{"id":23497,"date":"2010-11-16T06:59:59","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T13:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=23497"},"modified":"2010-11-17T08:23:11","modified_gmt":"2010-11-17T15:23:11","slug":"martinez-shifts-language-on-education-medicaid-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/11\/martinez-shifts-language-on-education-medicaid-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Martinez shifts language on education, Medicaid cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Susana Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n

Faced with a dramatically larger budget deficit than previously predicted, Gov.-elect Susana Martinez<\/a> appears to be shifting her language about cuts to education and health care.<\/p>\n

Martinez said repeatedly on the campaign trail that she opposed any cuts to education and Medicaid. But at a news conference on Friday, she instead talked about protecting \u201cclassroom spending\u201d and \u201cbasic health care for those most in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cClosing what we learned yesterday to be a half-billion dollar deficit is going to be a challenge,\u201d Martinez said at the news conference. \u201cDuring the campaign, we had deficit estimates that started around $80 million. Suddenly, we\u2019re now at half a billion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026In tackling that challenge, we must protect critical government services, such as classroom spending and basic health care for those most in need,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The budget deficit estimate for fiscal year 2012 has gotten dramatically worse. It has grown from $80 million<\/a> in July to $260 million<\/a> two weeks before the election to $450 million<\/a> last Thursday.<\/p>\n

In addition to opposing education and Medicaid cuts, Martinez said during the campaign that she opposed tax increases and taking money from the permanent funds to deal with the state\u2019s fiscal crisis. That left cuts to the other 40 percent of state government as Martinez\u2019s plan to balance the budget.<\/p>\n

Martinez said during the campaign that she feared the Richardson administration wasn\u2019t being honest and that the fiscal situation was worse than budget estimates indicated. But she made the pledge to balance the budget without cuts to education and Medicaid anyway.<\/p>\n

Last week she said the $450 million estimate was \u201cfar worse\u201d than even she expected.<\/p>\n

Realistic and practical<\/h3>\n

Some lawmakers have said Martinez\u2019s campaign pledges were not realistic<\/a> and they expected her to shift gears. If that\u2019s what\u2019s happening now, it is a move many will view as realistic and practical. Even House Minority Whip Keith Gardner<\/a>, R-Roswell \u2013 the first lawmaker to support Martinez\u2019s run for governor \u2013 hasn\u2019t said Martinez could balance the budget and keep her campaign pledge.<\/p>\n

Gardner has said he believes it\u2019s possible to balance the budget without raising taxes and without cutting anything but waste from education and Medicaid programs. But that\u2019s different than Martinez\u2019s pledge to balance the budget without any cuts to the education and Medicaid budgets.<\/p>\n

Still, a shift away from her campaign pledge could be politically risky for Martinez. Democrats would be likely to hammer her in four years for breaking a promise to protect education and Medicaid.<\/p>\n

But Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith<\/a>, D-Deming, has told NMPolitics.net that he expected Martinez to shift gears. \u201cOnce you get the campaign people away from her,\u201d Smith said, \u201c\u2026I think she\u2019s going to look at it in a different light and recognize that we\u2019re in a serious situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez\u2019s new language about education and health care came during her introduction on Friday of Richard May to be her administration\u2019s finance secretary. May, a former Republican staff director for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Budget, said Martinez is \u201ca serious person who expects results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez indicated that she is willing to work across the political aisle to get things done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will work in a bipartisan fashion, with Republicans and Democrats, to permanently solve this crisis and put our financial house in order,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov.-elect Susana Martinez said repeatedly on the campaign trail that she opposed any cuts to education and Medicaid. Faced with a dramatically larger budget deficit than previously predicted, she instead talked on Friday about protecting \u201cclassroom spending\u201d and \u201cbasic health care for those most in need.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[118,107],"class_list":["post-23497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23497","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=23497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}