Welcome back in 2026.<\/p>\n
The legislative salary project<\/strong><\/p>\n In April 2026 I am reposting two columns I wrote a few years ago, both on the topic of paying New Mexico legislators a salary. New Mexico will have a proposed amendment to the state constitution on the general election ballot, asking voters to approve a salary for legislators.\u00a0 The arguments are more or less the same so here’s another chance to read what I wrote at those times.\u00a0 Just click on Legislative Salary Previous Columns.<\/p>\n In 2023 I undertook a special project on legislative salaries, contacting legislative staff in several Western states and receiving basic information from them about how the legislative salary process works in their state. I have reposted the link to that report here.<\/p>\n triplespacedagain.com\/wordpress\/?p=1317<\/p>\n Triple Spaced Again continues<\/strong><\/p>\n Since 2025, Triple Spaced Again is no longer affiliated with New Mexico News Services.\u00a0 I am distributing the column myself.\u00a0 After sending the columns to subscribing newspapers first, I am posting them here and also sending them to private subscribers.<\/p>\n All my newspaper columns are posted here.\u00a0 It has been a privilege to come to readers through newspaper publication and through this website since 2010.<\/p>\n Saving Workers’ Comp, posted in March 2025:<\/strong><\/p>\n Saving Workers Comp was not published as a newspaper column. I wrote it originally for state legislators And distributed it to them directly by mail A couple of years ago. I was concerned, and remain concerned, that the workers comp system had been reformed more than 30 years ago and today’s current legislators do not know about the crisis that led to the reform or the dramatic legislative achievement that the reform represented.<\/p>\n What happened with workers’ comp in New Mexico is probably common many government programs. A crisis occurs, legislators pay attention, they fix the system, and then the next generation of legislators takes the system for granted.\u00a0 \u00a0 I hope Saving Workers Comp makes a small contribution to preventing new problems in our workers’ comp system.<\/p>\n The PTD project:<\/strong><\/p>\n This posting is a few years old but it still applies.<\/p>\n When you have an extra minute, please click on the Workers\u2019 Comp tab and read about the PTD project.\u00a0 PTD stands for Permanent Total Disability.<\/p>\n The project is something that I should have done 20 years ago, so I did it in 2023 \u2013 making sure a certain group of disabled workers find out that they might be eligible for a break on their property tax.<\/p>\n Thank you for visiting!\u00a0 Comments are always welcome.<\/p>\n The section called Governance — added September 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n A friend was planning to run for the state Senate in 2020.<\/p>\n He said he\u2019d like to read the columns I have written on issues directly relevant to New Mexico state and local government, especially about management and administration.<\/p>\n So I have developed an easy way for anyone interested to read the columns that are relevant to long-standing issues of public policy.\u00a0 I have created a new subcategory called \u00a0Governance.<\/p>\n If you click on the word Governance in the menu bar, you will find those columns, starting with the most recent.<\/p>\n I invite you to look through these columns and feel free to pass on the link to anyone interested in New Mexico public policy \u2013 especially anyone who is in or running for public office.\u00a0 Thanks!<\/p>\n The column and your comments<\/strong><\/p>\n I am Merilee Dannemann and this is the website where I post my newspaper columns and other current articles. Your comments are welcome!<\/p>\n If you would like to comment on a column you read in the newspaper, and it\u2019s not posted yet, please send your comment to this homepage.\u00a0 When the column is posted we will move your comment to the right place.\u00a0 Thank you!<\/p>\n About Triple Spaced Again ….<\/strong><\/p>\n I was was a reporter and columnist with the Taos News more than 30 years ago.\u00a0 With other miscellaneous adventures between, I spent most of the intervening decades working for the State of New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Administration as a public policy specialist, speaker and educator.<\/p>\n I also write in other places and for various causes and interests, including small business and workers’ compensation.<\/p>\n So here it is: Triple Spaced Again.\u00a0 Please get yourself a fresh cup of coffee, come hang out with me and do send your comments.<\/p>\n The workers’ comp<\/a> section<\/strong> is where you’ll find articles about the New Mexico workers’ comp system.\u00a0 Workers’ comp affects almost everybody, and it is one of the most complicated areas of our legal system, but it is usually outside the limelight of public attention.\u00a0 It’s a hidden cost of doing business, affects business opportunity and job growth, and dictates what happens when people get injured at work, so it is worth watching.<\/p>\n There are still a few copies left of my very old book, Taos by the Tail<\/a>, selections from the original Triple Spaced, direct from the publisher (me) from the last remaining original box, with original Taos News cartoons by the inimitable Chuck Asay<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Here on the site, read a column from the counterculture days of the 1970s, and see one of Chuck\u2019s great cartoons.<\/p>\n The story of Triple Spaced Again<\/strong><\/p>\n Many years ago, my very popular column in the Taos News was called Triple Spaced.\u00a0 This name was based in part on the way we wrote all our copy in those days:\u00a0 on IBM Selectric typewriters that were set to very wide spacing so that we could edit our work by inserting changes between the lines.\u00a0 I still think of Triple Spaced as my brand.<\/p>\n I was going to call this website just plain Triple Spaced.\u00a0 But when the site first went live, I discovered that if you type one letter wrong, you are taken to a website so offensive I will not describe it.\u00a0 Hence the longer name!<\/p>\n Thank you.\u00a0 Enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome back in 2026. The legislative salary project In April 2026 I am reposting two columns I wrote a few years ago, both on the topic of paying New Mexico legislators a salary. New Mexico will have a proposed amendment … Continue reading