What's going on, Albuquerque?

Morning Fix: UNMH Becomes Battleground As Gov. & Mayor Duke It Out

    •   The NM Board of Finance refuses to approve UNM Hospital addition. The UNMH proposal is backed by Mayor Berry, the Board of Regents and the Chamber of Commerce.  The NM Board of Finance consists of 7 members including the Governor, Lt. Governor, and four members appointed by the Governor. What the hell is going on?

   •   Planned Boy Scout camp in the Sandia Mountains draws ire of neighborhood association.

   •   U.S. News & World Report lists Duke City in TOP TEN of places to retire with $40K per year.

   •   Man seen hitting himself in the head with a water bottle before he falls into a one-foot hole.  Sky 7 films the rescue. His possible excuse: the victim may have been drinking. No excuse offered for filming the event from Channel 7's helicopter.

   •   Another Channel 7 exclusive!  Two 9th grade girls got in a fight in the Volcano Vista High School cafeteria. Cafeteria worker hurt trying to break them up.

   •   Intel, the largest employer on ABQ's west side, sees their Q3 income drop. Cites fewer PC sales as people shift to tablets and smartphones. What chips do we make here?

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Comment by Big Stamen on October 17, 2012 at 8:55pm: Mango:Well he was elected to two terms and would probably be elected again if term limits weren't imposed.

Actually the paragraph I posted had references cited, but I know you won't check. It's too bad the Republicans distanced themselves from him. He has a lot to offer, but then that's politics. He did in fact leave the state in good fiscal shape and vetoing bills is not necessarily a bad thing. Have to disagree with you, I think many were sorry to see him go. Funny how he scares both Rs and Ds. Tells you something.

Comment by hettie on October 17, 2012 at 11:55pm: I looked at the citations on Johnson's wikipedia page and, while there are lots of valid citations about him vetoing the hell out of everything, the claim that he "fulfilled his campaign promise to reduce the 10% annual growth of the state budget" is followed by the words "citation needed." So I did about 60 seconds of googling and found a couple:

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1995_2003NMb_13s...

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1995_2003NMb_13s...

If you take a careful look at those numbers, you'll realize that under Johnson's administration, government spending increased from slightly over $4 billion to almost $8 billion. And NM's debt went from just under $2 billion to almost $5 billion. Because of the national economy at the time, he was able to leave office while NM enjoyed a budget surplus. But the claim that he reduced annual budget growth is simply a lie (citations above).

Comment by RunLikeADog on October 18, 2012 at 7:33am: I was here during the Gary Johnson era. It was wonderful. Government was held to a stand still and the speedy Dems could only sit and pout. I loved watching the State of the State speeches. Manny Aragon, who is a convicted felon now, you know, would sit there with his best bud "King" Ray Sanchez and frown and Gary would deliver the news that the state was in solid fiscal shape. It was a beautiful thing. I'd love to see that on a national stage.

Comment by Phil_0 on October 18, 2012 at 10:06am: The funny thing about the government model you tout, RLAD, is that as hettie's sources make abundantly clear it rarely seems to actually reduce spending. I get that libertarians find it endless amusing to piss off people who think government should actually do something. But doesn't spending more while doing less piss you off, too?

Also, I notice no one seems to be stepping up to defend Martinez. I guess (much like Reagan) it's safer to idolize politicians once their hands are off the controls, huh?