Mayor Janway

Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway, an important advocate for the high level nuclear waste site being proposed by Holtec for an area between Hobbs and Carlsbad, says he is disappointed that a bill banning such waste storage without approval of the state was passed by Legislature and supported by the Governor. But Janeway says the project is not done yet:

However, the paper did let go veteran photojournalist Roberto Rosales, a member of the unit that has traditionally been one of the paper’s strongest.

The paper has seen a dramatic reduction in advertising by Dreamstyle Modeling (which appeared to be their largest advertiser for years) and other enterprises that would often pay for large display ads. Journal Publisher William Lang referenced "current economic conditions" in announcing the staff reduction. 

Unless there is a rapid advertising recovery for print (unlikely) the layoffs may not be over. But the next time the newsroom could be vulnerable as most other divisions of the paper have already been hit with cuts and streamlining. As for the Internet, readership is large but monetizing those eyeballs remains an issue for the newspaper industry. 

Reader D. Reed Eckhardt, former executive editor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle and now an industry consultant reading us from Santa Fe, writes of speculation that the family-owned Journal could be the target of a buyer: 

Despite all the shrinkage that has occurred at the ABQ Journal, it’s far better than what will come with the purchase by a chain or some investor group. Their goal will be one thing — to make money — and that will entail further cuts of staff, which, of course, is the greatest source of overhead left now that the Journal is published in Santa Fe. It’s an unfortunate reality. I’ve seen what the guys do to family- owned papers personally, including their ending my 43-year career in the business. But the truth is, the trend will strike here sooner or later. I’m praying for later. 

The title of this piece "Journal Watch" is borrowed from a column of the same name that was written for a number of years by retired newsman Arthur Alpert who died in February. He also founded the ABQ senior magazine PrimeTime (which we wrote for) and served as news director at KRQE-TV after a career in media around the nation. 

Obit here. Arthur Alpert was 90. RIP.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

His colleagues  uttered nary a public word about the scandal that engulfed Roswell GOP state Senator Cliff Pirtle during the final days of the legislative session, but word spread like wildfire among his constituents in his SE NM district. Already there are rumblings about possible candidates to take on Pirtle should he seek a fourth term in '24 or resign his seat and a replacement be appointed.  This is the home of New Mexico politics.

(Eddie Moore, ABQ Journal)

Both the strengths and limitations of New Mexico's new progressivism came into focus in the 2023 legislative session. 

When it came to voting rights, abortion rights and passing a more than ample state budget, progressives succeeded. But when it comes to the intransigent problems caused by errant human behavior and that have plummeted the state ever downward in the national rankings, the progressives were not up to the task.

The major losses in behavioral health were telling.

--The Senate leadership's decision to abandon the Child Advocate bill in the final hours--despite huge margins of support in both chambers--left the dysfunctional CYFD alone on its island without desperately needed oversight and as the body count from child abuse continues to rise. MLG insisted that the independent oversight was not necessary and offered an in-house program. Senate leadership could not bear a veto fight. But if more horrific abuse follows, this wrong turn will land squarely on MLG's lap. 

--There will be less than a penny increase per drink in the state alcohol tax that had not been raised for decades. But the consequences of such a tiny bite are more malignant now that the state is by far the worst in the nation for alcohol deaths and suffers inordinately from associated issues. The wee boost does open the door for consideration of more but the decision shows the Legislature is still not serious about digging in on the social conditions crisis. The liquor lobby is serious. They shower lawmakers with campaign cash, including House tax chairman Derrick Lente, who whittled away at the alcohol tax. He received $8,700 in campaign funds from alcohol interests between 2016-2022. 

--The lack of focus on the drug-crime epidemic within the state's progressive leadership (and their interest groups) exhibits a disturbing apathy that is not unfamiliar in state politics. That fentanyl is the centerpiece of the crime wave in the ABQ metro and elsewhere is not arguable and that rehab clinics are overrun with potential clients is also not in dispute. The shrugging of shoulders in Santa Fe was acceptance of the status quo.

PROGRESSIVE WINS

(Moore, Journal)

Not that progressives wins were inconsequential. 

--The abortion rights measure in particular could be an example followed by other states in a post-Roe America. 

--The inching toward a more progressive tax code with another slight cut in the gross receipts tax and an increase in the child tax credit will have the most impact among lower income New Mexicans and will reach into the future. The increase in the capital gains tax directly addresses the income inequality that has skyrocketed the past decade. 

But when it comes to those national rankings on child well-being, booze deaths, drug addiction and high crime, we're disappointed to report that despite the largest cash surpluses in state history, we may be letting opportunity slip from our grasp. 

Not once did we hear a lawmaker of any ideological stripe (or the Governor) rise to address the state's woeful standing and plead for--or propose--a comprehensive plan to take those rankings down in a very specific manner in the way Mississippi did when it came to public education. 

Without a plan state government is taking shots in the dark with scattershot legislation that won't hurt but won't get at the crux of the matter. The head-in-the-sand approach avoids political unpleasantness but leaves the state pedaling on a stationary bicycle. 

That new early childhood education funding made possible by a constitutional amendment approved by voters and that takes effect in July has a lot more riding on it in the aftermath of this legislative session. 

The bottom line? The new progressivism comes with much of the same baggage as the center-right governments that held legislative power in Santa Fe before them. 

GUV REACT 

MLG appeared mostly mostly pleased with the outcome of the session and her habit of calling special sessions is thankfully paused for now. But she continues her relentless pursuit of a pre-trial detention bill even though it has gone nowhere and is going nowhere:

I know that you want me to say I’m disappointed, but I’m motivated. I’m very motivated to find additional ways to make sure that we really do everything in our power to make our communities and state safer. I think that each of us are dedicated to that, but we come at it a little differently. Everyone here knows I’m introducing that again — and again — and again.

The pre-trial detention bill is starting to sound a lot like GOP Guv Martinez and her obsession with repealing driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. Both are nice political wedge issues but they can't pass and are doubtful tools in the crime-fighting box. 

Remarked House Speaker Martinez in reaction to the Guv's persistence:

He said changes to the state’s pretrial detention laws would not solve the state’s high violent crime rate, saying, “I’m telling you, that is not the silver bullet.”

And the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee agrees so. . .

The Fourth Floor may want to come up with a new act--if they're really serious and not posturing. But with Dems nationally and locally up against the ropes on crime, don't expect an about face from New Mexico's executive. 

On that proposed Rural Health Care Delivery Fund from the Guv that we've been going around on, the final result is the Fund passing but the $200 million appropriation she wanted was stripped out in the Senate and the appropriation ended up at $20 million.

It turns out that our first take that the bill was being "decimated" turned out to be the correct call, not that more attention to rural health needs is unwarranted. 

ENVIRO BEAT

(Moore, Journal)

Enviros complained that their climate change agenda was mostly a bust at Session '23 but the bill that would in effect ban the burial of high level radioactive waste in SE NM came out a winner. There was an interesting twist in the 35 to 28 vote in the House for the bill as five Dems voted against. They included BernCo Rep. Meredith Dixon from a county where opposition is widespread. 

Some Dems opposed said that the measure was pointless because nuclear waste is a federal issue and the state is powerless, the same argument Holtec, the company proposing the site, employed. 

Dixon is one of the most effective political fund-raisers in the House. Her haul for her '22 campaign included $1,000 from Holtec; $5,200 from Chevron and $2,500 from Devon Energy. 

Tina Cordova of the Tularsoa Basin Downwinders writes in to counter the argument that the waste bill was a waste of time: 

Thanks to Senator Steinborn and Representative McQueen for working so diligently to get SB 53 passed. The Feds are not looking out for us. They never have and the Downwinders and uranium workers are good examples of that. No one has ever come back to clean the more than 1000 abandoned uranium mine and mill sites across Laguna and Acoma Pueblo and the Navajo Nation. No one has ever come back to take care of the Downwinders who lived as close as 12 miles to a nuclear test site. All the while people die without help or adequate health care. . .Holtec is nothing more than an extension of the horrid nuclear sacrifice zone that New Mexico was long ago declared . . . There is an argument to be made that New Mexico has done more than its fair share in serving the nation when it comes to its nuclear needs. 

MLG has already signed the ban on transporting the radioactive waste into the state. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to announce a decision soon on whether to award a license to the company for the NM project.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.