Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Legislators talk about ethics reform, priorities

Jason W. Brooks News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdendinger@news-bulletin.com

This is the second of a two-part series. The first part appeared in the Jan. 17 edition of the News-Bulletin.

With the 60-day legislative session about to begin on Tuesday, the News-Bulletin decided to invite Valencia County's state representatives and senators to a round-table, question and answer session.

Wednesday afternoon, four familiar faces and a freshman senator sat down and talked about some of the challenges facing them in the 2009 session.

Present were for the round-table were Sen. Michael Sanchez (D-Dist. 29), who is beginning his fifth four-year term as senator, freshman senator Eric Griego (D-Dist. 14) and sophomore senator David Ulibarri (D-Dist. 30), along with sophomore representatives Andrew Barreras (D-Dist. 7), Elias Barela (D-Dist. 8)

VCNB: What geographical areas do you represent? Is there anything specific for your municipalities or district that you're hoping to get funding for?

Barela: "I represent Belen, Los Lunas, Los Chavez, Jarales, Highland Meadows, Casa Colorada, and a portion of Bosque Farms. I think the first issue is: Is there going to be any money to do anything with? I think paving roads and patching roads, money for just building the infrastructure. Los Lunas needs an interchange and Jarales needs an overpass, but those are millions-of-dollars projects, and that type of capital outlay probably isn't realistic, so it's the smaller projects."

Ulibarri: "I represent Milan and the City of Grants, Laguna, Acoma, northern Socorro County and from El Cerro and Rio Communities. Most of our issues are infrastructure, water, sewer. Roads are always an issue; the City of Grants is having lots of trouble with roads, too. There's a lot of needs out there; more than there is money.

"One initiative I've been pushing for is looking for ways for revenue. We have resources that we need to put to work. We have an industry in the Grants Mineral Belt that could put almost 7,000 people to work right now. There's $2.1 billion in four years just for exploration, and we getting cut down by environmentalists and regulations. People have to realize that. This is a new industry, not like it was in the past."

Barela: "The U.S. is importing uranium right now."

Ulibarri: "We also have 600 people in the Silver City area out of work with mine closures. Where are we going to put these people to work? Solar and wind, I'm for those, but the industry was there before, but they have to be part of the mix."

Barreras: "I represent all the way from the south end of Bosque Farms to Tierra Grande and even one precinct in Belen. Valencia High is in my district. Thank God we got those roads paved and library books for them and things like that. We're working hard on getting more street signs out there.

"People tell me, 'Don't say raise taxes — you'll never get re-elected!' But really, how are we going to fund roads and different things? We need to find alternative ways to fund things, like bringing in new industry. Highways are falling apart all over the state."

Barela: "We want to keep the economy growing. That's why I don't think we should raise taxes now. I'm not sure we need to do that."

Sanchez: "I represent everything except Rio Communities, Bosque, Bosque Farms, Meadow Lake and El Cerro, but everything in between. I've got all of Peralta, but everyone (from the area) pitches in to help each other. The only (specific legislature) requests I've received (as of Jan. 14) are from Belen Schools and the Village of Los Lunas.

"I don't have anything from the City of Belen or the Town of Peralta at this time. I have a feeling that because they know we're in a budget crunch, these entities know there isn't much money, and may be withholding requests. That doesn't mean they're not going to make requests from us. They'll present to us different things before our deadline is in."

VCNB: Is it advantageous to, say, for Los Lunas Schools to take the year off and make a big request the following year?

Sanchez: "Funny you should mention that. I'm going to propose in our caucus to the Senate Democrats that we don't take any capital outlay this year, that we put that money toward the debt. I don't know that it helps a municipality one way or the other to wait. If their needs are crucial, we try to find the money to help them out, like we did when we busted to get Peralta, to get it up and running, at least the start-up cost.

"If each Senator gets $300,000 this year, we'll be lucky. When you think of all the municipalities and school districts that ask us for money, is it worth it to put $10,000 here, $20,000 there? We need to look at the critical needs and which projects we can complete. One big goal of mine is to take care of small businesses in Belen and revitalize the downtown and make it look attractive. We can utilize the Rail Runner. We don't have a lot of money, but the people of this county are very, very intelligent people. We can work together to come up with solutions. We also can't forget the agricultural heritage of our area."

Griego: "I have the southern part of Albuquerque from about the Rio Grande Zoo south, all of Isleta and Bosque Farms, Meadow Lake and the East Mountain communities of Chilili and near Tijeras. Bosque Farms has given me their wish list that includes a new police car. Peralta I'm still trying figure out. Isleta has a senior center, but I don't have a wish list from them.

"The biggest thing that threatens the revenue stream is a new tax mechanism called tax increment development districts, or TIDDS. There's not any in the county yet, but they're coming. There's two big ones in Albuquerque. Basically, this law allows developers to keep state tax. Mesa del Sol, which is in my district, is one of these. "

Barela: "These TIDDS are intended to be for blighted areas, not 'greenfields' or undeveloped parts. It's a big loophole."

Griego: "They're pulling out all the stops because this is big money. We'll be going up there with a vengeance and asking, 'Can we afford it?'"

VCNB: What are we going to see as far as campaign finance and ethics reform?

Sanchez: "All kinds of ethics reforms might be proposed based on what's happened recently. I suspect a campaign contribution bill will pass. I know the attorney general (Gary King) wants an ethics commission, and I don't know that type of bill will pass yet.

"We actually have standing committees in both the Senate and House that deal with ethics violations. Disclosure will be an interesting debate. We've had attack ads against us with no disclosure of who pays for them, and that will be part of the discussion. I'm pretty sure you'll see an ethics bill pass this session."

Griego: "Albuquerque's one of the few cities in the nation that has public financing for elections. The next mayoral election, there will be the first using public financing. I'll put a proposal out there to get us talking about the role of money in campaigns. The other ones likely to be out there are contracting and procurement reform bills."

Barela: "I think there should be an ethics commission, and it should have jurisdiction over every little government. An independent one with subpoena power."

Barreras: "I hope people realize we are not paid. I get a chuckle when people call and tell me I'm making $100,000 and so I should be doing this, this and this. We do need to revamp how we do Legislature in New Mexico."

Griego: "People are really concerned about 1) not forgetting what you're doing up there, but also 2) to make rules so that it doesn't happen again."

VCNB: Are there any other bills you plan to introduce?

Griego: "I have a green jobs bill, modeled after the incentivizing with the film industry."

Sanchez: "I have a bunch: ... (including) recycling, and I'm going to turn some of them over to the freshmen because I'm not going to do 100 bills."

Barela: "All bills you introduce require a lot of time. I have one requiring electronic medical records to reasonably protect the privacy and allow access by the patient. The other one is the more TIDD oversight."

Barreras: "The waste plant behind the Tomé Cemetery still needs to be moved, and a water billing issue with Rio Communities."

Griego: "One prediction: The Senate will beat the House in the charity basketball game."

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version