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Columns

  • Wisdom for Gov. Christie’s staff

    Many years ago I worked with a talented political organizer who made a very strange prayer request. After one of our meetings he told me that he regularly prayed that God would give him the spirit of the aggressive and feared Republican political organizer Lee Atwater.
    I thought that comment was strange, and I still do, yet it supports an observation made by a leading journalist last week about the thuggish bridge-closing affair that is dogging New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
    Commenting on the Christie scandal in which one of his staffers shut down several lanes of the George Washington Bridge to exact political revenge on the mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing the governor in 2013, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan noted that young staffers lack wisdom and are often motivated by seeking the admiration of their political bosses.
    Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter, referenced the career of Lee Atwater as an illustration. Atwater, a kingpin in the Republican Party and chairman of George H.W. Bush’s successful 1988 presidential campaign, was a cunning campaign strategist known for dirty tricks.

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  • Ice Cream guy can throw whoopie pies

      A former owner of an ice cream company is waging a campaign questioning the necessity of the Pentagon’s large-scale weapons systems, including the F-35 fighter-bomber which has been plagued with problems to be resolved.
    We have a need for the development and implementation of strategic weapons systems to counter the systems of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. Our large- scale weapons systems have kept potential adversaries at bay since World War II, and will continue to perform this vital function. The previously mentioned countries have extensive strategic weapons systems and continue to improve them and develop new, more lethal weapons.
    I agree with the ice cream guy that we have to assign resources to address the threat of terrorism. In particular, Islamic terrorism is a major threat to world peace as evidenced by the attacks in this country, Europe, Russia and the Middle East.
    If the former ice cream guy can guarantee the strategic weapons systems of potential adversaries will melt away, maybe we can convert some of our military manufacturing facilities to the production of ice cream whoopie pies he can use as ammunition against our enemies.
    Donald A. Moskowitz
    Londonderry, N.H.
     

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  • A stark choice in the new year

    At this moment, four out of every 10 unemployed workers in the United States have been looking for a job for more than six months, the highest level of long-term joblessness since the Great Depression. While more people are buying goods and services now than four years ago, businesses are only beginning to hire back laid-off workers, and there are still three workers lined up for every open job.
    In depressed towns and cities, the holidays have been tough for the long-term unemployed. And their situation is about to get much worse.
    About 1.3 million Americans received their last extended unemployment check before New Year’s Eve. Later this year, another 3.6 million long-term unemployed workers will lose support unless Congress renews this lifeline.
    The unemployed who receive assistance get about $300 a week, on average. That’s hardly enough to cover rent or a mortgage and pay for heat, electricity and a phone – so they can continue to search for work instead of worrying about where the family will be sleeping that night.
    The unemployed were left in the cold by the recent budget deal. Congress left town without figuring out how to pay for extended unemployment benefits, leaving the long-term jobless to wonder how they’ll make their mortgage payments in 2014.

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  • How to manage money for someone else

    Anyone who’s ever been asked to step in and manage their parents’ or someone else’s personal finances can tell you that it’s an awesome responsibility — and by “awesome,” I don’t mean “totally cool.” It’s more like “inspiring an overwhelming feeling of fear.” (Thank you, Dictionary.com.)
    In recognition that millions of Americans act as fiduciaries (i.e., manage money or property) for loved ones, often with no formal training or expertise, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has created four, easy-to-understand caregiver guides called “Managing Someone Else’s Money” (consumerfinance.gov.)
    CFPB Director Richard Cordray notes that there are 50 million older Americans — and millions of aging baby boomers are rapidly approaching retirement. Some 22 million people over 60 have already given someone power of attorney to make their financial decisions, and millions of others — including younger disabled adults — have court-appointed guardians or other fiduciaries. “In order to protect our seniors, we must educate the caregiver generation,” Cordray said.

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  • Students out-think policymakers on lottery scholarships solutions

    David Maestas, New Mexico State University’s student president, wonders why legislators and the administration have watched the lottery scholarship fund drift toward insolvency for three years without doing anything.
    Good question, David.
    As tuition and demand rose and lottery sales ebbed, policy makers kicked the question around, introduced bills and even formed a task force. It’s all gone nowhere.
    Students have come up with their own solution, which deserves a serious hearing.
    Maestas was among student leaders around the state who developed a proposal. They would raise the minimum grade point average from 2.5 to 2.75, reduce the number of consecutive semesters for scholarship use from eight to seven (three for students at two-year colleges), and make the grant a flat sum and not a promise to pay tuition, whatever that tuition might be.
    In other words, the grants would rise and fall with the lottery fund and be dependent only on the lottery fund and not on taxpayers. It’s a critical distinction and one lawmakers wrestled unsuccessfully.

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  • Business leaders back marriage equality

    New Mexico has welcomed people for centuries and has always celebrated both our interconnectedness, as well as our differences. New Mexico has been home to Hispanic and Native American people for many centuries and more recently to Anglo populations.
    Our diversity is part of what sets us apart and what we treasure and that’s why it’s not surprising that we have long welcomed and accepted gay and lesbian people in our families, neighborhoods and workplaces.
    As mayors of two major New Mexico cities, representing businesses, as well as promoting the aspirations of everyday New Mexicans, we were elated by our Supreme Court’s decision to grant marriage equality to everyone in the state. Clearly, every person deserves this basic freedom.
    We also know that marriage equality brings fairness to the workplace and presents our state to all our customers, whether local or visiting, as a welcoming place to live, work and visit.

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  • Webber brings private sector roots to governor's race

    It’s candidate petition time in New Mexico.
    My notification came recently when a man braved the January semi-cold seeking Democrats to sign petitions for a half-dozen candidates.
    Sensing a live one — an active Democrat — I asked his thoughts about the five Democratic candidates for governor. Though clearly involved enough to do the hard work of going door to door, he had little knowledge of the candidate group and was generally underwhelmed.
    Getting enough people to sign nominating petitions is how one gets on the ballot. In other words, people seeking to participate in the grand process of becoming an elected official do not just appear at the office of the elections official and say, “Put me on the ballot.” The petition process is complex and requires real work. Petitions for statewide, or federal offices must be filed Feb. 4. Even if a potential candidate gets enough signatures, an interim exercise, the pre-primary convention is required.
    Why someone runs for any office combines complex motivations, two keys being ego and the desire to serve. The ego part is real and necessary. The question is whether ego motivation dominates. My perspective here includes one massively unsuccessful race for city council in Albuquerque.

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  • What are we measuring?

    The smart-alecky middle schooler was getting A’s in all subjects except history, where he was scoring F’s. The history teacher asked what the problem was.
    Brimming with snotty self-confidence, the kid coolly demanded a payoff. Very simple, he said. He knew the teacher’s evaluation depended on his grades. This school had a performance-based pay system, so his test results would affect his teachers’ future pay. The kid was extorting money from all his other teachers to score A’s on tests, so they could get their pay increases.
    This was not a New Mexico school district. It was an episode of an undistinguished TV sitcom called “Til Death.” New Mexico does not currently have a performance-based pay system because there is widespread disagreement between the Martinez administration and — so far — a majority of legislators on how to assess performance, or even whether it should be done. But, oh boy, did that story hit home!
    The show is not produced here. Apparently, New Mexico is not unique in being deeply confused about how to pay teachers.

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  • Lessons learned from fracking conversation

    Re: Los Alamos Monitor Sunday Jan. 5, 2014: Defusing the explosive conversation on fracking.

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  • Reimagining, transforming N.M.’s economic future

    In a recent op-ed, Paul Gessing — president of the libertarian-leaning Rio Grande Foundation — pointed out that our state desperately needs new economic leadership.
    Looking at the facts, it’s impossible to disagree: unlike the rest of the country, New Mexico continues to lose thousands of jobs every year, a sign that our private sector is struggling and a reminder that continuing budget cuts pose a substantial threat to public sector employees.
    But new economic leadership simply isn’t enough. We also need the right kind of leaders with the experience and creativity necessary to fundamentally re-imagine New Mexico’s economic future.
    Here are three examples of how we can transform our state’s economy while respecting those essential qualities that define who we are.
    First, we need to recognize that New Mexico’s economic future is hiding in plain sight. Our state is home to thousands of entrepreneurs with new, innovative ideas. These are our state’s real job creators — if we support them. Instead, state government has largely ignored them. We’re wasting hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts trying to lure big-box stores to New Mexico. That’s a failed and false strategy.

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