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Thursday, July 09, 2015

You're Governor For A Day And Here's What You Would Do  

What three ideas would you put into effect if your were Governor of New Mexico for one day? That's the question we posed to our readers in a recent contest.  What we received in return was an impressive roster of proposals from dozens of would-be governors. We published the winner earlier and now come with more that are also running in our current ABQ Free Press column.  So without further ado, let's swear in our governors and get them working for 24 hours on setting things right around here. . .

Frank Gilmer would be a clever Governor:  "I would order the State Land Commissioner to trade the Expo NM grounds for the Santolina property on the westside. This would enable the Santolina developers to immediately bring their promised housing and industry to central ABQ and will give Expo room to completely re-build and expand." And Gilmer adds: "Legalize pot. Colorado did it, why not us? Think of the tax revenue. And extend the RailRunner north to Raton (we already own the tracks) and south to Las Cruces.

Myra Segal says: Let’s send voters that proposed constitutional amendment to allow spending 1% of our $14.9 Billion Land Grant Permanent Fund each year for early childhood education. Now is the time to invest in our future students and workforce.

A Governor Brent Eastwood would stop the naysaying over the state's dependence on the Feds and double down. "Instead of trying in vain to recruit companies to New Mexico, focus on recruiting new agencies, departments, bureaus and offices of the federal government to relocate here. Establish a “Federal Government Center of Excellence” that would be responsible for this recruitment. The Center would also provide management consulting services to the federal government in order to promote best practices in federal solutions. This would take advantage of New Mexico’s existing expertise in government work.

Bob Perls used to be a state representative. Here's what he would do if he were Governor. "A constitutional amendment that guarantees all voters can vote in all public elections (open, non-partisan primaries with the top two going to the General Election, for example) and a constitutional amendment requiring a non-partisan redistricting commission (so that politicians can’t decide who will vote for them before voters get to vote at all).

Laura Sanchez of Los Lunas comes with this gubernatorial triple play. "Return behavioral health services to New Mexico companies. None have been shown to be engaged in wrongdoing as the administration charges. Second, dump mandated student testing sold by outside corporations and also dump the current teacher evaluations. Third, restaff the Environmental Improvement Board with people knowledgeable about New Mexico's air, land and water instead of the current fossil fuel shills."

Kevin Bersell is going to use every hour of his 24. He's got a lot of work to do. "What do we have more of than anything else? Dirt and sunshine. If you employ more than 100 people in NM, as Governor I'll give you a nearly free land lease to produce all the energy you need to run your business (you provide the solar panels). The State Land office does this for oil, lets do it for solar, too. As Governor I'm going to offer free education in the following areas: computer programming, nursing, medicine and dentists. Legalize marijuana and support marijuana production. New Mexico has the climate and culture to grow the best Marijuana in the world. Regardless of what you think of marijuana it will be legal soon. Let's get ahead of the curve and start building an industry that will generate billions in revenue and create agricultural jobs in our small communities. Let's not be last again.

 It would be difficult to have an "anonymous" Governor but maybe we could get away with it for 24 hours. Here she is: "The lottery scholarship is not financially sustainable and the average scholarship recipient comes from a family with a median income of at least $100,000 while the majority of those who buy lottery tickets come from low income backgrounds. If I were Governor I would work with the legislature to reform the scholarship by making it needs-based and create a formula where the poorest districts receive the largest number of awards.

Gov. Robert Palacioz would "establish a Trades Program similar to the one in Germany that instills respect, excellent training, and good wages. This program will work with the education system to advance our students to college and beyond with help in tutoring, partial payment (student will work in community and make commitment to stay in New Mexico a minimum of 5 years). The Trades Program will be a positive step for our young and New Mexico's future."

So take a day off, Susana. We've got would-be Governors galore, all brimming with ideas and ready to work around-the-clock. At least for a day.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2014. Not for reproduction without permission of the author
 
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