Santa Fe's "National Search" For A Chief Bean Counter Comes Up Empty; Only One Candidate To Be Interviewed For Important LFC Director Post, Plus: Gabe Takes More Hits For Being MIA When Biden Comes Around

Charles Sallee

What? No one qualified wants to make $200,000 a year for being the chief bean counter in Santa Fe? It appears so as the Legislative Finance Committee says they have only one qualified candidate to interview after rejecting others who applied for not fitting the bill. 

Conveniently, that one candidate is Charles Sallee, the interim director of the LFC who has been there since 2005 and was a disciple of the conservative economics of former longtime LFC director David Abbey who recently retired. 

If Sallee gets the gig will he, like Abbey, tilt to the right and push the argument that New Mexico's good fortune in accumulating billions in oil surplus is doomed to crash and therefore much of the newfound treasure must be stuffed under the mattresses? Maybe not. 

We went deep inside the Capitol to ask one of of our Senior Alligators to report on the inside politics surrounding what became under Abbey the most powerful staff position in state government:

Joe, Abbey's reign will not be continued with Sallee. A staffer capturing that much power is extraordinary. Sallee was an Abbey disciple but now he will follow the lead more of House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nathan Small who is more liberal than Senate Finance Committee Chairman George Munoz who, perhaps for personal reasons, is not in the Sallee fan club. The House has assumed more budget power as the Senate has flailed with the absence of John Arthur Smith, the state getting more blue and the progressives taking many House seats. With Abbey and Smith gone, Sallee would be hard-pressed to carry their water. After all, this is a staff position and no longer the citadel of power that it became under Abbey. 

Why no outside powerhouse candidates to succeed Abbey? Perhaps because potential powerhouses saw no way to successfully follow in his footsteps. The LFC said it searched nationally but the $202,000 top possible starting salary was probably not enough. 

Not that Sallee is unqualified. We've watched him many a time deliver budget presentations more than competently and he is a respected professional.

The bottom line is that the LFC can keep some hawkish views but largely has to veer from sky is falling, fear-based budgeting and adopt a risk-on attitude to do more about the failings of the state. Sallee needs to employ his skills to further that goal--not block it. Ditto for the hold-the-reins Governor. Why do we say that? 

Because. . . 

The headline: Study ranks New Mexico as worst state to live in:

A new study from WalletHub. . . looked at a state’s affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety. . .New Mexico came in dead last when stacked up against the other states. . .Although our economy ranked 25th and our quality of life came in at 31st, our education and health and safety rankings ended up toward the bottom – 47th and 50th, respectively. The study also looked at the percentage of poverty in the state and New Mexico again ranked high, coming in at 48th place. Louisiana was 49th and Mississippi was 50th. Louisiana also had a slightly worse rating than us when it came to crime rate. They were 50th and New Mexico was rated 49th.                    

GAMING GABE

Rep. Vasquez

Our blog last week pointing out that freshman Dem US Rep. Gabe Vasquez has now been MIA at three NM appearances of Joe Biden brought this comment from Manuel Tijerana in the 2nd CD:

Gabe is making the same mistake (former Dem southern US Rep.) Xochitl Torres Small made. They think that by "acting" a little "conservative" somehow the reactionary right wingers in that district will vote for them. They won't! The only thing they manage to do is make the liberals that supported them in the first place not show up a second time. I know I won't. Goodbye Gabe, Welcome back Yvette.

Gordon Solberg of Radium Springs writes:

Thanks for giving Gabe that well-deserved tongue lashing. In terms of media presence, he's been a non-entity so far, and this is lethal in today's political climate. Xochitl Torres Small drove me nuts but at least she knew how to get herself out there. Gabe literally hasn't been showing up, and the Biden fiasco is the last straw for many of us. 

BAD DRIVERS

On our July 20 blog we mentioned how, according to one survey, NM has the third worst drivers in the nation. That brought this from reader Bob Perls:

I would like to suggest that no one from New Mexico poo-poo fully autonomous cars because they are going to be much safer than our average NM driver. Yes, the technology needs to be fully vetted, but when you look at the rate of severe auto accidents, the number of cyclists and pedestrians hit by cars and the rate of distracted and drunk driving, self-driving cars in NM could be a huge step up for public safety. And for God's sake New Mexico, patrol the interstates in and around Albuquerque! I have never seen worse driving in my life and I have lived in Pakistan and West Africa! 

Thanks, Bob. Maybe APD Chief media should hire Pakistani traffic cops. It couldn't hurt.                          

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com)

Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.  

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023