Category Archives: Governance

These columns published a few years ago raise the same issues that arise in 2026 so I am republishing them here, even though they are also elsewhere on this web site.  Also here is a link to the report I … Continue reading →

Note to readers:  This column was published in April 2025 but accidentally not posted here until several months later.   You probably have never heard of the New Mexico Small Business Regulatory Advisory Commission. That’s okay. Nobody else has heard of … Continue reading →

New Mexicans have been singing the refrain “What’s wrong with New Mexico?” for so long we should make it the official state ballad. Or maybe we could try listening to keen observers who are not stuck in old ways of … Continue reading →

On a recent episode of the PBS TV show “New Mexico in Focus,” a panelist used the phrase “full time” in talking about a salaried legislature. This was the latest confirmation that when New Mexicans talk about a salaried legislature, … Continue reading →

Something we New Mexicans are not good at: electing officials for certain powerful statewide commissions. Our track record is abysmal. We have elected people who have disappointed us over and over. So it’s curious that legislators tried to reinvent the … Continue reading →

In New Mexico we do not have “initiatives” on the statewide ballot. Thank Heaven. By “initiatives” I mean the ability to make laws by popular vote, initiated by petitions from voters. New Mexico does not have such a provision in … Continue reading →

Even though everything before the coronavirus now seems like a distant memory, it wasn’t long ago that half of the nation’s partisan voters were still tussling over who their presidential nominee would be. New Mexico was poised to play its … Continue reading →