A guest column was solicited from both candidates for state treasurer. To read Democrat James B. Lewis’ column, click here.
By Demesia Padilla
Republican candidate for state treasurer
In a free market, big isn’t the same as corrupt or inefficient. Bigness is the reward of market success. If you give the consumers a good product or service at a price better than the competition, your business tends to grow. No matter how large the firm, its managers are always accountable to the public. Moreover, no market position, however exalted, is permanent. Private business must earn its keep every day, or suffer losses and even bankruptcy. This is what makes market institutions accountable; the watchdogs of the system are investors and consumers with their own property at stake.
In government, the opposite is true. Big and corrupt go hand in hand. The worse the government is, the more it grows at public expense. So long as the coerced revenue pours in, government can disregard the public interest and go about its usual business of rewarding its friends and punishing its enemies.
As a native New Mexican who loves this state, I am sick and tired of hearing about the corruption in the state treasurer’s office that has been rampant since 1975. There have been multiple treasurers and employees of that office indicted since that time. This is a travesty and the citizens of
I am not a career politician. I am a CPA who has run a successful accounting business. If elected, I will put a checks-and-balances system in place in the state treasurer’s office that will ensure internal control for years to come, no matter who is in office. The citizens of this state deserve an office that is transparent, an office that is open and above-board. This state has had to pay the very real price of lost revenue and the cost of two federal trials.
My opponent had the opportunity to install a checks-and-balances system when he held this office previously, and he chose not to. He is a career politician who will continue backing the status quo. And why not? Bill Richardson has contributed $10,000 to his campaign to ensure that the status quo remains in place.