I think everyone should lighten up on President Obama. The stimulus is working. Why, just one month ago, he got jobs for 63 Republicans.

NEW GOP HOUSE WHIP

From Santa Fe comes the word on the outcome of the State House GOP caucus meeting late Thursday:

The House Republican Caucus held their leadership election Thursday at the Capital Building. During the meeting the 33 members of the House Republican Caucus elected Representative Don Bratton (R-Hobbs) as the new Minority Whip.

“I’m grateful and humbled by this opportunity to serve,” said Bratton who has served in the Legislature since 2001, “This is pivotal time in the history of New Mexico and I look forward to the opportunity of taking on the challenges facing our state.”

The Alligators had predicted Bratton would prevail over Rep Hall in the contest to replace Keith Gardner as minority whip. Keith leaves to become chief of staff for Susana Martinez.

THE HOURLY RATE

The lawyers always do well, no matter the conflict:

Ray Powell Sr., a former chairman of the New Mexico Democratic Party and the 1986 Democratic nominee for Governor, has died. He was the father of Ray Powell Jr. who was elected state land commissioner Nov. 2.

Ray Powell Sr. was a major political player in his day, providing counsel to a wide range of politicos, most notably his friend and former Governor Bruce King. Powell, who passed away Thursday morning, came to New Mexico in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos and later helped initiate the founding of Sandia Labs where he served as an executive vice-president.

We remember him most for that 1986 election when it was clear that no Democrat could be elected in the wake of Governor Toney Anaya who left office with popularity rankings in the cellar. But Powell was a trooper, carrying the Dem banner high even as it was tattered and torn. Republican Garrey Carruthers won that year.

Ray Powell Sr. lived in ABQ. He was 90.

THE EXEMPTS

You recall during the recent Guv campaign all the venting over the number of political appointees that Big Bill put in place. Well, not so much now. The latest figures from the Legislative Finance Committee show about 375 exempt employees on the state payroll, down from a peak of 511 in 2009. Granted, at least 50 of those who were once "exempt," meaning they could be fired at anytime, have found shelter in classified positions where they get job security after serving for a year.

How many of the 375 exempts will lose their jobs when Susana takes power? We'd guess--but not bet--that she will keep at least 275 0f them. After all, she's going to need eyes and ears planted in the bureaucracy just like any other Governor.

TOURISM BATTLE

The Santa Fe budget cutters may think they have an easy target for cost savings when it comes to tourism funds, and the industry knows it. They've come with a new Web site to promote their goals, including keeping the state tourism department as a stand alone agency. A proposal is floating around to merge it with another agency.

The tourism industry may have fallen behind the curve in promoting itself during this steep and deep recession, but it remains vital to the state economy. Time to show the bean counters.

HOW ABOUT THAT
Sen. Bingaman
Did both senators from any other state besides ours vote against the $858 billion tax cut package that cleared the Senate on an 81-19 vote Wednesday? We see that the Senators from both Vermont and Oregon also voted no. Both NM Democrats Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall did turn thumbs down on the deal Obama negotiated with the R's. The deal breaker for them was extending the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. (Bingaman's floor speech here. His news release here. Udall's release here.)

We flagged Bingaman's opposition this week, pointing out it was a clear signal to the nominating wing of the Democratic Party that he is not going to follow the Obama tax path which has drawn so much fire from liberals. Bingaman is up for re-election in 2012, Udall not until 2014. Unlike Jeff, Tom voted to end debate on the tax bill, giving his liberal base concerns that he might also vote for the tax bill. However, Udall is a leader of the cause to stop the delaying tactics on both sides of the aisle. He voted to end debate, but his liberal instincts were asserted on the final vote.

But Jeff and Tom don't have only liberals on their side on this. We and others who are advocating a more populist approach and supporting increased taxation on the upper incomes are in the majority. Polls show that while the public supports most of the tax cut package that now goes to the House, they do not support extending the tax cuts to the wealthy. But the tax cuts for the rich and the middle class were rolled into one bill.

The overriding worry is that we become more and more like Mexico as increased wealth is concentrated among an ever smaller portion of the population. That's not how a middle class prospers. (Bingaman argued that the tax cuts for the wealthiest would create more unaffordable national debt.)

Bingaman's two votes this week against the deal--the first on cutting off debate and his no vote on final passage--gratified his supporters who want to see some steel in his backbone as he prepares for a possibly tough re-election. He could have hedged by voting to keep the tax debate going, but then voting for the tax deal on final passage. That Bingaman gave opponents of tax cuts for the wealthy both his votes shows that the Senator's nearly 30 years in Washington have not separated him from the people who sent him there. Not a bad way to start the 2012 cycle.

THE BOTTOM LINES

A lot of this politics thing is simply good (and lucky) timing. Rising GOP star Matt Chandler lost his bid for attorney general, but the Clovis area district attorney then gets assigned the corruption case of Santa Fe Sheriff Greg Solano. That's because the Santa Fe area DA wanted to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest. That keeps Chandler, 35, in the news and gives him a chance to show his prosecutorial stuff on the statewide stage. Now if he could only find something to run for.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

Sceptics frowned. She had no idea that after two years of recession the shortfall was a moving target? Really? Weren't members of her own party shouting from the adobe rooftops that the shortfall could be much higher? They sure were.

It's been an eventful eight years for Big Bill. Is he interested enough in looking back to pen a Guv memoir? It's one of many options for the outgoing chief executive who is being mentioned for a variety of positions, but who has not indicated his precise plans. You wonder if cares to recount all of his two terms. The first six years were pleasant enough, but the last two very painful personally and politically.

Bill already wrote much of his life story in "Between Two Worlds," a book timed for release for his 2008 presidential campaign. A couple of former state Governors have put their words down for posterity. Former three term Governor Bruce King came with "Cowboy in the Roundhouse" in 1998. It took former GOP Governor Dave Cargo forty years after he let the Guv's office to pen his autobiography but earlier this year he finally came with "Lonesome Dave." Former Governors Apodaca, Johnson and Carruthers never did write of their terms in office.

The King, Cargo and Richardson books are in print and available for that political junkie on your Christmas list. Just click on the Amazon.com link posted on the right of the blog.

THE LEGACY

Do you have thoughts on Big Bill's legacy? It might be interesting for your fellow readers. Email them in, anonymously if you wish. Meantime, here's reader Michael Corwin with some positive thinking when it comes to Big Bill--soon going, but not soon forgotten:

Joe, Here is the biggest change that occurred in New Mexico under Governor Richardson. We went from being the "Land of Low Expectations" to a state where people started to think about the future and work towards making it better. That is something that can never be taken away from his legacy despite the efforts by those who see destroying his legacy as their mission.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

Well, don't tell that to ABQ Dem Senator Tim Keller. He's come with a list of tax credits, exemptions and deductions that cost the state treasury over $1 billion a year. It was compiled by the Legislative Finance Committee. If the new Martinez administration is willing to give only some of them a look, she could easily save the state half of the $400 million projected shortfall for the budget year that starts July 1.

Of course, each of these tax breaks, passed over the decades, has their constituencies--including protective lawmakers. Also, many of them benefit the state's energy industry--seen as nearly untouchable because of the backing it gave Martinez's campaign. And you've already heard about the efforts to downsize or eliminate the tax rebate for movie productions. And then there's the hard-fought food tax exemption. That would be difficult to put back on the table.

But there are some esoteric breaks that revenue hungry lawmakers may want to question. For example, what the heck is the "intergovernmental Production Tax Credit against Oil and Gas Taxes?" It cost the state over $2.2 million in 2010. And there's a bunch of others on the list that we bet only a couple of staffers at the Roundhouse even understand.

The complete list of all the tax breaks is here.

If you believe everyone should share in the budget pain--including the energy patch--Keller's list is chock full of potential revenue generators that would raise the cash that could keep the budget shears away from the classroom and the sick beds.

THE REALITY

We now have nearly 20 percent of the state's residents taking part in the federal food stamp program. Only Mississippi, Kentucky and the District of Columbia outrank us.

If you live in the NE Heights of ABQ, wealthy Los Alamos County or the tony East Side of Santa Fe, you might be surprised by that. There has been wealth accumulation here, but like the rest of the nation, much of it has been concentrated at the top of the pyramid.

SAY WHAT?

We have a $400 million budget shortfall, stubbornly high unemployment and entrenched poverty and those who decry the bloggers and frantically call themselves "journalists" are asking about the Governor-elect's pajamas? Might not some questions about how the new chief executive plans on getting the state's house in order be relevant? We've seen honeymoons before, but when the politicians and the press start giving one another orgasms, watch out. Not that we bloggers aren't partial to pajamas.

Oh, yes. We can recite by heart the tiresome comeback from our confounded critics. The blog uses anonymous sources, the blog reports rumors, the blogger gets paid to do PR work, blah, blah, blah. Never mind that the Alligators are accurate 99% of the time, continue to tell truth to power no matter what party holds that power and if there's an agenda around here, we wear it on our sleeve for all to see.

That's the difference.

Meanwhile, this post-election AP interview with Attorney General Gary King doesn't shy away from the questions that linger after Campaign 2010. We didn't find out what kind of "sleepy pants" Gary prefers, but we did get an exploration of his problems.

MOVIE NEWS

We're having a spirited dialogue around here on the incentives offered to Hollywood to shoot movies here, including the 25% rebate, There is a lot of interest in this. Today reader Adam Turner comes with a follow-up to an earlier reader post:

The statement "New Mexico spent about $180 million in the last three years to lure Hollywood productions here" is misleading. New Mexico refunded money that was already spent, but didn't spend money up front to lure productions here. It's not free money...

Here are some facts, verifiable with Tax and Revenue. From 2003-2009 the industry spent $893 million dollars here. Of that direct spend, roughly $215 million was refunded. That's $215 million over 7 years, not $180 million over 3. That means $678 million dollars stayed inside the state from 2003-2009 and it's $678 million this state wouldn't have otherwise. Most people seem to spend a lot of time focusing on the refund figure and neglect the more significant direct spend figure. Thanks for that, Adam. There is going to be a whale of debate when the Legislature looks at scaling back these incentives next month.

The rebate was actually started under Republican Governor Gary Johnson and put at 15%. Big Bill expanded it to 25%. The point being the incentives have had widespread bipartisan support.

As for adopting similar credits for other industries, don't look for it anytime soon. As we note at the top of today's blog, the state may be looking to tighten up tax credits as it seeks revenue to balance the budget. That's another reason the movie incentives are under pressure.

PEARCE PLAY

Steve Pearce will be in the majority in the US House and Dems Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan will be in the minority. It's going to be tough for the two Dems, but Republican Steve of the southern congressional seat is off and running. He's lined up a coveted spot on the House Financial Services Committee, a slot not normally taken by new members.

Pearce previously served on the committee when he did a six year run in the House and that seniority carried over helping him to get the assignment. There was earlier speculation that Pearce might be in line for a commerce committee position.

There is a streak of populism to Pearce, borne in the rough and tumble oil fields of the southeast. In 2008, he cast a vote against the $700 billion Wall Street bailout while then ABQ Congresswoman Heather Wilson voted for it. But we didn't hear much from Pearce in the recent campaign about the "little people" versus the big bankers and Wall Street interests.

We don't know how much direct impact the financial panel will have on the state, but we do know Pearce is now the state's only direct connection to the new GOP House leadership. In that role he will be expected to step up his involvement in the federal and military installations here, something that he was not known for in his first six years.

THE BOTTOM LINES

What exactly is a "political operative?" Retired ABQ Journal columnist Jim Belshaw has today's bottom lines:

Is there a more loaded political word than "operative?" What exactly is an "operative?" How do you get to be one? What do they do? Do they wear trench coats and aviator sunglasses to work? Do "operatives" openly discuss their work lives at family holiday dinners?

Back in the mists of time when I wrote columns, I wrote one in which I longed to be an "aide." That "e" at the end of the word seemed particularly attractive.

Of course, even better than being an "aide" would be to have an "aide." But I could never find out how to get one.

We agree with Jim that trench coats and aviator sunglasses are the preferred attire for those identifying themselves as operatives. Since there are potential female "operatives" who might be concerned about the appropriate fashion code, we've posted a photo of the proper trench coat to wear before embarking on their operative duties.

And by the way, Jim, a white trench coat is permissible for Santa Fe operatives, but only in the summer months.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2010
Not for reproduction without permission of the author