{"id":9258,"date":"2009-11-12T11:03:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-12T18:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=9258"},"modified":"2009-11-12T11:03:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-12T18:03:00","slug":"ortiz-y-pino-blasts-guv%e2%80%99s-proposal-to-exempt-current-double-dippers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/11\/ortiz-y-pino-blasts-guv%e2%80%99s-proposal-to-exempt-current-double-dippers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ortiz y Pino blasts guv\u2019s proposal to exempt current double-dippers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jerry

Jerry Ortiz y Pino<\/p><\/div>\n

Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s<\/a> proposal to put an end to double-dipping by government employees in New Mexico — but exempt those who are currently doing it \u2013 is \u201cinadequate,\u201d state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino<\/a>, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, said in a news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Mexicans are rightly fed up with the corruption, scandals and insider dealings that have come to be the face of\u00a0New Mexico government, and I\u2019m afraid that Gov. Richardson just doesn\u2019t seem to get it,\u201d Ortiz y Pino said in a news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply put, we need to prevent state government retirees from receiving any retirement benefits if they return to\u00a0state government jobs,\u201d he said. \u201cThe hundreds who are now double dipping into state funds need to choose: Are they state workers or are they retirees? They can then be paid accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Legislature approved a plan to end double-dipping \u2013 the practice of retiring and then returning to work for state, county or local government to collect a salary and pension at the same time \u2013 but Richardson vetoed it. This week, Richardson unveiled his own plan<\/a> to end double-dipping, with the exemption for people who are currently doing it.<\/p>\n

Fully ending double-dipping could save the state $7 million a year, analysts say.<\/p>\n

Ortiz y Pino isn\u2019t alone in criticizing the governor\u2019s proposal to exempt current double-dippers. State Rep. Luciano \u201cLucky\u201d Varela<\/a>, D-Santa Fe and the sponsor of the bill the governor vetoed earlier this year, was quoted by The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> as saying that the governor\u2019s new proposal shows that Richardson \u201capparently wants to protect his colleagues and friends there who are working for state government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawmakers could still override Richardson\u2019s veto.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t think his bill goes far enough,\u201d Varela was quoted by The New Mexican as saying, \u201cwe\u2019ll take a poll in the Legislature and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ortiz y Pino said the state\u2019s financial woes make clear what needs to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time of growing, massive unemployment, it is immoral to have one person drawing two checks when two people could each be drawing one,\u201d he said. \u201cThe solution must address county, municipal and educational employees, as well as those who work directly for state government. There are now hundreds of state retirees in this position. We need to balance the state budget, and this is a clear first step.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s proposal to put an end to double-dipping by government employees in New Mexico — but exempt those who are currently doing it \u2013 is \u201cinadequate,\u201d says state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.<\/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":[108,112,118,107],"class_list":["post-9258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-bill-richardson","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9258","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=9258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}