There are 25 R's in the state House, not 28, as we blogged in our first draft Wednesday. That means 10 Dems would have to join with those R's to stop any proposal to reimpose the gross receipts tax on food purchases. And food tax foes say they already have five lined up against it. They are: Reps. Cote, Egolf, Maestas, Rodefer, and Stapleton. If they get five more the food tax would fail in the House on a 35 to 35 tie.

VOX POPULI

Let's bring the readers in on the battle of the budget. First up is Alan Schwartz who says our backing of an increase in the state capital gains tax is not going to do anything to solve the state's short-term money woes:

Who has capital gains these days? Personally, for the first time in my life (64) I'm dealing with capital losses...so is my 92 year old mother who had a very conservative mutual from which she withdrew funds each month. I would be interested in learning how much additional revenue would be realized by this action....

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy claims the state would have realized over $50 million for 2008 by tweaking an exclusion that NM and nine other states give to profits on stock sales and other assets. Of course, in this bear market capital gains are becoming more limited, reducing the amount of tax collected.

The Institute is nonprofit, getting its funding mainly from foundations. One of them is the Paul Newman Foundation, so they might lean a bit left.

JANITOR LOVE

When we advocated that state workers who make $30,000 or less be exempt from any salary reductions, we cited janitors as an example. Reader Bill Taylor jumped on that:

I wish janitors in New Mexico made $30 K per year. Most are under $20,000 with starting pay about $16 K or just over half of the $30,000 you suggest.

And reader Doris went deeper:

You advocate for salary cuts for state employees making over $30K on the basis of “fairness.” But fairness also mandates that salaries should be somewhat in line with private sector salaries, taking other benefits into account. A 2009 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study shows that at or below $30K, state employees generally make more than equivalent private sector employees. Conversely, state employees at $45k plus tend to make much less than their private sector counterparts. The higher the salary, the higher the inequity. For example, private attorneys make 80% more than state attorneys...If NM wants to retain competent employees, it should not exacerbate the inequity.

Another reason not to make under $30k’s exempt from salary cuts is that many people with lower salaries are part of two income families with a much higher total income...

FOR THE RECORD

A number of readers picked up on a reader comment we posted Wednesday praising the recent winning performance of the University of New Mexico basketball team. That reader asserted the improvement will mean increased attendance and thus more money for UNM academics. Not so, rebuts UNM biology professor Tim Lowrey:

My heart sank when I saw your quote from the reader pontificating on the financial virtues of UNM Basketball. The reader is sadly mistaken about money generated by athletics supporting the academic mission. There is no relationship between attendance at basketball or other athletic games and hiring faculty.

...UNM enrollment is increasing and the tenure-track faculty is decreasing. Those faculty generated $133 million in research grant and contract dollars for UNM (and the state) in 2009...In fact, monies from student fees and from the Instructional and General Funds (appropriated by the Legislature) subsidize athletics. It's a one-way street. As for (UNM President) Schmidly, he squandered the opportunity to fix the mistakes of the unqualified (former UNM President Louis) Caldera and created even more "bungles" of his own. The readers don't know the half of it.

There was more. Lisa Knudsen, president of the UNM Graduate/Professional Student Association, emailed us this:

UNM Athletics' annual operating budget is around $28M. Many of those millions are being subsidized by taxpayers and student fees. This figure does not include capital improvements which are generously funded by the Legislature meaning taxpayers. The Pit renovations alone cost $60M. Bonded over 20 years the debt service will be $5 to $6M a year.

You often hear UNM administrators saying that Athletics is "revenue-generating," but what they studiously aren't saying is that Athletics is "profit-making." UNM Athletics does not generate one dime--much less one dime to help fund UNM's mission, which is the higher education of New Mexicans.

And to top it all off, the Lobos lost their Mountain West conference opener to San Diego State Wednesday.

LET'S MATANZA

Usually you hear about pork barrel politics in relation to the various construction projects that state legislators covet for their individual districts, but we have another pork fest that is sure to draw the interest of politicos as they look for hands to shake in this election year:

The Valencia County Hispano Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that its 10th annual Matanza will be held January 30 at the Sheriff’s Posse Grounds in Belen. Forty pigs, 25 teams competing in the cooking competitions and more than 10-thousand visitors make this the largest matanza in the world...All proceeds will go to fund college scholarships...The cost is $10 for adults. Children 10 and under get in free

Forty pigs? That ought to satisfy even the most pork-hungry politico.

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About all three of those proposals heard here, Richardson asserted Tuesday:

We’ve used these tax cuts and incentives to successfully create thousands of jobs in the state, and I will not give up these tools when we need them most.

We won't beat the proverbial dead horse and again ask for hard evidence of that claim or even note that unemployment here has set recent records, but we wouldn't be worth our blogging pajamas if we didn't point out that in the middle of a devastating recession a Democratic Governor and Legislature don't seem too concerned about a tax code that has gone from progressive to regressive. One wag calls them "The Republicrats."

FOOLING WITH FOOD

A food tax would especially draw the wrath of senior citizens on fixed incomes, not a group the 70 members of the state House likes to trifle with considering each of them faces re-election this year and the old folks love to vote. Presumed 2010 Dem Guv nominee Diane Denish was first in line to say she wouldn't touch the foodie tax with a ten-foot pole. Come to think of it, they may start selling 10-foot poles at the Rio Chama by the end of the next legislative session.

WHAT'S A TEMPORARY TAX?

Bill says any tax increase that is approved should be "temporary," ending when the economic recovery begins. So when does the recovery begin and that new tax--whatever it is--end? When the unemployment rate goes down? When state revenues increase? On this one the cynics and the conservatives are united in their belief that once passed, tax hikes rarely go away.

And let's not be sure that it's a sure thing a big tax increase will make it through the Legislature. The 25 House R's are united in their opposition which means about ten Dems need to join them.

If you're thinking about giving House Speaker Lujan a gift, you might try a book on the ancient northern New Mexican art of sheep herding. He'll need it to keep his Dems together on any tax hikes.

LESS TOXIC?

Do you sense that the relationship between the Guv and the Legislature is less toxic than it was during last fall's '09 special session? Back then it rivaled the prelude to a nasty divorce. But listen to what LFC Chair Lucky Varela is saying about the Guv's budget:

It's doable. The governor, for some reason, is attempting to work with the Legislature...

Well, let's not press our luck, Lucky, and try to divine just why. We all agree a tamer Big Bill is a better Big Bill.

As we said, House members are up for re-election and there's a little thing called a race for Governor coming up. Too many food fights among the majority party and those love starved Republicans could start to get some attention.

MORE TOXIC?

But it could get toxic real quick when lawmakers start deciding which of the $150 million in capital outlay projects--aka "pork"--to cut. Bill is proposing they axe the pork to help balance the budget and lawmakers are indicating they will, but both sides have their favorites.

EVEN MORE BUDGET

Liberals will argue strongly against the Guv's proposed three percent across the board cut in state government, saving $158 million, but it will get kudos from conservatives and independents.

Richardson also aims to save $4 million by doing away with the "double dippers." Those are the state workers who retire only to go back on the payroll and draw both a paycheck and a retirement check. If the double dippers are dumped, the unanimous rejoinder will be: "It's about time."

SOUTH VALLEY TSUNAMI

It wasn't expected to pass and it didn't. And then some. The plan to carve out a separate city in Bernalillo County's South Valley crashed and burned Tuesday when 93 percent--that's right--93 percent of those voting rejected the idea. The real shocker was the huge and unpredicted turnout. 23,000 were eligible to vote and 6,819 cast ballots. That's a 29 percent turnout. And advocates for the city wanted the post-holiday election to dampen turnout! Hey, don't try to pull a movida on Valley voters. They've been playing La Politica for centuries.

The big worry was that a new city would mean higher taxes, not something freshly frugal voters are warming too these days.

ROSE COLORED AGGIE
Barbara Couture
It's all roses and smiles this week for Barbara Couture, the new president of New Mexico State University. Not pictured in this Sun-News snap is the state budget crisis that lurks in the background. For now it's a fresh start for the head Aggie who was senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska since 2004.

She will likely be a frequent visitor to the Santa Fe Roundhouse when the session gets underway January 19. One of her first tasks will be to protect the school's funding. To that end, the NMSU regents seemed to have struck a fair bargain with their new leader. Her annual salary is $385,000 plus perks. They also gave her 500,000 reasons to keep that smile on her face for five years. That's the amount of her bonus if she stays that long.

LOBO TALK

We blogged Monday of the PR reprieve the University of New Mexico is getting as the Lobo basketball team scales the national rankings. That led this reader to give a rare-shout-out to Loboland leaders:

Hooray for (basketball coach) Steve Alford. It appears that people don’t realize that the more the Lobos win, the more money comes into the University, the more we have to hire and pay faculty resulting in a better and increased student population. Its all ecosystem. I also think that (UNM) President Schmidly has tried to bring some big ideas in, and change is hard. I think that he has taken more than his share of heat for past mistakes-Caldera anyone?

Louis Caldera preceded Schmidly as UNM president.

GARY'S WORLD

Coverage in the state's press of the re-emergence of former NM Governor Gary Johnson has been complimentary, but there's an obvious major obstacle to any revival of his political future .

Johnson is flirting with an independent or Libertarian Party run for president in 2012 and will speak in New Hampshire this month. But coverage here has barely touched upon the controversies he left in his wake, especially over his fervent advocacy for drug legalization. And the issue isn't going away. Johnson will attend the Marijuana Policy Project's 15th anniversary gala Jan. 13 in D.C. Headliners for the event? Famous comedic dopers Cheech and Chong.

Well, we suppose that makes good copy for the press, if perhaps not very good politics for ex-Governor Gary.

YOU KNEW IT WAS COMING

It's the new Tiger Woods game in which you use the up/down keypad arrows to help Tiger avoid the fate that awaits him at the hands of his enraged wife. Incumbent politicos better hope voters aren't as mad as she is this year.

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The Telegraph in London travels to Truth or Consequences to update the activity at Spaceport America:

At the town's main drug store, Shana Curliss, a 24-year-old shop assistant, said the spaceport had captured the imagination of younger locals, if not the older ones.

"It's new and it's different. I grew up in this little town and there's not much here for the children, not much work either" she said. "And the rich people will be coming to the stores, won't they?"

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009
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Solano announced Sunday he is getting out of the race. He said the media and bloggers placed too much emphasis on how much money he has raised, which in his case was very little. Come on, Greg. We don't believe money raised is the whole game, but it is a significant indicator of whether a campaign is gaining traction. But you aren't the first and won't be the last to bust media chops on your way out the door. Colon has raised the most money in the early going, giving him the pole position.