Restoring the public’s trust

Over the past few months, since I have returned back home after my retirement from the military, I have been fairly busy getting settled back into a new job, establishing a new home and just enjoying full-time family again. I have also been talking to regular folks around the state and getting their take on how they feel about the direction of our state and country. One common theme or sense has emerged from each conversation: Our regular, everyday folks have lost their hope and trust in our elected public leadership.

One couple I spoke with asked, “Why do today’s elected leaders seem so out of touch with basic everyday life?” Another couple stated, “We have lost our hope and trust in our elected officials.” One person told me a story about an experience he had with a state senator during a legislative session where the senator stated, “Son, politics isn’t always about doing what is right or wrong.”

This was particularly interesting since this person is a well-respected and influential member in the legislator’s voting community.

Many others expressed deep frustration with their inability to understand the issues because government has “gotten so darn complicated.” But one couple stood out to me because they were so worried about our future and they called me to the carpet. “Johnny, you claim to be an idea guy, so how do we rebuild the public’s trust in politics and get our country going again?”

I was taken back because it was such a great question. My immediate reply was to say there are no fancy, complicated solutions to this issue, and I truly believe that we have to return to simple, fundamental leadership again. Simply put, we must bring an end to the era of the career politician, because the American idea of a citizen legislature was never intended to be a career path.

How to put an end to the era of career politicians

I think many folks recognize that career politicians are at the root of the distrust in government, and the most common solution is to impose term limits on our legislators at both the state and federal levels. I would agree and support this idea, but I also believe there other ways to approach this issue. This is what I would do:

• First, I propose eliminating any and all retirement plans for our elected officials at all levels of government. This would include eliminating any form of public payroll contribution matches and completely doing away with any sort of seniority buy-ins for government retirement plans. Of course, our elected officials would be free to pursue private retirement plans of their own with their earned wages.
• Next, I propose that we restructure the health-care plans for our legislators by establishing a baseline of care through a local military hospital, VA hospital or a local public clinic. These should be the only three health-care options available for our elected officials if they choose a government-subsidized health-care plan. Again, elected officials would be free to pursue any health-care plan of their own with no government assistance if they decided either of these options weren’t up to par to their health-care needs.
• My third idea would be to add a signed contractual agreement for a lifetime ban on government lobbying for anyone who is elected to public office through all levels of government.
• Finally, at the state level, I propose that any legislator who legally receives any form of a publicly funded taxpayer salary while performing his or her duties during the legislative session or while fulfilling legislative duties outside of the session should be required to choose between receiving his or her normal working salary or the legislator daily per-diem rate. At no time should a legislator concurrently receive both a publicly funded taxpayer salary and the legislator daily per-diem rate.

The right thing to do

I call on our current New Mexico legislators to step up to the plate and get these simple, basic ideas done. It is the right thing to do.

Luévano, a renewed Republican, is a retired Marine Corps officer and an Artesia native who is currently working in the Albuquerque health-care sector. He graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2001 with bachelors in both political science and economics and from the University of Kansas in 2008 with a masters in public administration. You can reach Luévano at johnnyluevano.com or find him on Facebook.