I wish Jeff Apodaca would revert to his previous sensibilities and initial visions when he ran for governor in 2018. For reasons I find frustratingly odd, Jeff is pushing divisive rhetoric through his new PAC designed to go after so-called "progressive" Democrats in the State Legislature. His rhetoric consists of dividing New Mexican residents and citizens into rural vs urban, "moderates" (really conservatives) vs progressives, native New Mexicans vs outsiders, and worst of all, Hispanics vs Anglos. None of this rhetoric has any substantive meaning in terms of public policy. Worse, it looks as if the new PAC is raising significant money from oil/gas interests. But then, when Jeff gets to specifics, such as his idea to use the investment council as a means to diversify economic development, or increasing Medicaid reimbursements for doctors, I find I can agree with those two signature policy proposals--yet I am the suburban, progressive, relative newcomer (less than seven years) Anglo (well, Jewish-Italian guy from NJ who lived much of my adult life in CA).
I don't get what Jeff is talking about when he says progressive policies that got passed are what is ruining the State economically or even culturally. Is it the minimum wage increases, which are still lagging behind the cost of living by a country mile? Is it some movement toward environmental regulation, which still has our governor pushing for blue instead of green hydrogen, when both are pretty bad? Those are not progressive compared to many more economically successful states. Let's look on the positive side of the ledger from a relatively progressive perspective: Is it MLG/Democratic Party legislature's income tax cuts for lower income workers, and slight increase for the top earners? Or the governor getting rid of the state's social security tax on seniors? Oh wait! Is it the governor's greatest achievement, which is free public college tuition, which, by the way, has reversed the national trend and increased the number of young people attending college? No, wait, again! Jeff, is it the pro-choice abortion policies? Or protecting some trans people from discrimination? Or maybe it's the infrastructure redevelopment initiatives, however small. Tell me, Jeff, how is any of that ruining New Mexico in any way? Really, man. Just. Tell. Me.
I also don't get how Jeff has the audacity to assert progressives have run this state for twenty odd years. I may be a newcomer, but I studied this state's history as I love History with a capital H. I even taught it at a high school for a year before moving to overall US History. The history of the past twenty odd years is this: The legislature for most of that time was in the hands of the very conservative Dems and Republicans Jeff now claims he wants to promote. Plus, the new century began with a Bill Clinton pro-Wall Street clone, the late Bill Richardson, whose signature legislation (besides starting the film industry, a good thing) was income tax cuts skewed to the wealthy. Richardson also put in onerous requirements on teachers as he pushed for a meager raise in their starting salary to $30,000. Some progressive! Ugh. Then, the state endured eight years of a right wing, law and order reactionary Republican governor, Susanna Martinez. Jeff likes to tout he is a fifteenth generation New Mexican. So, how does he miss the facts I just laid out about who was really running this state for the past twenty odd years before the ascension of MLG, who was, when she was in Congress, a member of the Blue Dog Dems? I have said publicly over and over that she has been a great governor on a variety of fronts. I have, however, been disappointed in much of her second term, as I have felt she has genuflected to the oil/gas industry in ways I thought she should have overcome awhile ago. The better critique of our sometimes great governor is from the progressive side of the political ledger, not Jeff's purported side.
What makes me agree with the progressive critique of Jeff's PAC is the type of candidates Jeff is pushing for. I do feel like the PAC is a front for oil/gas interests, at least in large part. It appears Jeff is trying to resurrect the John Arthur Smith crowd who he had personally told me were a big part of why NM has economically lagged. I mean, really, Jeff, you are pushing for the return of Clemente Sanchez, who is a Hispanic version of John Arthur Smith. From my observations, experiences, listening, and reading on the history of this State, the State's business and political leaders should be pushing a few fundamental things:
1. Promote water conservation through direct subsidizing of farmers and ranchers to redevelop their irrigation systems. Just as FDR didn't care if this constituency voted for him in 1932 when he helped farmers and ranchers who suffered during the Dust Bowl, I don't care if these people vote Republican and hate people like me. I care about them either way. It is also consistent with what I believe the purpose of government, which is to help people and communities. I don't care about political parties as much as policies. So I am all in to subsidize improvements in farmer/rancher irrigation and water usage, so that all of us benefit. Also, we should spend the money, too, to capture the excess salt flow from rivers in the state as we lose a lot of drinkable water from that poor management. When we consider these two initiatives, which would cost maybe under $2 billion, and that farmers/ranchers alone use 70% of the water each year, this is an important public policy for future growth. With these two initiatives, we can then be prepared to grow the population in this State from two to ten million. Not that this happens overnight, or even in a decade. The point is to stop people telling me we can't have good things for people in this State because if we grow, we won't have the water. THAT is the key here, which is getting beyond this cynical, negative inertia as we promote a really good set of public policies.
2. We really need to run, not walk, with Jeff's great idea--which the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper loves to laugh at Jeff about, when it definitely shouldn't--about making the State Investment Council an incubator for developing business. And let's put our best business and political minds, who have vision--again I don't care about which party to which they belong--in charge. Right now, Wall Street brokers make nearly $400 million a year off the $30 billion or more grant funds the State has. This is a ridiculous waste, as we know from the Big Short book and film how overrated the Wall Street brokerage firms really are. We need New Mexico's citizenry and leaders to be in a position to fund and develop the State's own growth. CA had successive Republican and Democratic Party governors who had vision. Yes, the problems CA has are not what we want. But, CA refused to follow the advice of its greatest economist, the 19th Century pro-Adam Smith economist (not a Marxist), Henry George. To protect New Mexicans when we start to have economic growth, we must put in limits on profits from merely owning real property. I know that sounds Marxist, but it is not. George's analysis was that economic development makes property in the areas that economically improve more valuable. This leads to both economic progress and more poverty (which was the name of his famous book that gets mentioned in high school history textbooks, but is not studied in economics classes for reasons that have to with propaganda, not reality). I want to ensure that every step we see in economic growth in this State puts New Mexican people first. Especially young people.
3. We as a State are sitting on what, nearly $10 billion, in cumulative rainy day funds on top of the nearly $30 billion in grant funds? Why not take $3.5 billion from the rainy day fund and simply buy PNM? Don't let its executives try another Avangrid merger nonsense. PNM has a strong employee infrastructure. So what if a few greedy executives leave? From my own experience, and Jeff knows this, too, which is part of why I supported him in 2018, executives are overrated compared to the people doing the day to day work of a company. We should also look into buying out NM Gas Co. from the owners in Canada, as its market value is probably not much different than PNM's. If NM is going to have a strong environmental set of policies that protect all New Mexicans--and I mean all, starting with oil/gas workers--the people should own the energy companies to which it pays utility bills every month.
4. NM is in a great position to gain lots of doctors due to the stupid and cruel abortion restrictions in TX, OK, and other states. I had said what Jeff said about increasing Medicaid reimbursement when I met with the governor when she ran for re-election in 2022. She listened to some extent and put into this year's budget nearly $80 million to increase Medicaid reimbursement. Medicaid pays way lower than Medicare to doctors for their services, and lower than private insurers. It is why doctors are under such economic pressure in this State, and the med malpractice lawyers don't help--and in fact hurt. I say this as a progressive again, but as a lawyer who represented professionals, including sometimes doctors, and know the tort law-lottery system here is far more pro-plaintiff than California's tort system. I know. You're shocked, right? Well, it's true. We need to protect doctors and nurses, and the first thing we should do is ensure they are well paid for when they save us--and they save us a lot. I know that from personal experience. So, let's spend the $300 million to get every doctor taking Medicaid patients to be paid as if they were Medicare patients. And let's get to single payer as nearly half the state is already under Medicaid, Medicare, and the VA. Just take care of the other half. Oh, and free medical school for those who will agree to stay for five years, and they must let the State send them to the rural areas especially. You know, like the old tv show, Northern Exposure.
5. As for teachers, having been one and married to one, I can say this: Teachers need a right to strike. It is the law of this state they can't. It's illegal. We can strengthen the teaching profession if the teachers have the power to withhold their labor. No more begging for a three percent increase to the legislature. Teachers should be fighting against the ridiculous paperwork they have and this ridiculous and arrogant rule from the NM Public Ed Department that mandated five day weeks--an insult to the rural communities of this state, and an insult to good sense I should add. But back to paperwork. No other profession has the paperwork teachers have. It is beyond ridiculous the more I think about it. Again, a strong union that can withhold labor can get the starting salary to $70K, which will make the profession attractive to young people majoring toward law, business, engineering, science. And it can end the senseless and onerous paperwork that undermines morale, and local communities should decide how many days the school year should be with the previous minimum of 155 days, which allowed for four day weeks based upon more hours each day akin to companies with ten hour four day week schedules. I was at the hearing on the matter, and I was so deeply impressed with the teachers and administrators who spoke from these rural communities. My God, Santa Fe politicians and administration people! What the hell is wrong with you?!
6. But, hey, what about oil/gas workers, you may say to me, as a suburbanite worried about climate change? Contrary to the NM oil/gas lobby, oil/gas workers are not 12% of the work force. The lobby is counting the person sitting behind the counter at the Allsups. Sorry, that is not an oil/gas worker. The actual percentage of the oil/gas work force is just under 3%. If this state embarked upon a strong infrastructure redevelopment, and frankly development, in a way to better connect the hamlets, villages, and towns that dot this relatively unique state (in terms of population distribution, first off), that would require a lot of blue collar workers. We must give first dibs to those oil/gas workers and guarantee at least ten years of the income they are currently making, or MORE to ensure they are respected for the important work they do. This way, if the State decides it can phase out some oil wells or coal mines, we don't get into the bullshit either/or arguments of jobs v environment. People in Hobbs and other oil/gas towns suffer a lot from cancer, leukemia, asthma rates, and poor air quality worse than probably Los Angeles on a bad day in 1978. It's not that the industry is really healthy for workers. We can do a lot toward mitigating effects from climate change. We'll need it. See the water issue which is number 1 above. Plus, connecting the hamlets, villages, and towns will foster further economic growth in the way economies of scale work.
7. I have said, almost since I got here, that NM has a politics that lacks faith in its people. I kept hearing among political types the late 19th territorial governor (and author of Ben-Hur!) Lew Wallace's line that every good idea comes to die when tried in New Mexico. Yet, New Mexicans I have met have been brilliant, creative, and above all, humane in their attitudes. Fun fact: NM tends to vote like CA much more than TX. Isn't that interesting? Also, how many know that, since 1912, NM has voted with the majority of Americans in every single presidential election (I am talking popular vote now) except in 1976 when NM barely voted for Ford over Carter. But other than that, every single time with the rest of America. That is why NM's legislature and Gov MLG signed onto the pact to overcome the Electoral College. Yup, NM voted for Gore and Clinton. This is where NM is not really all that unique after all.
I would say, however, NM history is relatively unique compared to nearly any other State in the USA and it does start with the 25 tribes and the fact that nearly half the State identifies as Hispanic or part Hispanic. But, that is not about substantive politics as much as Jeff would have us believe. And his Hispanics vs Anglos leaves out Native Americans, which is consistent with the continued refusal of State, county and local officials to consult with Native tribes. That is a disgrace and must change yesterday, not today. There is much to learn from strong communications with the 25 or so tribes in our State, starting with water development and distribution. There is also much to learn from the white, Hispanics, and Native folks in rural areas who continue to suffer and fall further behind in this economy driven by global corporate power and technological changes, including AI, which threaten humanity in ways only sci-fi writers have been able to conceive. When I get into deep dive conversations with politicians, I often propose, to no avail thus far, that the governor and executive officers visit these towns with a big oattag papers and a board to hold them, and meet people in the one building that would hold a decent number of people, and meet over two or three days at a time. The purpose would be to ask the people in these rural areas the following three questions (Heck, this would also work in ABQ in different districts!)::
a. What works in this hamlet, village, or town?
b. What used to work, but doesn't anymore?
c. What would you like to see start to work that has not even been tried to any extent? (And think of your children and what interests them as part of answering this question)
Notice how, when we start answering these questions, we are no longer worrying about pronouns, guns, and abortion? Notice, too, how we start to get at what the day-to-day lives of people are, and are about?
I had a lot of hope in Jeff when he ran what seemed like an insurgent progressive oriented campaign. In retrospect, I should have gone with MLG from the start, as I expected to support her when my wife and I landed here in 2017. It is funny that, when I arrived, I read two history books on NM, and a couple of novels situated in NM. When I transitioned from law to teaching, my first teaching gig was to teach ninth graders NM history, and I dove into the deep end of NM history to help young NM students have knowledge about, and even pride in, the history of their relatively unique state. I always say my two favorite governors in NM history are Larrazolo and Tingley, both of whom had vision. I think MLG will be in the top five and could be right up there with them, too, if she pushes a few more things. First, MLG needs to get family leave over the finish line. And then get the first three items on my list above.
I still think Jeff is capable of being a visionary type of leader. Why he chooses to use divisive rhetoric that bears no relationship with public policy is beyond me, and is one I would hope those around him ask him to consider.
