One of the worst fiascos of this public health crisis has been the decision by major New Mexico hospital systems to lay off the very workers who are being counted on to combat the crisis, and it is garnering the attention of the Governor.

Without naming the offenders, MLG blasted the hospitals for cutting hours and pay of healthcare workers and furloughing many of them even as the state has yet to approach its peak volume of coronavirus cases. Not to mention that it has been healthcare workers who have been dying on the job in many parts of the nation as they selflessly treat stricken patients and have rightfully emerged as heroes in this calamity.

The hospitals here, as elsewhere, are pleading poverty, that because the states have banned them from performing profitable elective surgery while making space available for the coronavirus crisis, they are losing millions. Some Republicans want the hospitals to be reopened for elective surgery even though their focus was narrowed for a possible public health emergency that has yet to be resolved. The Governor has a different take. She took those hospitals to the woodshed at her Wednesday news conference, saying she found their course of action "appalling."

I am really disappointed. . .More than $150 billion (in federal money) is coming to the hospitals. I worry that this is a national advocacy effort aimed at getting more money so that their profit centers are. . . maintained and has little do with protecting the healthcare work forces. . . .I find that appalling. . . I am really disappointed that the hospitals in New Mexico behaved  in this way even though the financial. . . issues are challenging. . . We are encouraging our hospital partners to take away the furloughs and put everyone back on full-time as quickly as they can . . .and they should expect to have very direct conservations with me about that. . . I get the money part was hard but it is really a disappointing effort when I thought we are in all this together. . . protecting our healthcare workers.

MLG did not publicly name any of the hospitals but we will. Lovelace Health system announced reduced hours and less pay for much of its staff; Christus Saint Vincent in Santa Fe stunned the community by placing 300 employees on "temporary leave" and San Juan Regional Medical Center joined in the furlough frenzy. Aren't these the same folks who spend thousands on TV ads telling us they will always be there for us?

The hospitals did not immediately respond to the Governor's criticism but there was some off the radar sniping with one critic recalling that during her 2018 campaign MLG was called out for being the co-owner of a healthcare consulting firm that won state contracts to run a high risk insurance pool that critics charged were not needed because of provisions in Obamacare.

Okay, an incident worth a mention but does that compromise her moral authority to defend the healthcare workers and call out the hospitals for their callousness in a time of community crisis?

Most of the cost cutting is set to last 90 days. That the hospitals could not bite the bullet for that short of time and with a federal cash infusion soon to come, is a shame on you moment if there ever was one. And that UNMH and ABQ's Presbyterian Healthcare have not done the same (yet) is a moment of community pride. Hopefully, they hang in there.

Lovelace Health System, Christus St. Vincent and San Juan Regional Medical Center, New Mexico knows who their friends are and right now you're not on the list. (Oh, yeah, you too MountainView Regional Medical Center and MountainView Medical Group in Las Cruces where 67 health careworkers have been laid off.)

DR. NO'S TRAIN WRECK

Our blog on Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith's re-election bid and his prediction that oil prices would crash leaving the state financially vulnerable brought this from a lady Gator:

Senator Smith is being lauded for predicting a train wreck he had a big part in creating. Where was his concern for NM becoming over-reliant on oil and gas revenues when he helped slash other revenue streams to give breaks to the very wealthiest (in 2003) and big, multi-state corporations (in 2013)? Those two massive tax breaks total over $700 million a year, every year in lost revenue, not to mention all of the other special interest breaks he supported or helped orchestrate over the years. Those cuts starved our state of important revenues and laid the groundwork for those cuts you mentioned to programs in the Martinez years. And with every dollar our state (under the leadership of people like Smith) gave away in tax breaks for the most well-connected, the more susceptible we became to the ups and downs of the oil and gas revenue roller coaster. Sen. Smith likes to say “I told you so,” but his actions speak louder than his words.

UNMH FIASCO

McKernan

While UNMH get plaudits for not laying off staff (as of Thursday) during the coronavirus crisis--they are taxpayer funded--there is this. . Veteran political activist Bruce Wetherbee runs a news site called the Candle and he broke a story recently that shows the financial culture at UNM remains troubled:

The story about former UNM Hospital CEO Steve McKernan getting paid about $150,000/year by the hospital to do absolutely nothing from December 2018 through June 2021 should infuriate policy makers and the public alike – especially in light of the strain the current pandemic is placing on our health system. . .. more than 1,200 UNMH employees make less than a “living wage” – that is less than $15/hour (less than $31,200/year).

While doing no work, and in addition to any retirement benefit, McKernan is making more than ten times the hourly rate paid to 1 out of about 5 other employees at UNMH– while housekeepers, patient techs, food workers, and other support staff are cleaning rooms and caring for patients (including COVID-19 patients).

Wetherbee says he continues to investigate the McKernan mystery and his sweetheart deal.

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BernCo Clerk Stover

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Bernalillo County Clerk Linda Stover had no time to cry in their beer following the decision of the NM Supreme Court rejecting their request for an all mail June 2 primary election because of the coronavirus.

Stover told us moments after the high court decision, "We must move forward" and SOS MTO said, ". . .Voters will still have everything they need to make their voices heard. . . My Office will comply with the court’s order and mail absentee ballot applications to all voters registered with a major political party."

Sending absentee applications to all voters is new, but the court rejected her request to send actual ballots to all voters.

The Court's decision may in fact be a godsend because sending actual ballots to every registered voter of a major political party (Dem GOP and Libertarian) could have been a logistical nightmare with charges of fraud, unreturned ballots and/or missing ballots.

The state Dem Party asserted that because of the ruling from the Democratic majority high court that:

Many poll workers and the general public will have to choose between exercising their right to vote and protecting their health.

It's hard to see that happening with MTO, Stover (both Dems) and all county clerks having the eye of history staring over their shoulders. In fact, Stover says she is ready to act on making the election safer and will immediately go to District Court asking that she be allowed to reduce the number of polling sites:

We are looking at perhaps 8 or 9 convenience centers for early in-person voting and using the same centers for Election Day voting. Having fewer locations means a safer voter. Also, many usual polling locations are not available because of the coronavirus.

Stover added:

SOS MTO

This is a primary election with no independent voters eligible so turnout will be lower than a general election. We will make a major advertising push to get people to vote by absentee and that will help cut down the in-person traffic at the polls. We must and will move forward to give the people of Bernallio County an election of integrity and efficiency.

The clerk also said she will look to younger citizens to man the polls to replace older poll workers who have expressed concern about contracting the coronavirus. She noted the many unemployed young people available for such work as a result of the stay at home order.

GET THEM EARLY

Veteran GOP political consultant Bob Cornelius, speaking from Austin, said with election officials and candidates pushing absentee voting instead of in-person balloting, absentees could make up as much of 60 percent of the total votes cast. He added:

Older voters, who comprise the majority of Republican primary voters, will be the first to respond to absentee voting, but the candidates will push that option to all voters and it will have high impact. It wil also impact the campaigns by making candidates get their media and messaging out now. Absentee ballots will start to go out May 5. By the middle of May, if they are coming in heavy, some of these elections will have effectively been decided before June 2. 

The state GOP filed the action that the Supremes approved and were pleased with the decision.

(It) will protect the health and wellness of voters. . . while preserving the integrity of the election. The court’s refusal to rewrite New Mexico election law—to allow the unsolicited mailing of live ballots as part of an all vote-by-mail (VBM) election--shows the proper respect for the importance of election integrity,

But this could just be round one. The decision by the court, headed by Republican Chief Justice Judith Nakamura, was made because the justices did not believe they had the power to change election laws to provide for an all mail election, saying only the Legislature could change the election laws.

The Legislature in a special session could make the November election an all mail election but much will depend on health conditions going forward and also on how the June primary balloting turns out.

You can request an absentee ballot here and mail it in beginning May 5.

CORONAVIRUS DATA UPDATED

We're getting a much better look at the Coronavirus pandemic in New Mexico thanks to a new dashboard from the Department of Health.

The first sad revelation from it is the alarming rate of coronavirus among Native Americans tested. They now account for over 37 percent of the state's cases, although they only represent about 11 percent of the statewide population. Predictably, most of those cases are in the Indian County counties of San Juan and McKinley.

Twenty six percent of those tested and proving positive are Hispanics. 23 percent are whites.

It was wrenching to hear state Senator George Munoz explain the necessity of an order from the McKinley County Commission that hard liquor sales at convenience stores in the county be halted. The city of Gallup has done the same. Munoz said that's because groups of homeless gather and pass around a bottle of liquor, furthering the spread of the virus. "They pass around the whiskey bottle and panhandle," Munoz said.

Poverty, alcoholism and other health conditions make the Native population vulnerable to the virus, experts say. Other observers note that the Indian culture is close knit and that obeying social distancing can be very emotionally painful.

About 33,000 coronavirus tests have been administered in NM and have turned up 1,407 cases.

McKinley County has about 15 percent of the cases (204).

BernCo has had 464 cases or about 32 percent of the state cases. BernCo's population of 678,000 is 32 percent of the state's total of 2.095 million,

McKinley's population of 72,000 is only 3.4 percent of the state total yet has 15 percent of the virus cases. And that's a big part of our state's story of Pandemic 2020.

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Sen. Smith

It's arguably the most important primary election outside of that do or die battle for the Dem nomination for the northern congressional seat. We speak of the primary challenge to New Mexico's most influential legislator--Senator John Arthur Smith, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee who has served since 1989 and this week officially announced his candidacy for another four year term:

It is an honor to serve as State Senator, and as we navigate through this difficult economy, I believe my deep experience crafting equitable budgets that maximize every dollar will be more important than ever,” said Smith. “We must preserve our social safety net, lift displaced workers back into stability and preserve gains we have made in early education, K-12 funding, and addressing climate change. (Full announcement here).

That's a bit of a dovish tone from the conservative Smith who has been repeatedly bashed by liberals who decry what they see as his tight fisted approach to state finances and fault him in particular for holding back on funding early childhood education by tapping the state's $19 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund.

But Smith has been an important supporter of all day kindergarten. He also supported the $320 million "trust fund" for very early childhood education approved this past legislative session, but his foes called that "running for cover" because he faces primary opposition. They also faulted the fund for not being a permanent funding source and that could be raided for other purposes. That could happen, given current fiscal conditions.

Smith's emphasis in his announcement of more mainstream Democratic values (including climate change) is due to Neomi Martinez-Parra, a special education teacher who is challenging him in the June 2 primary and is backed by progressive groups who have long yearned to oust the 78 year old Deming real estate appraiser.

But Martinez-Parra's campaign has been derailed by the coronavirus, forcing her to conduct a virtual campaign over the phone and web. Smith is also choked off from voters but as a well-known incumbent he will not suffer as much as his challenger.

In finance reports filed Monday Martinez-Parra reported $12,000 in cash on hand. Smith reported $98,000 in cash.

Martinez-Parra

Martinez-Parra has so far held back in contrasting herself with Smith. She may be leaving that to the NM Working Families Party and other progressives who specialize in negative campaigns. The groups are targeting Smith and four other conservative Dems in the primary with the slogan "No Corporate Democrats."

But this SW district--Luna, Dona Ana, Sierra and Hidalgo counties--isn't exactly teeming with corporations. Concerns are more parochial and more moderate. For example, Hidalgo County voted twice for Obama and then went for Trump in 2016.

Martinez-Parra is a top drawer candidate who lives in Lordsburg (Hidalgo County) and is making her first run for office. But in politics timing is everything and the coronavirus combined with the crash in oil prices appears to have strengthened Smith. Voters may lean on him again as they seek a steady hand in a time of crisis.

The winner of the Dem primary will face Republican Crystal Diamond of Elephant Butte in November. She's a licensed insurance agent and a cow/calf operator.

ARTHUR NOSTRADAMUS

Smith's supporters are boasting that "Dr. No" was right again in predicting that the state budget was too reliant on the price of oil and foretold the disaster that is now unfolding. That's true. The record also shows Smith warning of a crash during the tenure of GOP Gov. Susana Martinez. That also turned out to be true.

As for Smith's response to the Martinez era downturn, it was criticized as unnecessarily austere with massive budget cuts to important agencies like CYFD and creating enormous vacancies in state government. Also, the failure to stimulate the economy--accompanied by those ongoing austerity measures--is  blamed, in part, for leading to horrid child abuse cases, economic stagnation, crime waves, drug epidemics and depopulation/stagnation.

If Smith wins again he will get more chances to make oil price predictions. He will also get a chance to get right what he got wrong in economic policy as he grapples with circumstances similar but potentially more severe than the last downturn.

As for the future of the energy markets, as sure as there are boom and busts there will be another boom someday. But as the song says, "who knows where or when". . .We'll leave at that.

LIQUOR INEQUALITY?

Reader Peter Ives has this:

Joe, All that the governor's closure of mom and pop liquor stores is doing is diverting that traffic to Walgreen's and other national chains with liquor licenses. When I went to Jubilation (in ABQ) last week they were restricting entrance and monitoring customers, thereby being good citizens. Now they're closed. So much for supporting small business in NM.

One survey has New Mexico ranked third in the nation in alcohol consumption during this crisis, behind only Texas and California. Seems folks are determined to find their jubilation no matter what.

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It's not unexpected but nonetheless shocking. The New Mexico jobless rate has soared to 17 percent and those are only preliminary numbers. Thousands more will be listed lost as unemployment claims continue to pour in.

In all, more than 97,000 New Mexicans have filed for unemployment since March 13 out of a workforce of 835,800. In February, 45,964 were unemployed, according to Workforce Solutions’ New Mexico Labor Market Review.

The overriding question is whether these Great Depression conditions will be short-lived and whether most of the lost jobs are rapidly regained once the coronavirus crisis is resolved. The uncertainty looms like the Sword of Damocles over a state that was already sluggish before the societal shutdown was ordered.

The emotional pain for those laid off is very real but at least the most serious financial impact is being delayed. Unemployment checks are being boosted with a special $600 a week add-on that will last four months. Also, $1,200 checks will be going out to most Americans. For those losing health insurance the state Medicaid program will pick up the slack and self-employed workers like Uber drivers are for the first time eligible to draw unemployment.

All of that is a thick buffer that will put off the most serious ramifications of the job losses through July. Long-term unemployment would have adverse consequences on mental health, drug use, the crime wave, the state's future growth and more.

GIMMMICK GONE AWRY

State employment agencies nationwide are being swamped by jobless applicants. In New Mexico the Workforce Solutions Department website has seen overwhelming traffic and there are long phone waits even as call center hours are lengthened. But the department under the stewardship of Secretary Bill McCamley didn't help itself when it launched a gimmick that bombed with the public and McCamley's gubernatorial boss.

Sec. McCamley

McCamley and company say they discovered $1.5 million in a department account that was available to spend so they decided to play what one critic called a "a hunger games" contest. The department announced that the first 2,000 small business applicants to respond would each receive $750 checks. Of course, that immediately crashed the department website and sent a tidal wave of criticism toward McCamley who was accused of employing a cynical political gimmick at a time of crisis.

McCamley's gubernatorial boss was not pleased. MLG praised the concept but needled him over the execution. Actually, she let him off the hook because the concept itself was bizarre.

McCamley, a former state representative with no executive experience, is the latest in a decades-long line of politically tinged appointments at Workforce Solutions. Unfortunately for McCamley, his appointment comes at a time that challenges the most experienced administrators. If he can't keep his eye on the ball and lean on those with more expertise, he might find himself among those seeking unemployment checks from the agency he commands.

PINS AND NEEDLES 

Santa Fe is on pins and needles as DC bickers over a federal bailout of state budgets now riddled with massive deficits. New Mexico's $7.6 billion general fund budget had a massive hole blown in it as a result of the coronavirus crisis. If the state doesn't get federal money to plug it, state programs and jobs could be in jeopardy. On the other hand, if the Feds come with $2 billion or so in relief New Mexico would get desperately needed breathing room.

The $2 trillion coronavirus relief measure the Congress approved last month does not allow states to spend any of that money on plugging their deficits. A $500 billion bill backed by the National Governors Association and the Dems does, but R's have yet to agree.

The state Has nearly $2 billion in reserves and could easily resolve a hit of $1.5 billion, but then there's the budget starting in July 2021. They also need reserves for that budget.

During the Great Recession ten years ago DC did send deficit plugging money to the states, making policymakers hopeful for a repeat.

SUMMING UP

So we have temporary relief delaying the most severe pain from unemployment and we stand a decent chance of getting that DC deficit plugging bill. That leaves the oil patch disaster which is sending state revenues plummeting.

Sunday a pact was announced that will have Saudi Arabia and other oil producers cut production to boost prices that have crashed from the mid-50's to the low 20's per barrel. That’s causing oil wells to be shuttered in New Mexico's previously booming SE Permian Basin.

Now that the price war is over if oil can catch a bid in the high 30's and it sticks that would help the state sidestep the worst scenarios that confront us with current prices.

To sum up, NM needs four things now:

--An unemployment spike that turns out to be mostly temporary.

--A bill from Washington to plug the enormous state budget deficit.

--A pop in the oil price that sticks.

--And, most important, a let-up of this virus that has disrupted the entire planet. 

That's a lot to hope for but as we write this Easter Sunday we're reminded that this is the time for renewal and hope. So we hope.

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