Sen. Smith

State Senator John Arthur Smith, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, easily dispatched his Democratic primary opponent in an hour long radio debate, schooling her and the audience on the minutiae of the state budget and his prominent role in setting its course during a 32 year tenure that began in 1989.

The full debate on KTAL 1050 FM  in Las Cruces is here.

Smith, who has earned the moniker "Dr. No" for his budget cutting-ways, was only occasionally challenged by educator Neomi Martinez-Parra who seemed content to give short and incomplete answers. She let Smith walk away from the debate with an even clearer path to a primary win and a November victory as well. That's in spite of efforts of national and local progressives to oust Smith whose austerity politics has made him a target.

Smith, 78, was not willing to give more than an inch and maybe not even that. He defended the huge personal income tax cuts for high earners under Gov. Richardson and the corporate tax cut under Gov. Martinez. He said the the risk taken was to foster "economic development." Left on the table by his challenger was the fact that the cuts did not create jobs as promised and caused large budget shortfalls that continue to haunt the state.

Challenger Neomi Martinez-Parra was no match for Smith, whose budget knowledge isn't as familiar as the back of his hand but after thousands of hours in committee hearings, he knows the ins and outs. Martinez-Parra, a former vice-chair of the NM Dem Party, was caught flatfooted and reduced to repeatedly asserting that she is for "working families." But she did not put any meat on that bone nor did she even once rattle Smith.

Not that she didn't have a few good moments, especially when talking about her personal struggles and scoring Smith for voting against an increase in the working families tax credit. But that was just a nick as Smith comfortably conducted a budget tutorial for most of the telephone debate.

Martinez-Parra

The Deming lawmaker, a real estate appraiser, continued to argue against using the over $17 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund (LGPF) to plug the state budget hole or for very early childhood education. Martinez-Parra said she was in favor of using the fund but lacked specificity and failed to hold Smith accountable for killing the early childhood amendment in his committee as he boasted of his sponsorship of early kindergarten.

The debate made this news: Smith singled out the film industry and the generous rebates the state approved during MLG's first year in office. He said those rebates, which are costing the state over $60 million a year, but are set to soar into the hundreds of millions, are ripe for the plucking.

He said for every dollar the state spends on film rebates it gets back only forty-six cents in economic activity. "Those aren't my figures, they are from the Federal Reserve," he argued.

That was the only tax break Smith mentioned but again said that "everything is on the table" when it comes to trimming the  $7.6 billion state budget during a special session MLG says she will call for mid-June.

The Smith-Martinez-Parra contest in District 35 in the southwest is the most important of a number of Senate primaries the progressives are involved in as they target conservative D's. Others include Sens. Clemente Sanchez and Gabe Ramos. Those senators along with several others caucus with Senate Republicans to form a formidable conservative coalition that has ruled the chamber for a decade and thwarted liberal legislation approved in the House. But the progressives are drawing a bad hand this cycle.

First, Martinez-Parra looked great on paper but fizzled on the debate stage, the coronavirus has halted  person-to person campaigning and there's $350,000 in Chevron oil PAC money supporting three targeted senators--Smith, Sanchez and Ramos.

At the end of the first quarter Martinez-Parra reported $12,000 in cash on hand. Smith reported $98,000. She is getting some PAC help as he has but that is not the total anti-Smith forces were expecting.

If the Governor thought that she might have an easier path in the senate following the June primary, she can probably put it to rest.

MORE DEBATES

The two Dem candidates for the northern Public Regulation Commission (PRC) seat being vacated by Dem Valerie Espinoza squared off at an Internet debate sponsored by the Los Alamos branch of the League of Women voters. (Full debate here.)

Former Espanola Mayor and Santa fe City Councilor Joe Maestas and attorney Brian Harris disagreed on the  proposed constitutional amendment voters will decide in November that would eliminate the elected five member commission and have the Governor appoint three members to a revamped PRC.

Harris, who has worked on utility issues for the PRC and attorney general's office, said it's time for an appointed commission, saying it would professionalize the panel.

Maestas said it has been proven that states with elected commissions have lower utility rates and he rejects the amendment.

The League also sponsored a debate between Dem state Senator Richard Martinez and his primary challenger Leo Jaramillo. That debate is included in the link above.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020