Sanchez launching problem-solving tour

John Sanchez

KRQE - New Mexico Lt. Gov. John Sanchez is hitting the road on a mobile tour to solve problems all over the state. "Child support payments, somebody who isn't getting unemployment payments. A contractor having trouble with a division of government," Sanchez said. "Our goal is to facilitate cooperation and solve those problems." The "Mobile Office Days" begin Thursday from 9-11 a.m. at the Mortgage Finance Authority office in downtown Albuquerque before moving on to the Rio Rancho City Council chambers from 1-3 p.m. Friday the event will be in Los Lunas in the morning and Belen in the afternoon. From there it's on to Socorro, Truth or Consequences and Las Cruces next week and Edgewood and Moriarty the week after that. The goal is to make constituent services more available to New Mexicans by visiting every community by the end of the year. Read More News New Mexico

Sanchez launching problem-solving tour

Crime drama starring Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington to shoot in NM

Mark Whalberg

New Mexico Business Weekly - Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington’s new crime drama is headed to New Mexico. “2 Guns” will shoot in New Mexico for about three weeks during August and September in and around Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The production will use 10 principal actors from New Mexico, create work for at least 100 New Mexico crew members and use more than 400 background talent workers, according to a New Mexico Film Office news release. In addition to Wahlberg and Washington, the film, a collaboration between Universal Pictures, Marc Platt Productions and Emmett-Furla Films, stars Paula Patton, Bill Paxton, James Marsden, Fred Ward and Edward James Olmos. “2 Guns” will be directed by Baltasar Kormákur, who also directed Wahlberg in 2012’s “Contraband,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. The film is based on a Boom! Studios graphic novel of the same name by Steven Grant. The Boom! Studios website describes the “2 Guns” graphic novel as “a pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between ... a light-hearted crime romp in the vein of ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’ and ‘The Italian Job.’” Read More News New Mexico

Crime drama starring Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington to shoot in NM

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Strong legacy of former land commissioner

Pat Lyons

Pat Lyons - State Land Office Commissioner Ray Powell is entitled to his own opinions but not to make up facts. My focus as land commissioner and as chairman of the Public Regulation Commission has been on jobs for New Mexicans and making sure government is not a job-killer. New Mexicans are, once again, paying for Powell’s extreme anti-growth agenda. The numbers speak for themselves: In 10 years at the State Land Office, Powell’s first administration generated less than $2 billion. During my eight-year tenure, I produced $4 billion — double what Powell did. When I took office after Powell, I inherited a bloated bureaucracy whose main interest was growing government and stopping private development and jobs. My administration accomplished much more for taxpayers with fewer employees and a budget that hadn’t increased in eight years. First, I addressed Powell’s deleterious prohibition on mining. We immediately lifted that, raising millions and creating jobs in engineering, planning and producing mineral resources. Second, the Albuquerque drag strip was shut down by Powell for two years. I had it open and running in 60 days, creating a safe off-street place to race for the city’s responsible racers. In addition, on the Mesa del Sol deal — the biggest giveaway in State Land Office history — Powell “negotiated” the contract so 86 percent of the improvement value increase goes to the developer, only 14 percent goes to the State Land Office, and none goes to The University of New Mexico. My team dumped Powell’s “model” on development leases and tripled the return. Read More News New Mexico

Strong legacy of former land commissioner

State of New Mexico could owe millions following NMFA fake audit

KOB - More audit problems could be in store for the New Mexico Finance Authority as it comes under investigation by Auditors and the New Mexico's Securities Division. On Monday, NMFA CEO Rick May said they may be behind schedule in the auditing process for fiscal year 2012 because they still don't have a complete audit for 2011. In July, the 2011 NMFA audit that was presented to investors was found to be a forgery with much of the report cut and pasted from 2010.  The man believed to be behind the forgery, former controller Greg Campbell resigned a month before the audit was discovered. Campbell told 4 On Your Side he had no malicious intent when putting together the audit. Investigators have been trying to determine whether any money was taken and look into the possibility of mismanagement of millions of dollars in bond money.  But even before a fake audit was uncovered at the New Mexico Finance Authority, managers had problems meeting deadlines. If the audit is late this year, it will be the 4th consecutive year that the audit has been filed past the deadline. 4OYS asked Governor Susana Martinez if she was comfortable with management at the NMFA after credit agencies had put the authority under review for a downgrade out of concerns over management and oversight. Read More News New Mexico  

State of New Mexico could owe millions following NMFA fake audit

The Senate Tax Plan Is a Bait-and-Switch

Dr. Antony Davies

First, we have to recognize that we reached this point because politicians pulled a bait-and-switch. The bait came in 2008, when we were told that we needed stimulus spending to avoid a depression. Americans said OK, and government spending jumped from 20 percent of GDP in 2007 to almost 24 percent of GDP in 2011. The increased spending increased the deficit,  making it difficult—so Congress claims—to now fully extend the Bush tax cuts. That's the switch. Recession calls for stimulus spending. Stimulus spending makes bigger deficits. Bigger deficits call for higher taxes. Following this recipe, we're only a handful of recessions away from ending up with tax rates that would make a European central planner blanch.Since we're now out of the recession, politicians should return government spending to the pre-stimulus level of 20 percent of GDP. This would close the deficit by $600 billion. Coincidentally, that's the same amount that the Congressional Budget Office predicts we'd save by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for everyone and by reversing the 2 percent payroll tax reduction. In other words, we can keep the Bush tax cuts for everyone plus keep the 2 percent reduction in payroll taxes if we simply shut down the stimulus now that the purported reason for it is gone. Read More News New Mexico

The Senate Tax Plan Is a Bait-and-Switch