Posts Tagged ‘New Mexico’

Doug Turner

Graft, Greed and Waste in State Government: New Mexico Edition

by Doug Turner

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.

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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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Posted Mar 1st 2010 at 1:41 pm in Economics, Local Government, Politics, State Politics, federal spending | 114 Comments

Matthew Vadum

ACORN Still Owes $2.3 Million in Overdue Taxes

by Matthew Vadum

ACORN and its affiliates are content to impose crippling big-government laws, regulations, and taxes on Americans, but when called upon to obey those same rules, ACORN’s network of scofflaws and deadbeats simply refuses to comply.

ACORN and its affiliates currently owe more than $2.3 million in long overdue back taxes to all levels of government.

ACORN For Sale

It's deathly quiet at the former funeral home at 1024 Elysian Fields Avenue, New Orleans. (photo: Kevin Kane)

As of Nov. 11 the exact figure was $2,328,596.95.

ACORN owes money to the IRS, Arkansas, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and to the cities of New York and Philadelphia.

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Posted Nov 16th 2009 at 1:03 pm in ACORN, Obama | 55 Comments