Campaign Blog

Over the last few months, Linda and I have talked to people from Hobbs to Farmington and from Clayton to Silver City.  We've met a lot of people and are hearing a lot about what's wrong with NM state government and how a new administration might tackle these challenges.

Last week, we had a chance to spend some time with agriculture producers from all over New Mexico.  One issue that came up over and over was how often state government gets in the way.  Too often, state government stymies economic growth, creates unnecessary roadblocks to a good education for our kids and makes rules and regulations that lack common sense.

One example would be the proposed emissions cap regulations that the environmental improvement board is considering.  Unlike the federal cap and trade debate that's going on in Washington, these regulations would cap, then reduce emissions without any way for offsets or trade.  It would only affect businesses that operate in New Mexico, making them uncompetitive and probably putting them out of business ... losing jobs and economic activity in our state.  On the other hand, other companies would be free to build power plants all around our borders in surrounding states.  The jobs and money would go there, but any emissions would still be with us, since air currents don't pay attention to state boundaries.  Plus our utility rates would be much higher.  I'm not a fan of federal cap and trade either, but the proposed NM cap only would be a disaster.  All of this would be done by a small board making rules on their own, not through debate, discussion and consensus in the state legislature.

We may not always agree about the size of government, but we should all be for a government that works for all of New Mexico ... simply, efficiently and as inexpensively as possible.