Benjamin Rodefer
I am calling today for an immediate joint caucus of New Mexico’s House and Senate Democrats. There has been too much difficulty and miscommunication surrounding our recent attempts to address the state’s very serious budget woes.
We are all on the same team, and now is precisely the time to start acting that way, working together to address the very serious challenges facing our beloved New Mexico.
We Democrats hold a significant majority in both of New Mexico’s legislative chambers, but such a joint caucus as I am calling for is extremely unusual, having not been called for in years.
Today we will begin considering a budget deal orchestrated in private by the governor and a small handful of legislative leaders. The deal calls for further cuts to schools and also includes several regressive taxes, including an increase to the gross receipts tax and a partial reinstatement of the food tax.
And we are not simply talking a tortilla tax here, we are talking a food tax on everything.
This “deal” gives the rich – to whom Governor Richardson gave huge tax breaks to in 2003 – and large, out-of-state corporations like Wal Mart a complete pass, instead balancing the budget once again on the backs of New Mexico’s middle-class and working families.
The very citizens who are struggling the most now. The very people we are supposed to be reaching out to and helping through these tough times.
This deal, though, is not even close to the will and intent of either Democratic caucus. It is high time that we all get together, sit in the same room, talk this thing through, and work as a team to create a better future for all New Mexicans.
Rodefer is a Democratic state representative from Corrales.