Editorials

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Better Together New Mexico By Carla Sonntag Mar 13, 2025 

[Editor's Note: Previously published in New Mexico Sun. Posted with permission from the author. ]

"We have serious problems in this state and New Mexicans need to realize that we all have a part to play in finding solutions. This discussion is meant to inform and not make blanket statements about political parties or the focus and intention of their members.

New Mexico is progressing rapidly in a direction vastly different from what most New Mexicans want. Ironically, that progress is led by ‘progressive’ elected officials. Wikipedia defines progressivism as “a left-leaning … reform movement that seeks to advance … through social reform.”

By Ruben Leyva

Throughout history, taking captives during wartime has been a common practice among many cultures. The Gila Apache, like other Native nations, often integrated captives into their families and communities. While some captives were enslaved, others were adopted, becoming fully Apache and helping to replenish the population lost to disease, warfare, and captivity. This practice was not one-sided; Spaniards and Mexicans also took Apaches captive, creating a complex cycle of forced assimilation and cultural survival. This tradition in the Southwest predated European contact and continued even after the U.S. occupied the region.

Apache captives at Pecos trade fairs, where the Coronado Expedition purchased captives from Native Nations in the 16th century, exemplify the existence of Native enslavement by Native nations before the Spanish entrada. Taking captives also occurred in the 17th through the 19th centuries. New Mexican traders profited from the Apache practice of taking captives from northern Mexico, which were then sold in New Mexico. Many “Mexican” captives were, in fact, from Indigenous communities such as the Yaqui, Mayo, and Rarámuri.

The Gila Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees, made up of Grant County residents appointed by the Grant County Commission, will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, March 13, 2025, to hold a discussion in closed session on its current hospital management contract. It is a decision on whether to renew the contract, which was due to expire soon. What will the decision be when they come out at the end of the executive session?

The Beat has received information that causes me, the editor, to question what direction the hospital and its board plan to go.

Thank you all for your advocacy efforts for HB167 and for funding increases in Adult Education, Adult Literacy, and High School Equivalency. 

We are asking now for a final, very important push for adult literacy funding and for HB167. 
Please call and email all members of the Senate Finance Committee, as well as your own Senators. Do it every day until the Senate takes this up. Request this:

• $4m to NMHED for Adult Literacy                  

By Kristina Fisher, Associate Director, Think New Mexico

Nearly every New Mexican has experienced the harmful effects of our state's worsening health care worker shortage, from struggling to find a doctor to waiting months for urgently needed care.

The good news is that state lawmakers have an opportunity to take one simple step that would immediately improve access to health care: joining the majority of other states that participate in interstate compacts for doctors and other health care workers. There are 10 major compacts for health care workers, yet New Mexico only participates in one of them, for nurses.

By Paul Gessing

New Mexico's Legislature continues to meet in Santa Fe. Sadly, it continues along the same trajectory it has been on in recent years where the government spending grows while also keeping more of our money and (often) adding an ever-increasing number of taxes for us to pay.

For starters, the House recently passed a budget that increases spending across all areas of New Mexico government. An amendment was offered by Republicans to rebate a portion of the money ($600 each) to average New Mexicans. The plan was rejected by Democrats.

That's by no means the only plan offered in Santa Fe to reduce burdens on New Mexico families. I had the opportunity to present expert testimony on HB 275 which would have eliminated New Mexico's personal income tax. Nine other states have no income tax. Two states (Alaska and New Hampshire) have no income or sales tax. Having no income tax would instantly make New Mexico competitive with other states for investment, business relocation, and economic growth.

Sadly, plan after plan to return some portion of New Mexico's current budget surpluses has been rejected by Democrats in the Legislature. This, despite New Mexico having $13.5 billion in general fund revenues with the House-passed budget totaling "only" $10.8 billion.

Clearly, New Mexico has plenty of money, but where is it going? Aside from 6 percent spending growth this year and 70% growth since Michelle Lujan Grisham took office, the State is simply hoarding cash. According to a recent article in the Santa Fe New Mexican the State Investment Council now has a mind-blowing $61 billion under its management.

This may seem like a good thing, but it isn't.

For starters, New Mexico has plenty of serious problems that could be addressed by returning some of this money to taxpayers. The State's economy is widely known to be too dependent on oil and gas revenues. New Mexico's population is among the poorest states in the nation with nearly half its citizens on Medicaid.

New Mexico also has a rapidly aging population that has not grown much (especially relative to its neighbors) for years. This is unique in the fast-growing American southwest which is home to some of the fastest-growing states in the nation. Clearly it is driven by public policy decisions out of Santa Fe.

Specifically, one of the bills that seems likely to become law this session is HB 417. The bill would impose a new "point of sale" tax on alcohol of 6% on top of numerous other taxes. The bill is being pitched as a way to reduce the harms of alcohol abuse, but it was amended in committee to exempt New Mexico brewers, distillers, and winemakers. Exempting in-state producers from a tax increase that is supposed to reduce alcohol abuse makes no sense.

Many bills moving in the 2025 legislative session would impose further taxes on New Mexico individuals and businesses at a time of unprecedented prosperity (and spending) for the State.  

At the Rio Grande Foundation we support the oil and gas industry and think it will continue to supply jobs and tax revenues to New Mexicans for decades to come. But if you believe that oil and gas are on their way to irrelevancy, shouldn't we use these revenues to diversify our economy now?

Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico's Rio Grande Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility.

First, thank you for your service. I am writing as a concerned New Mexico constituent working in the field of Adult Education to ask that you increase the Adult Literacy allocation in House Bill 2 by $1 million, for a total of $2.25 million.

Did you know that the number of American adults with the lowest level of adult literacy went up a whopping 9% in 2023? New Mexico has the lowest adult literacy rates in the country. 29% of NM are at an NRS level one, which means they lack the most basic reading skills, and 40% lack the most basic math skills. Out of six NRS levels, 60% of NM adults are at level two or below in reading, and 70% are at level two and below in math. Students at level two can work with simple texts and problems, but to approach proficiency adults generally need to be at an intermediate level 4 or above.

By now, astute observers should be familiar with how conspiracy stories are constructed. First, the presenter must be anonymous. You know, like the tremendously successful Q-Anon prank. Second, a collection of “facts” or “events” must be woven together to present the reader with a plausible analysis of why the theory is likely to have merit. Third, there must be nefarious people with dirty deeds pointed out as perpetrators.

While some individual facts presented concerning those making a case against WNMU president Shepard MAY be true, the connection is tenuous and unproven. Public written conjecture borders on libel and defamation.