When Is It Time To Recall Governor Martinez?

The GOPCons' Ideological Austerity Land Fill

We always thought that the SENATE was where dreams went to die.

When we visit the dump, we see all sorts of items which have, so to speak, outlived their utility.  There are mattresses with holes through them, old tires with no tread, washing machines with terminal "mystery problems" and shoes with no matching partners.  Very infrequently, we find ourselves considering the question of exactly "why" something has wound up there, but not often.

Nationally, however, we now find ourselves confronting this realization far more often.

On their own version of "Sherman's march to the sea," national Republican Governors have adopted a modern form of the classic "scorched Earth" policy.  They have been adding things to the "land fill" right and left.

It's clearly their view that if the "Earth is scorched enough" below the feet of voters, they will be swept into office without so much a shedding a single drop of sweat.  When we visit their "land fill" of things denied to tax payers, we see the victims of this nasty policy.  These are the items which those who imagine themselves to be the "ruling class" have prohibited those whom they consider "the governed class" from purchasing.

Littering this Republican land fill there are such things as proposals for renewable energy, electric cars, a rational power distribution grid, stem cell research, banking regulation, rural web access and smaller public school classes.  Absolutely anything which costs money and which is desired or needed by tax payers can be added to the growing pile of rejected goals in the dump.

As a voter and tax payer you may assume that anything you think might be a "good purchase" for the country will wind up in the dump just before you get it -- in fact, in many cases only moments after you even so much as say that you'd like to have it.  So, joining the slowly rusting possibilities of high speed rail, federal subsidies to retain teachers and firemen and immigration reform, we see the latest addition -- rejected health care.

The GOPCon Governors are chortling with glee as they open their ALEC checks, signed by their best friends in the health insurance industry.  Taxpayers somewhere -- perhaps in the next state -- will be getting new access to insurance exchanges, but not here.  [Actually, New Mexico is surrounded by reactionary states on all sides.  None of them will likely have exchanges either.]

ALEC has positioned Republican Governors everywhere with exactly what they need to, once again, mount the next dreary attack to undercut the Affordable Care Act.  The excuse, although already quite road weary, is simple.  It is precisely the same excuse which has justified firing teachers, leaving chuck holes in the roads, obliterating unions, ignoring school rooms with ceilings that leak and blaming collapsing bridges and, of course, unemployment on "tax and spend" Democrats.

"Health care reform?  Gosh durn it, we jest cain't 'fford it."

Helping Susana Martinez "Not Afford It"

The script for this story may as well have been written in the middle of the last Great Republican Depression.  Poor, long suffering Governor Martinez just simply must put the brakes on "out of control government spending" before the State of New Mexico gets sucked into the black man's latest socialism adventure.

It's painful to remember that Susana used to be a Democrat, even a failed Democrat who couldn't win any elections until she started getting Republican cash from Texas.

So, Susana is tearfully joining the other reactionary Republican Governors who are "opting out" of the ACA before its benefits reach the common citizen class.  In one of the poorest -- and sickest -- states in the union, and amid the induced additional squalor of insurance premiums that are increasing by 20% or more per year, Susana just can't ask the Round House for any more money.

Right?

Not exactly.

Have a look.  (Read the whole article here. )

Martinez orders review 

of state tax incentives

New Mexico Business Weekly 

 by Megan Kamerick, NMBW Senior Reporter

Date: Friday, August 12, 2011, 2:57pm MDT - Last Modified: Friday, August 12, 2011, 4:02pm MDT

 

Gov. Susana Martinez is ordering a review of state tax incentives to produce an annual tax expenditure budget.

She vetoed a bill from the last legislative session that would have created a tax expenditure budget, which was designed to track and evaluate the merits of all revenue losses from tax deductions, exemptions and credits.

Senate Bill 47 was introduced by State Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque amid wide bi-partisan support.

A news release from Martinez’s office said her executive order will require an annual tax expenditure budget by executive branch agencies. She said it will be a thorough and comprehensive review of all state tax credits in order to evaluate the impact of those credits on job creation and economic development.

Currently, New Mexico fore goes collecting about $1.3 billion in revenue each year, thanks to more than 300 credits, exemptions and deductions that are in state law, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.

This excerpt is deliciously full of MeanMesa favorites.  Let's consider them one at a time.

1.  The Governor made this VETO in August of 2011 -- long after the full, crushing weight of the Republican Great Depression had arrived in New Mexico in its full glory.  The $1.3 Bn was, of course, an incentive to the, uh, "job creators" who could be bribed into coming to New Mexico to hire all sorts of unemployed people.

As Eddie Schultz would famously ask, "where are the jobs?"

The best possible incentive for new business in New Mexico might very well be the reduced health care burden employers might enjoy if the Affordable Care Act were in place here.  Maybe if the state didn't continue to bribe potential businesses and employers with $1.3 Bn worth of annual tax expenditures, these new prospects wouldn't fizzle out right and left before the first cinder block was laid or vaporize and high tail it back to California during start up phase.

MeanMesa thinks that we should probably have a law against New Mexico Republicans ever trying to create tax expenditure incentives to new businesses.

2.  Even more suspicious, the Governor didn't want State Legislators to make the "survey" of state tax expenditures.  She decided that, if the task were to be done right, it would have to be done by "experts" in the Governor's office.  We have to assume that some part of that survey would have dealt with effectivity of the program, that is, did the tax incentives really, actually result in new businesses and jobs?

MeanMesa is pretty sure that, by this time, no one in New Mexico is expecting an estimate of the "job creation" potential of adopting the Affordable Care Act to emerge from the Martinez Administration as a part of its analysis.

3.  Finally, the "missing link" would seem to be a comparison of the respective costs of these tax expenditures and the costs of implementing the Affordable Care Act.  After all, this is, according the Governor, the reason why New Mexico's participation must be questioned.  

Predictably, faster than flies finding dog poop on a sunny afternoon the Governor was instantly spewing out FOX News talking points when asked about the Supreme Court decision.  The heavily mutated facts, wounded and screaming, left in her wake were obviously not a problem.

Her comments were, of course, delightfully consistent with every dirty shirt pundit who receives "marching orders" every morning from the RNC.  Susana's contribution to the doleful hymn amounted to another lock step voice in the nationwide chorus -- emasculate the thing by denying it resources, then crucify it for not siring children.

(Read the whole article here.  There is a nice video of the Governor explaining her position.)

Gov. Martinez reacts to Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare

By Tom Intorcio | June 28th, 2012
 

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, lauded some of the benefits – while questioning the tax implications – of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Thursday that upheld Pres. Obama’s health-care reform.

The video above, posted by Capitol Report New Mexico, includes positive statements by Martinez on allowing those up to age 26 to stay on their parent’s health-care insurance, on coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and on taking care of the needy.

The governor was also asked, “Is the Affordable Care Act good for New Mexico, overall, in your opinion?”

“I don’t think raising taxes on New Mexico when we’re struggling economically and trying to, you know, turn the corner and raising taxes on middle class families is a good thing to do right now,” she said. ”I think we need to not force people to buy something – and if you don’t, we’re going to raise your taxes on you. And if they can’t afford it, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

Notably, the phrase "raising taxes" is used three times in the one paragraph response by the Governor.  [cited]  Get the message?

 Rocket Science and Brain Surgery Section

Governor Martinez, you won't have to raise taxes if you pay for something that we actually need and that actually works instead of paying for tax expenditures that we don't need because they don't actually work.

So, What's the Solution?

Actually, a great solution for New Mexico is sitting there, right in front of us, hidden only by  the complexities of contemporary politics.  Should the Governor go ahead and block access to the Affordable Care Act, we should recall her.

Win or lose, the oligarch class would very predictably duplicate the anti-democracy effort we saw in Wisconsin, that is, the oligarch class would instantly freak out and immediately begin to pump millions and millions of Citizen United dollars into New Mexico!  This bunch didn't bat a eye to pump $40 Mn into Wisconsin to combat the $3 Mn Recall Campaign.

The state economy would suddenly flourish!  Unemployment would drop, and tax revenues for the State Treasury would begin to increase!  Wisconsin's Governor Walker pulled in out of state cash at a rate a little better than ten to one.  If the New Mexico Recall Martinez campaign were able to raise $3 Mn here, we could expect roughly the same results to gush in over the borders to "save her."

Plus, after the Democratic Senate Primary, we find ourselves with embarrassing riches!  We have the ultimate candidate for a recall right in front of us!  Hector Balderas!

MeanMesa strongly suspects that GOVERNOR Balderas wouldn't need a special team to find the money for the Affordable Care Act in New Mexico.

Read about Hector Balderas here.

A Post Posting Note:  An estimated 145,000 New Mexicans will be uninsured if the Governor opts out of the expanded Medicaid part of the Affordable Care Act.  How many of them still want to spend more than a billion dollars per year for business incentives through tax expenditures?

Read more at this link: http://bit.ly/LTyJtn