There's a
tug of war between the New Mexico governor and the legislature over who has the power to spend $1.75 billion in federal America Rescue Plan dollars and it appears headed to the courts to resolve.
Does it have to be that way? Texas Governor Abbott
pulled back on his decision to spend $16 billion in federal stimulus on his own and has called a special fall session of the Legislature to divvy up the money.
On the other hand Arizona Gov. Ducey is taking charge of the spending, apparently without heat from lawmakers. Wednesday he
announced $10 million of that state's $4.8 billion in federal largesse will go to advertising and other programs to boost state tourism. Earlier he shoveled
$759 million into the state unemployment trust fund
Is there a middle ground here, with MLG consulting leading lawmakers and getting a consensus before spending the money and avoiding a court battle? They already agree over $300 million of the stimulus should d be used to plug the hole in our state's unemployment fund.
The NM Governor and the legislature already divide up capital outlay (aka, pork spending) among themselves each year. Why not look at that approach to start getting money out the door?
R's are trying to get the legislature to call itself into an extraordinary session, something that has only been done once in history. But Dem Senators Ortiz y Pino and Candelaria are siding with them. Meanwhile the AG has been asked for his opinion.
Aside from who has the legal authority, both the Guv and the legislature have the moral authority to be involved in deciding how the huge pot of money will be spent. If the Governor awaits a court win she should still signal that she is willing to share the goodies with elected lawmakers. Right now she looks like she wants to open all of the Christmas packages by herself. How about some old fashioned deal making, Santa Fe?
POLL WATCH
Reader David Ryan was one of several who came with this update on the latest polling activity:
Hi Joe, I received a robo telephone poll call (that may have been a push poll) about the upcoming 2022 primary election. The questions seemed to be aligned against MLG. Such as, do you agree with her policy to shut down small business and let big box stores remain open? Later on in the survey there was a question - if the Democratic candidates for governor were Sen. Martin Heinrich or MLG, who would you vote for? (I have paraphrased the questions.) What's your take on who would be doing this type of poll?
Thanks, David. Our take is that the R's are probably behind the survey. Heinrich has no plans to run against her next year, although he has mulled over a future run for governor.
MORE COPS AND CRIME
We continue to get reaction to that statement here from APD union head Shaun Willoughby that police officers do not get respect and that is a cause for the crime wave. Attorney Richard Valdez comes with this:
APD and the union must think the public doesn't get it. The public can see that APD refuses court compliance. The public can see that APD had/has the opportunity to comply, and refuses to reform. APD then says the public does not respect the police. APD only has itself to blame for that lack of respect. APD, through its actions and inactions, conveys it does not respect the court or the public. APD in effect, contributes to the raising crime rate.
APD rejected the responsibility for reform. Now it lacks authority to garner respect. The solution is to have law enforcement actually comply with the reforms instead of resisting the changes mandated by the court. . . . While there are no easy solutions, it is also not lost on the public that all of these entities are being paid by taxpayer money.
The city's homicide rate set a record of 81 in 2019. The number at mid-year this year is near 70.
THE BOTTOM LINES
The city hearing where Sheriff Manny Gonzales will appeal the City Clerk's decision to deny his application for $661,000 in public financing for the mayoral race will take place today at 10 a.m today. The Zoom link is here.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021
