How Politics Works – In New Mexico
by John Weckerle
We recently read the following articles from Clearly New Mexico:
- Public Records Request Shows Gov’s “Small Business-Friendly Task Force” Met In Secret; Is Packed With Lobbyists for Oil and Gas, Mining and Dairy
- Are You Sitting Down? Here Are The Recommendations From The Gov’s “Small Business-Friendly” Task Force
The articles, which appear very thoroughly researched and provide links to references, discusses the establishment, configuration, and interim recommendations of Governor Susana Martinez’s “Small Business-Friendly Task Force.” We encourage our readers to follow the links and read through the articles.
After being stonewalled by the Governor’s office in response to informal requests, the folks at Clearly New Mexico submitted an Inspection of Public Records request to obtain information on the task force’s makeup and activities. The article makes several points: that the task force was established and has operated outside the view of the public eye; that small business is underrepresented and big business is overrepresented on the task force; that the task force is packed with lobbyists representing major sources of funding for Ms. Martinez’s campaign; and that rather than focusing on problems and potential solutions, the task force is focused primarily on supporting Ms. Martinez’s large business-friendly regulatory agenda. We’ll acknowledge that some of the people on the task force appear to be small business owners, but it does appear that the task force is dominated by large business interests and Martinez Cabinet appointees.
There are a few things we find disturbing about the situation. First, the primary focus does appear to be supporting the Governor’s regulatory agenda. As quoted in the second article, the preamble to the task force’s Interim Report states:
“The task force does not wish to present a laundry list of problems to the Governor but develop solutions (sic). The goal is to provide the Governor and/or agencies cover when repealing or revising a rule or regulation thus avoiding litigation if possible.
The final report to the Governor will include a road map of short and long-term tactics and strategies, including the use of executive orders and legislative strategies. Each troublesome regulation identified will be accompanied by a recommendation on the best way to remove their negative impacts (sic).”
So much for identifying problems and finding solutions. It would appear that the entire purpose is to advance – without any attention to fact or analysis – the interests of big business, most notably (but not exclusively) those of the “conventional” energy and construction/development industries. Among the top industries listed as contributing to the Martinez campaign are Oil & Gas ($1,008,201) and several construction/development industries totaling over $1,000,000, making these two broad sectors responsible for much more than a quarter of the Martinez campaign’s revenues. According to the Interim Report from the committee, the construction subcommittee is looking to repeal , modify, or replace collective bargaining provisions in the 2009 amendments to the Public Works Minimum Wage Act. New Mexico is turning into Wisconsin. Lawyers and lobbyists, very prevalently visible on the committee according to the Clearly New Mexico article, were the sixth highest contributing industry at $242,144. We’ll point out that Koch Industries, which has gotten some media attention of late, provided $10,000 to the Martinez campaign.
The Clearly New Mexico articles do a great job in looking through the committee. We decided to take a closer look at some of the personnel, looking at various web sources, especially Followthemoney.org. Here’s a little of what we found:
- We only looked at one lobbyist. Roxanne Rivera-Wiest is listed as representing the Associated Bulders and Contractors, Inc., New Mexico Chapter. ACBI contributed $17,000 to the Martinez campaign.
- Frank Yates, past president of Yates Petroleum – Yates Petroleum is listed as a “top contributor” (number 11) and contributed $56,000 to the Martinez campaign.
- Perry Bendicksen, “Albuquerque venture capitalist” – We find little on Perry Bendicksen as a venture capitalist and much on Mr. Bendicksen as an attorney representing venture capitalists for the firm Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber Shreck, LLP. His page at Brownstein et al. indicates that he is a member of the Board of Directors and Chair-Elect of the Association of Commerce and Industry of New Mexico. He is also the Honorary French Consul for New Mexico, whatever that means. He has represented Gupo Cementos de Chihuahua, the New Mexico State Investment Council, the College of Santa Fe (sale of assets to City of Santa Fe), and others.
- Sarah Chavez, listed as Director of Sales and Marketing at El Pinto Foods in Albuquerque – We didn’t find any contribution information. However, “mom and pop” does not describe El Pinto Foods, which (according to their web site) produces 2,000 cases of chile sauce per day. Your editor found it in a grocery store in Sutton, West Virginia a few years ago.
- Dale Dekker, listed as Albuquerque architect – Mr. Dekker is one of the principals of Dekker Perich Sabatini, with offices in Albuquerque, NM, Amarillo, TX, and Las Vegas, NV. According to the DPS web site: “Dale serves on the executive board of the Economic Forum, the boards of the NextGen Economy, the Albuquerque Economic Development (AED), the National Board of Directors for the National Association of Industrial and Office Park developers (NAIOP) and was appointed by Governor Bill Richardson to the Construction Industries Commission and the Governor’s Education Progress Agenda Task Force.” Followthemoney.org lists a modest $500 contribution to the Martinez campaign.
- Kevin Yearout, listed as Albuquerque mechanical maintenance operator – This one is interesting. Kevin Yearout is listed as having donated $5,000 to the Martinez campaign as an individual. Yearout Mechanical of Albuquerque is listed as having donated $10,000 to the Martinez campaign. Cheryl Yearout donated $2,000, and according to Dexknows.com, there are a Kevin and Cheryl Yearout living at the same address in Albuquerque. Lian Yearout donated $5,000 to the Martinez campaign. We found multiple references online to a “Kevin and Lian Yearout Foundation” in Albuquerque. If these are all related, that amounts to $22,000 from the Yearout network.
- Mike Unthank, listed as Independent management consultant in Albuquerque – A Robert Michael Unthank is listed here as being on the Martinez transition team for the General sErvices and Information Technology Committee, and fits the description in the Clearly New Mexico article. Followthemoney.org lists a $250 donation from a Mike Unthank of Albuquerque to the Martinez campaign and a total of $1,150 from Robert Unthank of Albuquerque, bringing the potential grand total to $1,400. Robert Michael Unthank was a registered lobbyist from 2005 to 2009, representing Santa Fe Trust, Inc. and Tetra Corp. Jigsaw.com refers to a Robert Unthank as Human Resources Manager at Tetra Corp in Albuquerque.
- Carol Wight, listed as CEO of the New Mexico Restaurant Association – The NMRA donated $5,000 to the Martinez campaign.
Whether any of this seems to represent a “pay to play” situation bears some consideration. Some of it does seem to come rather close. All things considered, it certainly does seem as if “politics as usual” and “business as usual” are close companions in New Mexico, and especially in the Martinez Administration.
200 Responses “How Politics Works – In New Mexico”
One can only surmise, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it must be close to a duck.
Good article.
This comes as absolutely no surprise. Her latest repeal of a campaign promise is her support of HB 628 that levys a 1.75% tax on educators under the guise of helping their pension fund. It does nothing to enhance the pension fund and ignores what the retirement board itself says it need to assure the funds health. What it does is balance the state budget on the backs of educators who haven’t seen a raise in 3 years and have already shouldered for two years 1.5% of the promised state contribution to their pension. In my mind, it’s worse than “politics as usual.” It’s slash and burn politics
No kidding, and it’s getting worse, as evidenced by Ms. Martinez’s recent firing of the state Labor Relations Board and her earlier firing of its Executive Director. Ms. Martinez’s latest moves are part of what appears to be a nationwide effort to cripple organized labor and rig the system in favor of employers (government or otherwise). This goes beyond ideology; it appears to be a massive incentive to put the interests of big business and government first and those doing the work last. One need only take a look at the campaign contributions to see just how this has come to pass.
Wonder how these compares to the contributions Bill Richardson received when he was elected?
I wouldn’t classify Yates Petroleum and Yearout Mechanical as “big business and government”. This country is built on the backs of these types of businesses that employ the most people and watch out for the local economy.
My grandfather left the Democratic Party Years ago because of their lack of support for the small business man, of which he was one. He then went on to build a small chain of 4 restaurants. I have never since met a man who looked out for his employees more than he. This is why I’ve always gravitated toward employment with small locally owned companies who keep the money local. If you think the labor unions are where it’s at, you don’t know their history.
As the subject of the article is Governor Martinez’s small business friendly task force, we haven’t researched Mr. Richardson’s contributions, so it would be inappropriate for us to try and make a comparison. Our focus on Yates and Yearout was on contributions, not business size. Subsequent research on the contributions of people connected with Yates Petroleum has provided some very interesting insight and may be the subject of a future article.
Your grandfather is to be congratulated on his success in business. Your editor is also a small business owner, providing web services to small businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations, and quite aware of the challenges that face small businesses in today’s market. Our specific enterprise has seen little effect from either political party.
As for the history and/or pros and cons of unions, this is beyond the scope of this article but also may be the subject of a future article.