{"id":159565,"date":"2016-06-14T12:00:56","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T18:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=159565"},"modified":"2016-06-15T09:12:22","modified_gmt":"2016-06-15T15:12:22","slug":"voters-must-embrace-reform-of-nms-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/06\/voters-must-embrace-reform-of-nms-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Voters must embrace reform of NM\u2019s Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>In years that oil and gas revenues are high, New Mexico\u2019s state legislators split the profits to buy playground equipment and pave roads like kids diving for candy falling from a busted pi\u00f1ata.<\/p>\n

Our capital outlay system, which has become a source of ridicule<\/a>, illustrates what\u2019s wrong with how our state Legislature is structured — and how it functions.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

We\u2019re one of the poorest states in America, and we act like we believe we\u2019ll always be poor. In good years, our system encourages lawmakers to grab what they can.<\/p>\n

Some act like the money belongs to them, not the public, and use it to win votes to stay in office.<\/p>\n

We do that instead of pooling resources to fund more significant projects that have the potential to improve our state\u2019s economy and help people out of poverty.<\/p>\n

But why would we expect anything different from the only state legislators in America who aren\u2019t paid a salary<\/a>? Some talk with pride about our \u201ccitizen legislature,\u201d but the reality is that our system was designed for an early 20th Century style of governing that doesn\u2019t work 100 years later<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By not paying lawmakers, we limit who can afford to serve and exclude important viewpoints. And the job has grown well beyond 30-day sessions one year and 60 days the next. We\u2019re pushing those who are serious about the work to exhaustion.<\/p>\n

They often make decisions without adequate information or capacity to think critically. They too often lean on what their team is doing, which increases partisanship and the influence of lobbyists and special interests.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers look for other ways to make ends meet. They learn to travel cheaply so they have leftover per diem money after hotels and meals \u2013 which isn\u2019t what that money is intended for. They give themselves spectacular retirement plans if they stay in office long enough. Some use campaign money in ethically questionable ways. Most take food and ski passes and toothbrushes from people who want something in exchange that\u2019s much more valuable.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t an attack on lawmakers. Many are wonderful. It\u2019s a critique of a broken system that hampers our state\u2019s ability to think systemically and long-term about improving New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Our Legislature\u2019s structure hampers bipartisan, ethical, detail-oriented and bold decision-making that can improve our state.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the way to raise New Mexicans out of poverty.<\/p>\n

We need to increase our investment of public money in the deliberative branch of state government \u2013 the folks whose job is to have vision and be generative. Unless they\u2019re equipped to do that job, they often spend their time responding to crisis after crisis and spending money when it\u2019s available.<\/p>\n

Paying lawmakers wouldn\u2019t cost much \u2013 a few million dollars per year in a budget of several billion. We can find the money.<\/p>\n

The biggest hindrance is voting New Mexicans. Several times in our state\u2019s history we\u2019ve voted down proposals to amend the state Constitution to pay our legislators. It can\u2019t happen without our support.<\/p>\n

We need to recognize that our legislative system is not keeping up with the speed of life in the 21st Century. We need to make structural change that will empower our Legislature to make important changes like reforming our capital outlay system.<\/p>\n

The alternative is settling long-term into high poverty and negative population growth while our children leave for better futures in the states around us.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s give or kids a better future right here in New Mexico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We need to recognize that our legislative system is not keeping up with the speed of life in the 21st Century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[107],"class_list":["post-159565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}