The Great Recession is now charging in a new if not unexpected direction--the first mass layoffs of New Mexico government workers is being planned by the ABQ public schools. Up to 700 APS employees--many of them teachers--may be let go and some 500 positions left unfilled. The news rattled the state's government classes and shook the ground under City Hall where more unemployment means an ever steeper budget crisis.

The apparently unprecedented APS decision (has anything like this ever happened in post WWII ABQ?) shreds the argument that the city will be protected from the long-term damage of this ruthless recession by its huge government employment base.

State and city governments have slapped on hiring freezes; the state has already implemented furloughs and the city appears to be next in line for either furloughs, layoffs or both. The University of New Mexico is also in the recession-ravaged club, shedding employees and wielding the budget axe. The Santa Fe school system joins that crowded club, as it grapples with its own budget crisis.

Only the Federal government, not required to balance its budget, is keeping all the lights on in New Mexico, as the Washington printing presses pour money into the economy to fend off an even deeper sinkhole.

MARCH MADNESS

They say to beware the Ides of March, but the entire month has been an economic danger zone in the state's largest city, starting with the layoffs of 100 at the Garduno's restaurant chain, followed by 700 lost jobs at call center Convergys and then the coup de grâce--the 700 APS layoffs and the decision not to fill 500 other positions. All told that's 2,000 jobs gone with the spring wind.

We're still in the middle of this hurricane and can't say with any certainty what this historic reshaping of the city's economy means for the long term. The official ABQ metro jobless rate is now just shy of the unheard of 9 percent mark. With the recession now whipping the government work force, we could easily head to 10 percent, or even head down as people give up hope and stop looking for work.

We are replacing some of the lost jobs. The Rio Rancho Sprint call center will hire 200. Hewlett-Packard, also in Rio Rancho, will add some. But what will replace the government jobs that provide long-term security and good salaries and benefits? Where will the laid off teachers go? Where will the next generation apply for work if there are no jobs with the schools, the city or the state?

The age-old complaint is that many talented people have to leave ABQ and New Mexico to have a decent career. The major exception has always been local government and education careers. No longer, at least not now.

ON THE STREETS

Bernalillo County Commission candidate Dan Serrano, running in a Dem primary against Loretta Naranjo Lopez and Michelle Lujan Grisham, says his door-to-door campaigning reveals the dominance of the jobs issue in the working class West side district he seeks to represent:

If they answer the doors at all, it is all about jobs. Either they lost a job, a relative has or a friend of theirs is out of work. It is by far the number one issue I am hearing...

It's hard to see the population here shrinking, given the quality of life, but you are not going to build a new economy on well-off retirees or low paying service jobs. And if the population is not moving up much, there will be a need for fewer small businesses, the creation of which is seen as the way out of this mess by leading thinkers in economic and political circles here.

A SHAKEN CITY

The windows of City Hall rattled when the APS announcement came down. The city and Mayor RJ Berry now face a deficit for the budget year starting July 1st of perhaps over $60 million as gross receipts activity crashes in the wake of the consumer pullback.

And what's to come?

APS employs 14,000. The layoffs and hiring freezes would total 1,200 or nine percent of its work force. If you work for APS, you're not going to be shopping the sales at Dillards much, or stopping by Yanni's for souvlaki. That means even less tax money flowing into city coffers.

You can argue that 90 percent of the city is still working. You can argue that, but it is not going to free families from their fear.

WHERE'S THE FAIRNESS?

While we await a turn in the economy, or a new template for economic development that will bring in jobs to replace those being shed, the issue of fairness arises in the latest sour headlines. For example, the University of New Mexico says it will clean its classrooms less often, saving $268,000 over the next two years. But that means less work for the lowest of the lowest paid--the janitorial staff.

Yet UNM stays behind its wall of silence when it comes to the bloated bureaucracy of 20 vice-presidents costing the state over $4.5 million annually. It is also quiet on the overpayment of the school's executive VP ($428,000 a year and $50k in deferred compensation) and its university president who has taken a pay cut, but is still pulling down well over $500,000 a year.

UNM could eliminate one VP position and save all the money they would by cutting the hours of the janitors and support staff. Or they could trim all those VP salaries to make up the money. Why don't they?

It's the same at APS where questions of a bulging bureaucracy protecting overpaid administrators fall into a black hole, aided by school board members who seem to contract Stockholm Syndrome as soon as they're elected.

Ditto for Santa Fe, where the Legislature met in special session, but did nothing about the hundreds of unnecessary and highly paid political appointees, but instead engaged in the ultimate political disconnect by passing that now vetoed tax on food.

With too few exceptions, the New Mexican political classes remain cocooned in comfort, seemingly concerned only with preserving their small isles of turf or their next campaign contribution. They observe the rampant economic disparity as if it were a night at the Santa Fe Opera, not the real-world, tragic farce it has become.

Let's ring out 2009 with some clippings from our newsroom floor--tidbits that got lost in the shuffle as we blogged our way through another year of New Mexico politics.

We all know that RJ Berry became mayor of ABQ by consolidating the city's Republican vote under his tent. But Berry consultant Jay McCleskey says R's not only supported Berry, they came out in larger numbers than in the 2005 mayoral derby:

One key to this turnout turnaround was the absentee voting swing from 2005 to 2009. Importantly, many of these Republicans who voted absentee had not cast ballots in the previous mayoral election. This boosted the Republican share of the overall electorate and led to Republicans outperforming their registration numbers by almost 10%.

Thirty-two percent of the city's electorate is Republican, but McCleskey said they made up 41.3 percent of the electorate in the October election that gave ABQ its first GOP mayor in nearly 25 years. In 2005, GOP mayoral turnout was 38.5 percent.

TRANSITIONS

From Rio Rancho

Gayland Bryant is calling it a career. The Corrales resident will be retiring as the Sandoval County director of public affairs on Dec. 31. “It’s really been a pleasure and challenge,” he said. “I’ve had the opportunity to work for and serve the people in what has been one of the fastest growing counties (in the nation) for a number of years.”

INTERESTING RACE

It's a three way race so far for the Democratic nomination to replace Alan Armijo on the Bernalillo County Commission. Businessman Dan Serrano tells us he is off and running. Former NM cabinet secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham has also announced a bid as has retired ABQ city planner Loretta Naranjo Lopez. She challenged Armijo unsuccessfully four years ago. Serrano has made several stabs at elective office. Lujan Grisham sought the ABQ congressional seat in 2008. The Armijo district is heavy Dem. Whoever wins the nomination in June can be expected to take the prize in November.

ALEX ABEYTA, JR. IS DEAD

Alex Abeyta, Jr., a veteran New Mexico power player, is dead at the age of 76. Abeyta served as Bernalillo County manager for nine years during 1979 to '91. He was also elected Bernalillo County Treasurer to a four year term in 2001. He was also in the restaurant business for many years. Alex had a bad back and in his later years was confined to a wheelchair. His spirits remained high. His last job was as a disability liaison to the NM Dept. of Transportation for the Governor's Commission on Disability.

THEY SAID IT

From NM columnist Sherry Robinson:

If you've ever spent $40 to send $10 worth of chile and pinto beans to a loved one overseas, you must be a New Mexican.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thanks for stopping by here in 2009. We invite you to join us in the new year. It should be fun. We'll elect a new governor, the three NM US Reps will face their first re-election bids and there will surely be some surprises in the campaigns for the 70 state House seats.

Thanks as well to our advertisers for their continued interest and support. They make possible our continued exploration of our beloved La Politica.

Happy New Year, New Mexico!

Reporting from Albuquerque, I'm Joe Monahan.

This is the home of New Mexico politics. Email your news and comments.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009
Not for reproduction without permission of the author

Talk about changing the subject. Can you believe the deluge of news coverage over that domestic partners bill in Santa Fe?

We know Big Bill, who allowed the measure to be introduced in this budget session, has to love the way it is diverting public attention away from the worst state budget mess in a gazillion years. We bet some of the legislative leadership also does.

Consideration of the bill--which basically would give gay couples the same rights as married couples--is getting dragged out for another couple of days, even though the bill was dead on arrival, just as it was last year.

Duly noting this Governor's laudable human rights record, couldn't this matter have been settled in a couple of hours? Sure, but changing the subject to a hot button topic is a lot easier than dealing with the emptying of the state's cash register and a still deepening fiscal crisis. Isn't it?

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