Patrick Davis Guest Blog: Governor's New "Job Agenda" Looks a Lot Like Democrats' First Job Agenda

This is a guest blog by Patrick Davis, an active Albuquerque Democrat.

The special session is officially underway and in addition to the one thing lawmakers have to address, redistricting, the governor has also added 11 more items to the call because she thinks they don't have enough to do. Tuesday morning, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce blasted an email to its members encouraging them to sign a petition to support what they call the governor's new "jobs agenda." Conveniently for the governor, lawmakers addressed most of the items on the agenda the last time they met, and had it not been for the governor's campaign-style “my way or nothing” agenda, most of those items would have passed in March and more New Mexicans would be working today.

How do we know? Because Democrats proposed most of the governor's new "jobs agenda" items in the regular session and the governor's office blocked them with shady legislative tactics, misleading messaging and just plain vetoes.

Take the "5% New Mexico business advantage when bidding on contracts with state and local governments." Sound familiar? It should. It was SB19, sponsored by Sen. Tim Keller (D-Bernalillo). It passed the Senate 35-1 and the House 58-0. So why isn’t such an overwhelmingly popular bill on the books helping New Mexico businesses work for our state? The governor vetoed it.

How about that capital outlay bill which the governor's office says will put more New Mexicans to work building and repairing schools, water treatment facilities and roads? In the regular session a $240 million capital outlay bill was held hostage by Senate Republicans who refused to pass it unless the governor's social promotion bill passed first. It didn't, and thousands of New Mexicans have sat at home waiting on the construction projects that the outlay bill would have provided.

Need one more? The governor says the Unemployment Trust Fund is in danger of running out of funds in the next year, but she wants the legislature to continue current contributions to the fund at the same rate so that she and her "industry experts" can study the problem and propose another solution down the road. Some estimates have suggested that the fund will go dry in early 2012. This governor has had eight months to study the unemployment problem in New Mexico, and holding potential rate increases over the heads of small business owners for another year doesn't provide the stability and predictability businesses need to budget for salaries and capital spending.

HB59, sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart (D-Bernalillo), passed both houses and provided a predictable and temporary fix to shore up the fund. The governor's partial veto wiped away the certainty that fix provided and as a result, New Mexico businesses are scared to invest in new employees if rates they pay today will double or triple down the road when the problem is much worse.

Susana Martinez Chose Politics Over Economic Stability
This governor's new "jobs agenda" is the same one Democrats have pushed since Day 1 of her administration. But, instead of passing good bills to put New Mexicans to work, she chose to play politics with the economic stability of our state. These bills the governor says will create jobs now could have created jobs in March and New Mexico could already be on the way back to recovery. Instead, the governor wants more time to study problems and consult her experts (read political hacks).

The governor is right: New Mexico needs a jobs agenda. Legislators brought her one and she refused to pass it. She bet on the economy getting worse and it did. Now she wants to claim those same ideas as her own and pretend to take the lead on job creation. Governor, we are not fooled.

These bills reflect a Democratic agenda the Republican governor can sign. It is a bipartisan approach to putting New Mexicans to work. It is time New Mexicans told her to stop the campaign and start the job. This special session shouldn’t be an extension of the regular one, with all of its infighting and political maneuvering. Pass these bills and put New Mexicans to work.

This is a guest blog by Patrick Davis. If you'd like to submit a piece for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of the page.