New Mexico State Senator Dede Feldman's Blog

Justifying the Unjustifiable, Looking into the Abyss

            The current standoff in Washington has seniors, retirees and many others here in the North Valley worried.  A few days ago, a checker at my local supermarket, John Brooks, at 12^th and Candelaria, called me over as I was buying some fruit for a potluck I was going to that afternoon.

            She recognized me from my campaign walks through her neighborhood. 

            “Senator Dede, What are you doing to us?” asked Maria Soderstadt, a cashier who has been working at John Brooks for as long as I can remember.  “Retirees can’t take this anxiety. Social Security---that’s our money.  We paid it and now we depend on it. 

            “I am 70 years old,” she continued. “ I work everyday.  Every part of my body hurts, but I work.  I’m not so much worried about me, but my sister…she gets $500 a month I Social Security and she lives on that.  It’s not fair to take it away. “

            There are millions of Maria Soderstadts out there across the country wondering how their leaders deserted them, and how they could possibly play this risky game with the lives of America’s most fragile citizens.

            And I had a tough time explaining. I am often called upon these days to justify the unjustifiable.

            I’ve always believed  (and I’m in the Democratic mainstream here) that the greatness of any society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.  So it’s a particular affront to me, too, to see huge program cuts going forward, with nothing gained in return, except maybe a temporary hike in the debt ceiling.

            I hope that’s not where we end up—and so do the majority of the American people.  Polling data from almost every source shows a majority people want a balanced approach, with tax increases on the wealthy along with program cuts, and that a plurality will blame the Republicans for any default.  But no matter, that still leaves seniors, people with disabilities, children, as well as ordinary folks like you and me with checking and savings accounts holding the bag. 

     Federal Medicaid Cuts Loom

            If we use the Ryan budget as a guide, the biggest bite may come out of the hides of Medicaid recipients—and states who would have to pick up the pieces for nursing home residents and the disabled, especially.  Rep. Christopher Van Hollen, of Maryland, has a good take on this at in yesterday's Baltimore Sun at http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-medicaid-20110725,0,1063569.story             

Families USA recently put out a report, which quantifies the jobs, lost in New Mexico with federal Medicaid cuts.  It is not a pretty picture.  They even have a Medicaid calculator where you can calculate the economic loss to the state at www.familiesusa.org.  

 

Tobacco Troubles May Have Big Impact

 

               

One of the bright spots for health care and research programs targeted to tobacco-related illnesses in New Mexico has been the Tobacco Settlement.  Under the national settlement, reached in 1998, tobacco companies pay into a state account set up to offset the expenses we face as a result of tobacco usage. The payments are commensurate with tobacco sales in the state. We’ve gotten over $489 million from the participating manufacturers since 1999, and have used it to fund cancer research at UNM and Lovelace, cessation and prevention programs for kids statewide.  As a result, the rate of teen smoking is down.   Now the fund is in serious jeopardy as a result of Gov. Martinez’s veto of SB 397.  The Attorney General says that not only could we could loose tens of million in future payments, but also we could be required to pay back $160 million in past payments.   Whoa!  Talk about unintended consequences.      The reasons for this problem are complex and have to do with an escrow account into which the non-participating manufacturers pay their share and the state’s efforts to diligently enforce New Mexico’s law. Sales of tobacco products on tribal lands have complicated the issue, and an inadvertent clause in the 2010 cigarette tax law triggered the problem.      SB 397 (passed overwhelmingly in both chambers) was the correction to this problem.  Since it was vetoed, the tobacco companies have signaled their intention to sue the state and get back funds from past years.      Read more about the problem (if your eyes have not already glazed over) here. It is an article by Attorney General Gary King.       An entirely new wrinkle to these tobacco troubles appeared this week.  The AP reported that the Cabinet Secretary Designate for Indian Affairs, Arthur Allison, owns a smoke shop on the Navajo reservation, which has been selling contraband cigarettes, even after warned not to do so.  This may further jeopardize funds coming to the state from the settlement.

 

 

Of Fires and Fireworks

Las Conchas Fire:  Sacred Landscapes Destroyed, Hearts Broken… but Life will Go On in the Forrest

            Last weekend I drove from Espanola to Jemez Springs along NM 4, through the heartland of the Jemez Mountains. I’ve had a personal attachment to that magnificent landscape, especially the Valles Caldera, ever since I came here in 1975. My husband and I have explored backcountry of Bandolier, the valles of the Caldera, and the trails winding through tent rocks, volcanic tuff, ponderosas and pinon forests.  Like other nearby urbanites, we’ve sent our offspring to summer camp in the Jemez, and have enjoyed a weekend place in Jemez Springs since 1992. 

            That is all history now. Smoke covers the Parajito ski area in Los Alamos, and there is an eerie silence among the blackened remains of Coyote Call trail, the floor of the Valle Grande, Bland and Alamo canyons.  The largest and hottest fire New Mexico has ever seen has burned over 233 square miles. Bandolier National Monument will be closed for a year. And the fire is not out, despite 2,400 pick-and-shovel  “hot shots” on the ground, high-tech air support and a military-style incident command formed to fight the battle.

            The land defines us here in New Mexico and we are greatly attached to it-- even if we don’t depend upon it for our livelihood.  We look to it to connect us to the natural order of things, a connection that was severed as I watched the initial smoke column billow over Cat Mesa near my cabin on June 26 (above) . Whipped by 40 mph winds, the fire grew faster in that first Sunday than in all the rest of the week.

            “This will be a great teaching opportunity for us,” the young biologist told me at the Valles Caldera Headquarters.  “We were planning some controlled burns in there anyway,” she said.  It was the kind of remark that drew me out of the selfish thought that never again during my lifetime will I see the uninterrupted green of the beautiful watersheds that make up the Jemez.

                      On Deck: Fireworks Ban to Prevent Future Disasters

     As the fire in the Jemez raged on, many of you contacted me to ask if we could allow the Governor to ban fireworks in times of drought.  She currently does not have that power. I recounted the history of my attempt to pass a bill to give the Gov. that power in the wake of the Bosque fire, which was caused by fireworks, here in the North Valley in 2003.  (To make a long story short, the bill was defeated after an award-winning performance by the lobbyist for the fireworks industry who indicated that a mom-and-pop business would be destroyed if a ban was enacted.  His tearful testimony was effective and in spite of the presence of uniformed firemen from around the state pleading for a ban, the bill was tabled.) Fast forward: I am now working the Governor’s office on this public safety issue and expect it to surface in one of the upcoming sessions.  Our bill will give cities and counties more flexibility to ban fireworks, too.