Sen.-elect Fischmann says economic woes will make state stronger
Steve Fischmann says he’s taking “a positive view” of the economic woes New Mexico is facing because of the huge drops in oil and gas prices.
The Democratic state senator-elect from Las Cruces said in a recent interview that his business background has taught him that such times force organizations to think creatively about what’s working and what isn’t, and then their job is “shedding the things that aren’t working.”
“Hopefully that makes you stronger,” Fischmann said. “… I plan to be pushing ideas that make us think smarter — not spend more.”
Fischmann will head to Santa Fe for the session that begins Jan. 20 as someone who is largely unknown. He surprised many on Nov. 4 by defeating outgoing Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson of Las Cruces, who served more than two decades in the Legislature, by fewer than 600 votes out of more than 25,000 cast. He and several other freshmen senators are immediately going to jump into the task of dealing with what is projected to be a $500 million budget shortfall during the current fiscal year and another shortfall estimated by many to be $200 million or more for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Fischmann pointed out the business backgrounds of several of the incoming freshman senators — he is a retired Levi-Strauss executive — in arguing that the “progressive” label he and some of the others carry doesn’t necessarily mean they want to increase spending and raise taxes.
“What I see are some really seasoned, experienced, real-world, sharp guys, and it really gives me hope that this is going to be a problem-solving, down-to-earth group of folks,” Fischmann said.
Economic development, education and health care
He said he intends to focus on improvements in three areas — economic development, education and health care — during the current economic downturn.
On energy, Fischmann said any smart business would learn from the spikes in oil and gas prices that it needs to diversify to increase stability, so pushing alternative energy sources is a no-brainer. The state is already headed in the right direction with its renewable transmission authority and other measures, but Fischmann said the state has relied too much on tax credits and spending to spur growth. There are simpler ways to do it, he said.
One is to reconsider a pass-through clause that allows energy companies to adjust rates monthly to reflect fluctuations in fuel costs. That places the entire burden on consumers and eliminates the risk to the energy companies, Fischmann said, so it serves as an incentive for them to continue to use fuel-based energy instead of working to develop solar, wind and other technologies.
“Let’s have risk-sharing when fuel costs go up, so now the utility is forced to make a business decision like the rest of us,” Fischmann said, adding that such action would push utilities to branch out into other sources of energy, “and that won’t cost us a penny.”
On education, Fischmann said he’ll be looking for ways to foster a more “coordinated effort” between schools, unions, employers and the state labor department to help students become “self-sustaining” members of society. As a businessman, Fischmann said the state’s high dropout rate tells him that the state isn’t providing the right services to many students. With the high poverty rate in Doña Ana County, he said many aren’t going to attend college, and the schools need to provide “something that feels relevant to these kids. … They need to see the connection to making a living.”
Fischmann said he doesn’t claim to have all the answers but will be exploring ways to improve education with that goal in mind.
On health care, Fischmann said there is a lot of waste in the private insurance system and he wants to explore ways to reduce administrative, indigent-care and prescription-drug costs. The Senate has been resistant to many health-care reform ideas in recent years, but the victories by Fischmann and several other left-leaning Democrats over conservative Democrats in June and Republicans in November could make the Senate more amenable.
The Senate’s shift to the left
The Senate’s shift to the left has been the topic of much discussion recently. On Sunday, the Senate Democratic caucus voted to nominate Carlos Cisneros to replace the more conservative Tim Jennings as the chamber’s president pro-tem.
Fischmann’s race has been at the center of the leadership battle. Days before the election, Jennings recorded a robocall and radio ad decrying negative attacks against Rawson. Though Jennings didn’t endorse Rawson, the governor and other Democrats attacked Jennings, saying he had pledged to back Fischmann. While his caucus is attempting to remove him from the Senate’s top position, Jennings is attempting to gain GOP support to keep the job.
Fischmann, in the interview for this article, which was conducted before Sunday’s action, didn’t say how he was going to vote in that leadership battle. And he treaded carefully when asked about Jennings’ involvement in his race.
“Since it happened in my race, I think me talking about it personalizes it too much,” Fischmann said. “Clearly, the Jennings robocall raised a bunch of issues that we’re all talking about and kicking around, and that’s a good thing. … I just want to work with everybody, and when the dust settles, that’s what you have to do.”
Speaking about his approach to being a senator, Fischmann said he doesn’t want to hold grudges, because that could create barriers to solving problems. He said he wants to be careful that government doesn’t make promises it can’t keep. And he said government “can do a lot more than we give ourselves credit for, if we really do an honest evaluation during this economic downturn.”
“I really want to kill this paradigm that our choice is between big government and small government. Well, no, our choice is between effective government and ineffective government,” Fischmann said.