6-23-11 Third Strike for Susanna
Published in the Alamogordo Daily News as ‘Firing two cooks won't cut the mustard, or the state deficit’ on 6/25/2011. Also published in the Roswell Daily Record and the Las Cruces Sun-News.
by Ellen Wedum
To the Editor:For the third time, Republican Governor Susana Martinez has lost a legal dispute over her arrogant abuse of her executive responsibilities.
The New Mexico Supreme Court invalidated a line-item veto by the governor that reduced an appropriation from $150,000 to $50,000 for a housing program, The governor did that by striking a single digit — the "1'' in the $150,000.
The justices unanimously said the governor exceeded her constitutional powers and ruled that the $150,000 will be available in the state budget for oversight of the state's low-income housing program. Changing the AMOUNT of an appropriation is the same as writing legislation, which is solely the responsibility of the legislative branch of our state government.
Previously, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled against her when she attempted to prevent the implementation of both a rule aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions and a measure which would control pollution from the dairy industry.
Then the Court ordered that two members of the Public Employee Labor Relations Board be reinstated, declaring her arbitrary removal of them to be an unconstitutional abuse of her authority.
Is a fourth strike coming up? The justices said they will rule later on the second disputed veto, in which Martinez rejected an estimated $128 million tax increase on businesses to pay for unemployment benefits. Both the Association of Commerce and Industry and the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce strongly supported this bill. The unemployment program is projected to run out of money in early 2012, and the higher taxes were to take effect in January 2012. Insolvency of the program could trigger an even higher Federal tax burden on businesses.
The state Constitution allows line-item or partial vetoes in bills that appropriate money for specific programs or services. However, legislators contend the unemployment legislation didn't allocate any specific amount — making the tax veto improper.
All these court cases cost taxpayer money. Martinez should learn to do her job. Firing two cooks is not going to make up for all this costly litigation.