© 2016 Jim Spence - Susana Martinez was once again faced with the prospect of washing every dirty dish after the latest party held by Democrats in the most recent
legislative session. Martinez is treated like a wayward cleaning woman by leaders of the New Mexico legislature. The Democrats once again partied hard and then pointed at Martinez the cleaning lady the next morning when people asked them why there was such a budgetary mess.
Forget about what you read in most of the major newspapers of the state. Here is what is going on. With Democrats unwilling to curb ANY of the excesses of the most
out of control state budgeting process in the southwest, Martinez, the only
grownup in the room, vetoed their budget yesterday. The Martinez vetoes insure a special legislative session
before June 30, the end of the budget year.
The problems for New Mexico stem from one primary
difficulty. Democrats love to spend the money that workers and businesses produce,
particularly the oil and gas businesses in the northwest and southeast corners
of our state. But Democrats are so disdainful of the state's breadwinners they constantly and remorselessly throw barriers
in their way. With the precipitous drop in the price of oil over the last two years causing
state coffers to run thin, Democrats still believe they can continue to spend like
drunken sailors and simply lay off the burdens they create, with additional taxes, on all workers and businesses in our state. Sadly, Democrats have done this for sixty years, driving living standards in New Mexico way below that of every single neighboring state. Still, no matter how high taxes go in New Mexico, the depletion of the state’s cash reserves along
with the state falling farther and farther behind in terms of living standards, continues. Democrats don't care. They just shift blame and continue their losing ways.
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| Susanna Martinez |
The blame rests on the shoulders of several leading
Democrats in New Mexico beginning with the state’s Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, who
hails from the only place in our state that benefits from the recklessness of his ways.......Santa Fe.
Cynically Wirth said, “We’re in uncharted waters,” of the Martinez
vetoes. It is as if he does not understand why the people elected her governor.
“You have three branches of government, and you have one branch using her authority
to eliminate another branch. I would think the courts would take a look at
that,” he said. Take a look at a governor who wants the state to stop being stupid? What
is next Pete? a dictatorship of the proletariat? This is lawyer talk.
The other Democrat who shoulders a major portion of the
blame is the sly and cunning Brian Egolf. Also from you guessed it, Santa Fe, Egolf is Speaker of the House. Egolf pulled the
oldest trick in the book yesterday to mask his penchant for reckless spending and taxing
the workers and businesses of the state into the stone age. He hid behind government employees. “Her vetoes of all funding for every higher education
institution in the state and the entire legislative branch of government are
unconstitutional and have provoked a constitutional crisis,” said Egolf. This absurd statement, that only a lawyer from Santa Fe could come up with, is cover so
that Egolf doesn’t have to manage a tighter budgeting process. Her vetoes are unconstitutional eh? What constitution is that?
The truth is the two lawyers from Santa Fe (Egolf and Wirth) did not do any of the hard work
required in the most recent session. They spent hours allowing debates on cheeseburgers while scheming behind the scenes on ways to stick it to the workers, families, and businesses. The idea of reigning in the state’s $6.1 billion budget was the farthest thing
from their minds. Egolf and Wirth figured they could diddle away millions of dollars on this meeting and that meeting in Santa Fe, and then slap a bunch of new taxes and fees on all the
little people around the state before sending everyone home.
In the final hours of the session, and with little fanfare, Wirth and Egolf
rammed through more than $300 million in new taxes and fees to pay for their
lethargy and sloth. Haplessly they offered “options” for Martinez. She could
increase truck permit fees on New Mexico transportation companies etc., or she could raise
gasoline taxes for everyone, or she could expand taxes on retail sales and internet
purchases on everyone. Tax somebody to pay for our party was the idea and conveniently Martinez would take the blame when she would be the one who HAD TO CHOOSE which taxes to raise. They'd have the fun and Martinez would deliver the punishment.
Pathetically, Egolf lied about what happened to his buddies at the Santa
Fe New Mexican yesterday. “We spent the legislative session working with her and her
staff to craft a budget and revenue package we thought would meet her
approval,” Egolf said. That is a preposterous lie and Egolf knew he was lying when he said it.
Peter Wirth joined the mix when he was quoted yesterday as saying, “This is no way to
run a government.”
There is plenty of agreement here. Wirth and Egolf, both Santa Fe lawyers, are deception artists who love to play games with the truth and other people's money. They need to go. Martinez is a sharp cookie. She did not do their dirty dishes. The cleaning woman called them back to another "special" session to do some real work.
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