As a longtime journalist and blogger having seen the worst of the worst, you expect to view things through a darker lens. But even after acknowledging that bent the headlines dominating New Mexico in this new year are truly ghastly and remind us that a failed state does not turn with the page of the calendar.

We've long been calling the state's plight a social conditions crisis but that seems too innocuous. It's a crisis alright, but one with a sinister shadow. Take a look. From Cruces:

From 2016 to 2017, child abuse cases increased from 97 to 135 reported cases in Doña Ana County, a 39% increase. District Attorney D'Antonio says his office has seen more and more children found with meth in their systems.

From the streets of ABQ:

A woman whose mutilated (and decapitated) body was found in a sandy arroyo in the shadow of the upper middle class Four Hills neighborhood grew up in To’hajiilee and more recently split her time between the Native American reservation land and Albuquerque. . . Audra Willis, 39, did not have a permanent residence. . .She was the mother of six children, all under the age of 17, who lived in To’hajiilee.

From the NM Dept. of Health:

The struggle with drug overdose. . . looks better in comparison with the national picture but in essence, the numbers here remain relatively unchanged. It’s the rest of the nation that has taken a turn for the much worse . . . The state leads the nation in alcohol-related death rates, according to the department. 

From Belen where an 11 month old baby died while in foster care:

Police also reportedly found poor conditions in the home, including dog feces and urine along with foul odors. Other unkempt conditions included human feces in a dirty and discolored toilet, empty bags and bottles in one room, scattered food bowls, and pills under a bed, according to the report.

One of the definitions of a crisis is "a time when an important or difficult decision must be made." New Mexico has put off that difficult decision and the consequences are as black and white as the dreary headlines that bring them to us ceaselessly.

AT A MINIMUM

Getting a raise in '18? If you're at the bottom of the economic ladder in ABQ you will. Minimum wage workers will see their hourly pay boosted from $8.80 to $8.95 an hour. But you're out of luck if you're a low wage worker outside of ABQ, Santa Fe or Cruces, cities where the minimum wage has long surpassed the state's measly minimum of $7.50 an hour. That rate has been struck there since the last raise was approved in 2008--10 years ago.

The federal minimum wage has been an even rawer deal, staying at $7.25 an hour since 2009.

States and cities long ago began setting their own minimums. But in the rural areas of New Mexico there are folks still getting paid to harvest chile or work on ranches for $7.50 an hour. Can the legislature, dominated by well-off professionals, and the Governor finally come to an agreement to give them a raise when they meet later this month?

They could if they would walk a mile in the shoes of those hard-working, but wage-deprived New Mexicans out there in the hinterland.

A 100 YEAR HEADACHE

The hodgepodge collection of state higher education institutions, rooted in the politics of a century ago when everyone wanted a piece of the pie, has, most everyone agrees, created a dysfunctional patchwork that cries out for reform. But the wailing is destined to continue.

NM Higher Ed Secretary Barbara Damron suffered a stunning rebuke when a committee formed to reform the system recommended doing nothing--absolutely nothing:

Sec. Damron (Journal; Thompson)

A committee convened by the state Higher Education Department to study potential changes to university and college governance in New Mexico is recommending no changes to the current model – one that features 21 governing boards overseeing 31 public institutions. . . More than half of the 19 governance subcommittee members came from the institutions themselves, including several presidents..

Secretary Damron wrote this sad ending in allowing those benefiting from the status quo to undertake the study. It's a lost opportunity and particularly regrettable because the solution is in plain sight:

. . . The other model would create a University of New Mexico-headed system with all the state’s northern schools, and a southern system headed by New Mexico State University. But Damron said grouping institutions with such different missions made those less attractive.

Uh, maybe redefine those missions for the 21st century and get on with the consolidation?

Regionalism and parochialism won the day when the politicians of yesteryear assembled the system that has led to the absurdity of 21 governing boards overseeing 31 public institutions. Today a higher education lobby conspires with the politicians to keep the horse and buggy era going.

The solution? Only a strong governor (and a couple of equally strong legislators) willing to take a political hit will deliver the state from the indecipherable jigsaw puzzle that is the New Mexico higher education bureaucracy.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2018