Lt. Gov. Diane Denish (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Saying education should be exempt from budget cuts, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish on Thursday cast the only vote on the state Board of Finance against cutting most state agency budgets by 3.2 percent.
Denish, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, was at odds with Gov. Bill Richardson and others in casting the vote against the cuts. Though Richardson, who is also on the Board of Finance, missed the meeting, the 3.2 percent cuts for most state agencies are his plan to balance the budget.
K-12 education is exempt from the 3.2 percent cuts but higher education is not.
In a campaign fundraising e-mail sent following the vote, Denish said she was sticking to her principles.
“I believe these cuts have the potential to take money out of the classroom and that’s unacceptable,” Denish wrote in the e-mail. “I applauded our Congressional delegation for passing a bill earlier this week that will send more than $60 million to New Mexico and keep more than 1,000 teachers in the classroom. But we simply cannot rely on Washington – we must do more here in New Mexico.”
Denish has laid out her own reform plan she says will save taxpayers $450 million through consolidating state agencies, cutting political appointees and making better use of technology. But, according to the Albuquerque Journal, Denish’s plan would save taxpayers $90 million a year – and that’s not enough to meet the current budget shortfall.
Denish didn’t mention that in her fundraising letter:
“I voted against the across-the-board cuts because I believe we can be smarter and more strategic about how we balance our budget. A one-size-fits-all plan won’t work. As I detailed in my government-reform plan, there are clear places we can go to save money and be more efficient without impacting the services that so many thousands of New Mexicans depend upon.”
I also asked Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez how she would have voted on Thursday’s proposal before the Board of Finance. While she didn’t directly answer, she indicated that she doesn’t support cutting education or Medicaid but “will not hesitate” to cut waste from other areas.
Here’s Martinez’s full statement:
“This budget mess was created by the Richardson/Denish administration and Diane Denish continues to hide from it. If Denish does not like being forced to make equal cuts across all general government, she should explain why she was noticeably silent during the past legislative session when the original budget was passed and more targeted cuts could have been made. As governor, I will not support cutting education or Medicaid, but will not hesitate to cut waste from the rest of the budget in order to get New Mexico’s financial house back in order.”
Thursday’s vote gave final approval to the 3.2 percent cuts. According to the Journal, most executive branch agencies, higher education and the judicial and legislative branches will start seeing reduced monthly budget allotments on Sept. 1.
Both gubernatorial candidates have said they would not support tax increases next year to balance the budget. You can read more on what cuts they have said they would make by clicking here.