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.