Old tapes

I do not want this effort to be seen as a Susana Martinez-bashing exercise. Frankly, I'm not sure what this effort is going to turn out to be.
However, given that Martinez in her State of the State address this week once again trotted out that tired old lie that she had to overcome the biggest structural deficit in the state's history, I am compelled once again (having written this multiple times on the job at my newspaper) to point out what anyone who knows anything about state finances already understands.
There is no such thing as a structural deficit in New Mexico. There is no such thing as a budget deficit of any kind in New Mexico. By law, we can't operate with a deficit. Bill Richardson did not leave a deficit of any kind when he left the office to Martinez. Each year the legislature comes up with a budget based on the revenue it has. If revenue is inadequate to spending requests, spending requests are denied. It's that simple.
Martinez came into office in 2010, which was the year when the recession really took hold in New Mexico. It was hard to come up with a budget under those circumstances, but the legislature did, just as it always has.

Susana the Obscure

The Washington Post reports that our governor has become "a punch line among some GOP elites in D.C."

It is a perspective that pre-dates Susana Martinez's recent run-in with Santa Fe police, who responded to a request by an Eldorado Hotel desk clerk to break up a noisy party that the governor was attending.

The Post reported Dec. 23 that while "on paper" Martinez, the nation's first Hispanic female governor, looks like a smart choice to be a Republican presidential candidate's running mate, Martinez's reputation "within corners of the consultant class" is that she is "Palinesque: gaffe-prone, not intellectually curious, and not up for the rigors of a national campaign."

My question is, how do they know?

Martinez rarely talks with reporters. I know Republican lobbyists for business interest groups with whom she declines to meet for reasons they have yet to learn. A prominent Dona Ana County Republican told me in confidence during her first race for governor that he knew nothing about her, even though she had been the county's elected district attorney for years at that point.

Her public appearances largely consist of photos opportunities of her reading with school children and scripted speeches before friendly audiences. You may have noticed that when news media need a comment from the governor, the governor is almost never quoted. The quotes are almost always from her spokesmen. Colleagues tell me that when they try to get an interview with the governor her handlers insist on written questions in advance. Her press conferences are very short, they begin with a statement, and they end after three or so questions.

I am aware of two times the public got a glimpse of Martinez without the filters of prepared speeches and spokesmen. The first was when Mother Jones released audio of Martinez wondering why teachers need more money when they have summers off. She also had some unkind words for her opponent, Diane Denish. Mother Jones also released emails in which Martinez asked aides during her first gubernatorial campaign what WIPP is (it's the nuclear waste storage facility near Carlsbad and long a source of public debate in New Mexico).

The second is the recordings of an inebriated-sounding governor demanding 911 operators recall the police sent to the Eldorado, something that as a former prosecutor she must have known would not happen except in jurisdictions where the police are in the habit of caving to political pressure.

Having mentioned Mother Jones, I am expecting to receive the usual comment from the governor's office, that the tapes and email were private property stolen by a disgruntled former campaign staff member for use by the radical left to undermine Martinez as a candidate. What has never been explained is how a candidate for the state's highest office did not know about a controversial part (WIPP) of a major New Mexico industry (nuclear science) that serves one of the state's most important institutions (Los Alamos National Laboratory).

If "the GOP elites in D.C." have seen enough of unfiltered Martinez to know she is Palinesque and not intellectually curious, they have seen a great deal more of Martinez unfiltered than most New Mexicans. Most of us can only guess at her intellectual chops.

My one direct dealing with the governor occurred after a speech she gave before a trade group. She had just announced some interesting tax reform proposals. As is usual for such speeches, there were some ideals painted in broad strokes, not much in the way of policy detail and no mention of implementation detail. As she left the dais, I approached her to ask some follow up questions. Before she could say a thing, two of her aides inserted themselves physically between Martinez and me and said they'd have Tom Clifford give me a call. Martinez disappeared into the crowd. Clifford is Finance and Administration secretary and probably Martinez's most astute fiscal policy adviser, but he's not in charge.

I have known every New Mexico governor since Dave Cargo. That was a first.