the helm? That’s like resurrecting the captain of the Titanic and giving him a renewing his command. But hey, that’s politics these days and we, the taxpayer, just have to grin and bear it.
“You made me Promises Promises, I knew you would not keep.” Naked Eye.
Imagine that, a politician who lied. What my generation seems to be the most disgusted with is the unwillingness for the current generation in power to pay for their problems. Credit, Debt, have always been problems for America, and now its time to pay up. Its time to be realistic do away with the richardson tax cuts. as we have seen for the past 3 years, they have not been creating jobs in new mexico, if they had unemployment would not be hover around 9.5% for the past 18 months. (And we dont have real numbers for unemployment because they stop tracking it after 99 weeks. some unm statisticians have crunched the numbers and say that the true unemployment of the state is somewhere around 15%.) Close tax credit loopholes.
and since the middle class of NM did not get a tax cut when the Richardson stopped charging his friends for state services, you wont have to give they wont feel left out.
Tax me please. Please.
Both Martinez and her opponent said they wouldn’t touch Medicaid. And now … ?
Women in prison have been able to have visits with their children, albeit once a month. And now (well, January 1st) … ?
Martinez is evil.
And it’s just starting.
Those of you who voted for her, are you pleased with this?
Sadly, you probably are.
Wo be to the people of New Mexico, especially the disadvantaged.
Verguenza.
John Arthur Smith is our next Governor. He will call the shots and he has the power to make it happen. She will give up executive authority to the legislature and Senator Smith will take all that he can acquire. The next four years will be known as the Smith Administration and Governor Martinez will not figure out what she has given up until it is too late.
She will try to appease him otherwise her issues will not see the light of day.
She is a “street smart” politician, but she has never played on this particular street.
Hello people…who do you think is working for her now with all her appointments so far? The “campaign people” that’s who! People like Harvey Yates’ guy Cangiolosi, recent law school grad Stackpole and Keith Gardner guy Kennicott.
For sure, cross the board cuts are the quickest way to reduce the cost of government, but it might not be the wisest thing to do. The biggest gains in savings are personnel costs, so state workers will have to take a big hit. Reorganizing state government, eliminating needless programs and services, reducing the number of boards and commissions that have questionable benefit, improving efficiency through streamlined service delivery, and enhanced use of technology are all better ways to go. (The excludes the problem prone SHARE system, BTW.) But this takes time to accomplish, is prone to heavy resistance by legislators and advocates, and any savings or reductions in cost may be delayed.
Perhaps a limited cross the board cut, combined with an independent, comprehensive approach to cutting government spending would be a better way to go. Set up a system where every program would have to be justified based on service delivery principles, and answering the who, what, why and how questions on the very existence and purpose of the program or service. Off-the-cuff ideas and mere lip-service just isn’t going to cut it.
Well certainly Gov. Martinez must examine these areas. But they are way down the list, after she has drastically cut the huge, ineffective, and bloated bureaucracy at the EIB, NMED,energy department, education department, transportation department, and consolidated these and many others. There is a large amount of low hanging fruit provided by Richardson/Denish/Lujan to start with.