Copyright \u00a9 2018 Albuquerque Journal<\/i><\/p>\n
SANTA FE \u2013 When Susana Martinez was sworn into office in 2011, she told a crowd of about 1,000 people \u2013 huddled together in rare single-digit weather \u2013 that New Mexicans could no longer endure misfortune and \u201cwait for our luck to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
But with her eight-year tenure as New Mexico governor coming to an end, Martinez faces a complex political legacy defined by court battles, far-reaching vetoes, expanded webcasting of state board meetings, multiple attempts at education reform, hard-hitting campaign tactics \u2013 and little luck, until recently, when it comes to the state\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
Martinez, a Republican, will hand over the reins of state government to Gov.-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, at a time of unprecedented incoming revenue \u2013 driven primarily by an oil boom in southeastern New Mexico \u2013 but her time presiding over the state was dominated by years of modest growth and two significant revenue downturns.<\/p>\n
In a Journal interview, Martinez said her economic record is strong and includes the recruitment of major new employers, including Facebook and Netflix. But factors outside her control \u2013 automatic federal budget cuts, the Great Recession and a crash in oil and gas prices \u2013 have squeezed state finances at times, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo other state has had those three headwinds,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
The former prosecutor\u2019s time in office was also marked by clashes with a Legislature controlled by Democrats for most of her tenure \u2013 Republicans had a majority for two years in the House \u2013 and she encountered staunch opposition from labor unions, especially teachers unions, that filed multiple lawsuits seeking to block her initiatives.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers also took her to court on several occasions, including a 2017 lawsuit that ended with the Supreme Court invalidating some of the governor\u2019s vetoes.<\/p>\n
Martinez, for her part, describes legislative sessions as among her toughest days in office because of the amount of time and money wasted on ceremonies and nonbinding legislation rather than real work, in her view.<\/p>\n
It was particularly difficult, she said, to deal with lawmakers who would tell her one thing privately then vote a different way in public.<\/p>\n
Martinez said she hopes, by contrast, to be remembered as someone who kept her word.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be known as a politician who will say what you need to say to get elected and then do something different once you\u2019re in office,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI hope I\u2019m remembered for fighting for the things I said I would fight for \u2013 and keeping my word.\u201d<\/p>\n
State Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said Martinez misunderstood her 2010 election victory as a mandate and failed to communicate effectively with legislators.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see it as a squandered opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also said there\u2019s little evidence to suggest the corporate income tax cuts pushed by the Martinez administration have led to new jobs in New Mexico, while adding that many local governments have had to raise their tax rates to offset a gradual loss in state dollars mandated by the 2013 tax package.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of cities and counties raised their gross receipts tax to pay for the corporate tax cut,\u201d Cervantes said. \u201cI\u2019m sure the average New Mexican is not thinking their pocketbook is much better eight years later, if at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/29\/a01_jd_30dec_suze11.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nRobert Felland, from Alaska, gets a hug from Gov. Susana Martinez after he bought the state\u2019s jet. Martinez handed over the keys to Felland at the Santa Fe Airport in August 2011. (Eddie Moore\/Albuquerque Journal)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Economic efforts<\/b><\/p>\n
Martinez was first elected governor in 2010, defeating then-Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, a Democrat, after vowing to curb corruption and streamline state government.<\/p>\n
She largely succeeded in reining in state government, as spending levels increased by only about 2 percent annually under her watch \u2013 from $5.4 billion in the 2012 budget year to $6.3 billion in the current fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think New Mexico benefited greatly from the tight fiscal ship she ran,\u201d said Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n
However, the Martinez administration faced ethics scandals of its own during the governor\u2019s tenure, including embezzlement charges being filed this year against former Taxation and Revenue Secretary Demesia Padilla and a federal grand jury investigation into how money was raised and spent for Martinez\u2019s 2010 inaugural celebration. The investigation ended with no criminal charges being filed.<\/p>\n
In addition, state revenue collections plummeted for a roughly two-year stretch starting in 2015, prompting sweeping budget cuts, reductions in some state services and other budget-balancing maneuvers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lived within our means, knowing we had to prioritize,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
Cole said Martinez inherited a difficult budget situation but enacted changes that have strengthened the state\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
Such changes included beefing up funding for the Local Economic Development Act \u2013 also known as the state\u2019s \u201cclosing fund\u201d \u2013 which is used to help lure out-of-state companies to New Mexico.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nRachel Peterson, Facebook director of data center strategy and development, right, joins Gov. Susana Martinez at the groundbreaking of the Facebook Data Center in Los Lunas in October 2016. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis\/Albuquerque Journal)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
That program was instrumental, Cole said, in helping the state land a massive Facebook data center near Los Lunas in 2016 and a deal to bring Netflix\u2019s first U.S. production hub to Albuquerque.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s clear evidence those policies have worked and are working,\u201d Cole said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get to choose the times you govern,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Smaller workforce<\/b><\/p>\n
Overall, the number of New Mexico state workers has decreased since Martinez took office \u2013 there are about 17,000 rank-and-file employees currently \u2013 and more workers have been leaving state government than have been hired for three consecutive years.<\/p>\n
As a result, some state agencies have struggled with high vacancy rates that critics say have led to high overtime rates and poor morale. The statewide vacancy rate is currently 19 percent, according to the State Personnel Office.<\/p>\n
Martinez said that before she took office, the state workforce had ballooned to the point that it wasn\u2019t even clear what some employees did.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw too many government employees for the mission of the state,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But she said her administration also worked to boost staffing where needed \u2013 in public safety, child protective services and the Department of Corrections, for example.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t just cut,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
Carter Bundy, the legislative and political director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union in New Mexico, said the tax cuts signed by Martinez have not had their intended impact and have instead created a structural deficit that\u2019s currently masked by the oil production boom in the Permian Basin.<\/p>\n
He also criticized Martinez for vetoing several bills seeking to increase the state\u2019s $7.50-per-hour minimum wage, which has not been changed since 2009. However, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces have all enacted higher minimum wages.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a perspective of providing services to the people of New Mexico, her legacy will be very poor,\u201d Bundy said. \u201cShe\u2019s done real damage to the state of New Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, he did credit the outgoing governor for keeping an open mind on the subject of pension solvency legislation and for her 2013 decision to expand the state\u2019s Medicaid rolls under the federal Affordable Care Act, which allowed thousands of low-income residents of a state with one of the nation\u2019s highest poverty rates to qualify for the joint federal-state health care program.<\/p>\n