I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
State Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, offered KUNM a glimpse into the state’s financial future last week. It’s not particularly pretty.
The influential lawmaker told Jim Williams of KUNM radio that state lawmakers have a few options when they meet this fall for what likely will be a special legislative session dedicated to the state’s finances. New Mexico, like other states, is adjusting to the national economic downturn. Although New Mexico finds itself in a much better place than many other states, hard decisions may dominate the agenda.
It was after telling Williams he opposed a tax increase that Smith uttered the L and F words: layoffs and furloughs.
“Other options we have out there are furloughing, layoffs, cutbacks of exempt personnel,” Smith told Williams. “The administration certainly has the flexibility to exercise those administratively without a special session.”
Exempt personnel is a technical term for political appointees in state government who owe their jobs to Gov. Bill Richardson.
The Deming Democrat reiterated that furloughs or layoffs of exempt personnel were options “in lieu of tax increases, because I don’t sense that there is a consensus for a tax increase.”
He said the governor might not go for those options, but instead could help cobble together an agreement on a tax increase. But Smith predicted that the governor would have to campaign across the state to build up support for such an option.
Stay tuned. I have the sense that the prelude to the special session is going to get more interesting.
