Thanks for Commenting
Hilarious. The Land Office starts off with some mild dishonesty by using nominal dollars. Then it's off to the races, blithely omitting the unprecedented price spikes in 2 commodities (oil & natural gas) that comprise the bulk of taxable revenue for the Land Office, during fiscal 2006 to improbably attribute the gain in revenue to, um, great management skills. It's called a windfall.
Then the capper: Why does organized labor hate our children so much?
Very troubling indeed...
Listen to the anti-oil and gas rhetoric coming from Baca, and Lyons management skills do seem great indeed. The alternative, if Baca were elected, would undoubtedly hurt our children.
I did not say organized labor hates our children. I just said they put themselves first.
The point I was trying to make is that a 4th grader could've impressively boosted oil & natural gas revenues in the wake of Katrina & disrupted ME supply & Alaskan pipeline trouble (check a 70 year price chart). Attributing the swollen coffers to any policies or acumen of Lyons is either dishonest or naive; the most that can be deduced from the revenue numbers is that he is apparently not grossly corrupt or incompetent. Implying that Baca, whether "anti-oil" or not, would somehow have failed to cash the royalty checks that rise by themselves with the market is absurd.
Now that natural gas prices have corrected, are you going to blame Lyons for the coming drop in natural gas royalty receipts compared to 2006? Does he no longer care about are children enough to skillfully manipulate global commodity markets so as to ensure them a bright future?
There's a perfectly rational argument to be made about how much drilling / exploration is either desirable or necessary to maintain sufficient state funding, and how a land commissioner from either party might tip those calculations. Construing some historically extraordinary market activity as a credit to one party and an indictment of the other doesn't cut it.
Christine is the President of the NM Teachers Federation which is affiliated with, but not the same as, the American Federation of Teachers.
Crashline,
Everyone is blaming George Bush with increasing the price of gas. And now they are blaming him for the decrease in the price of gas because the election is coming up. He can't catch a break.
The issue with Baca and Lyons is that Lyons see the position as outlined in the constitution: maximize the revenues that go to the schools and the general fund. Baca sees the position as one to make a political statement.
Baca was a horrible mayor and is a horrible human being. It would be a shame for the people of the state of New Mexico to elect him as the commissioner of public lands
A horrible human being? Come on, Mario. Baca, IMHO, is a human who has had political ambitions in keeping with his desire to see his values put into action. What stands out is that his goals for the office of SLO are, as you have said, in conflict with the constitutional purpose of the position. For that reason alone, Lyons is the better candidate. But Baca horrible? Don't go Dendahl on us, now. We need rational arguments here, not vituperative hyperbole.
The other pertinent point to be made here is that Baca's sympathies towards the needs of organized labor have very little to do with the office for which he is running. State Land Office doesn't have a lot to do with labor negotiations, does it?
Hey Chris, I didn't call Baca "a horrible human being." That's not my style. You're going to have to take that up with Thomas Zamora.
You and I are on the same page why Baca should not be elected.
Oops, sorry Mario. I missed the tagline there.
Commenting by HaloScan
