Remember the summer of 2009, when the Obama administration tried to push through a cap and trade bill?  It passed the U.S. House, and it’s been sitting in the U.S. Senate ever since, where I expect it will stay.   In short, it failed to pass muster with federal leaders who perhaps recognized that its passage would be both detrimental to our limping economy and to their political futures if they supported it.

Fast forward to 2010.   New Mexico has decided to go it alone and unilaterally pass its own Cap and Trade program, making it the only state in the country to ignore the federal decision on this issue.  More specifically, NM Governor Bill Richardson and his lame-duck administration have decided to use administrative process alone to force through Cap and Trade, and even bypass our state legislature.

This is the second time the Richardson administration has ignored the legislative process to force through rules that cripple our state’s energy industries.  I’ve decided to do something about it.

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In early 2008, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson grabbed national attention when he ran for the Democratic nomination for President. He dropped out early in the race but still made headlines for endorsing Obama over Hillary. As thanks, Richardson was named the nominee for Commerce Secretary.  One of the first scandals of the Obama Administration followed almost immediately.  Due to a controversy surrounding a pay-to-play scandal, Richardson was forced to withdraw his name from consideration after only one month.

Richardson quietly slipped out of the national spotlight and most Americans forgot about New Mexico’s corrupt Governor.  Most don’t realize that prosecution for the scandal was quietly discontinued when the Obama team drained the investigator’s budget resource, leaving them unable to pursue prosecution.  The case is still pending and will likely remain that way.

Now back in New Mexico in his final year as Governor, the behavior of a man who was an inconvenient nuisance to the Obama team has revealed itself to be nearly cataclysmic to my state’s future.

Just seven years ago, New Mexico was one of only a handful of states in the black, thanks to the leadership of our previous Republican Governor.  Now, we’ve got an estimated $500 million deficit this year thanks to a government that continues to loot the pockets of taxpayers.

Aside from the absurd corruption, pay-to-play scandals and shady investment deals one of the most obvious evidence of poor management is the sheer size of New Mexico’s government.  With new state agencies and 4,500 new employees, our state government has grown by more than 50% in the last 7 years costing taxpayers $250 million annually. Further, the numbers don’t even include the hundreds of exempt political appointees now drawing a government paycheck.  Those people got jobs as payback for family, favors and financial contributions. Estimates put new political appointees in the neighborhood of 450 costing taxpayers around $50 million a year.

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