Home Page | Bullets List
Previous | Next

Let's have a vote----For the last two years I've been trying to come up with a name for what is happening in Santa Fe---but I am stumped! Should the name be "The Ray and Manny Show" or should Manny get top billing and we call it the "Manny and Ray Show" or do you have another name that can be put into print??? Enclosed is a card for your suggestion and/or vote.

Some hints---They are both very smart (in fact they are two of the smartest men in Santa Fe). I think Manny has the best sense of humor. He even laughs at himself, which seems to be hard for Raymond to do. On the other hand, Ray is smooth and knows how to get the business people's support no matter what he does to the business community. They are both fairly good looking and I'm jealous. They are both trial lawyers and endorsed by the unions, so that doesn't count. Please vote on this very important issue. It might be the only thing you can influence in Santa Fe.

Even though there are many acts in Santa Fe, it is still the Ray and Manny show... "The greatest show in New Mexico"... sponsored by the Democrat Party and financed by the Yellow Boots Club. Now let me tell you about this show.

Let's start with the first act of the Ray and Manny show. We have the Ethics Bill, starring Rep. Underwood, supported by "Bud" Mulcock. (Bud is not a representative, but he was the Co-Chair of the Ethics Task Force. Bud, before he retired, was the No. 2 man at PNM under Jerry Geist. Bud has been a lifelong Democrat.) The ethics task force committee came up with a fairly good bill. I served as an advisory member.

I like the original bill with one exception, it sets up an Ethics Oversight Committee which consists of a membership totally named by Ray and Manny. Because of this exception, Representative Christensen and I voted against it when it came out of the committee. Fifty percent of the committee should be named by Republicans and fifty percent by Democrats. This is a must because few people will ever question the Democratic leadership on ethics, especially if they owe their appointment to Ray and Manny. Before the final vote on this, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters were strangely silent on this issue. Why???? In Congress, the Ethics Committee is appointed 50% Democrat and 50% Republican by each party's leadership.

Another interesting fact: a Very Important Person on the committee is Jamie Koch. He has been both Ray's main fund raiser for the speaker's fund and Bruce King's treasurer of the Golden Boot Club. (This club's primarily made up of businessmen who give $1,000 donation to Bruce King's campaign election committee. It has raised over $500,000.00.)

Because of that, Jamie was a very important person on the Ethics Committee. Whenever he spoke, everyone listened. One of his motions proposed to the committee passed fast with very little debate on the last day. This motion prohibited Federal office holders from using their federal campaign money to run for state offices. So now, U.S. Representative Bill Richardson, has a $400,000 campaign fund that he is unable to use if he runs for governor. All this in the name of ethics. Very interesting!

In the senate part of the Manny and Ray show, the first act is DWI. The main actors are Tito Chavez and the Democrat leadership. Tito is carrying Attorney General Udall's bill but the Democrat leaders (Lopez, Aragon and Jennings) are pushing another one. When information on the leaders' bill came out last Thursday, February 4, here are some of the strange things they wanted:

ALCOHOL-RELATED LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS

ISSUE	CURRENT LAW	PROPOSED LAW
Restricted times for package liquor sales.	Mon-Sat., 7:00 a.m.- 2:00 am. Sunday, no package sales except wineries. Petty misdemeanor for any conviction	Monday-Saturday, 10:00 am. to 10:00 p.m. Sunday, 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Restricted times for bar drink sales.	Mon.-Sat., 7:00 a.m.-2:00 am. Sunday, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 am.	Monday-Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. Friday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Sunday 12:00 p.m. To 10:00 p.m.
Alcohol servers requirements/training.	none	Provide alcohol education programs.
Wholesalers.	None	Require wholesalers to sell alcohol at same price regardless of volume of sales.

 

Items 1 and 2 above mainly help the liquor license holder work easier hours and
allows Sunday sales. The third item is good because bar employees would be given required training to recognize people who have had too much to drink. It will lower bar insurance. The last item above will help the very small bars because there will be no volume discounts. All in the name of fighting DWI.

The trouble is some of the church people and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers think they might be winning. This act is quite a show (an illusionary show of smoke and mirrors).

Another lead act in the Manny and Ray show is the Max Coll and Lucky Varela act--- called the New Mexicare bill. New Mexicare will take care of you. The bill proposes to take 8% of your salary/income and another 3.5% from your employer and give everyone free health care. It will collect $2.4 BILLION DOLLARS!, which is more than the state budget is now.

They say it will bring people to this state. It will---anyone who tests HIV Positive (AIDS) or has any other illnesses considered catastrophic and expensive will come! We will become a medical dumping ground and New Mexico will be known as the AIDS Capitol of this country! It will break some businesses and force others to leave the state. Each doctor would be paid by the state. It will probably bankrupt the state. And don't you think many good doctors will leave the state? If you think lines are long at the Albuquerque Motor Vehicles Department, you ain't seen nothing yet!!

The following business groups have come out against the Max and Lucky bill:

Small Business Women
NM Medical Association
Nat'l Fed. of Independ. Bus.
Life Underwriters
HMO Lobbyist
Health Insurers
Hispano Chamber of Commerce
Blue Cross/Blue Shield
Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce
Assoc. of Commerce & Industry

But these Representatives have signed on this bill--36--enough to pass the bill.

Abeyta	Baca, E.S.	Baca, P.	Coll	Foy
Gallegos	Garcia	Gentry	Gurule	Hawk
Huerta	Lujan	Luna	Madalena	Martinez, D.
Martinez., V.	McSorley	Miera	Morgan	Pederson
Peralta	Perez	Picraux	Porter	Rodella
Saavedra	Salazar	Sanchez, R.G.	Sanchez, R.R.	Sandoval
Torrez	Varela	Vigil	Watchman	Wells
Whitney-Wells

All Democrats. Remember it is a Democrat act.

In the House, Ray's Labor Committee chaired by "Smiley" Gallegos is yet another act. On February 2, they tabled House bill 50, a nice way of killing the bill without voting no. This bill would allow a business to fire an employee who failed a random drug test and not allow the employee to collect unemployment benefits. The GOP all voted for and the Democrats all voted against it.

The Federal Government requires certain employers to give these tests and fire the employees if they fail, such as truck drivers, equipment operations, etc. Eight or ten union types testified against the bill. One lone business lobbyist (National Federation of Independent Business - NFIB) stood in favor of the bill. WHY ONLY ONE???

Speaking of drug testing, did you know the Democrat-controlled State Personnel Board changed the rules last month determining when state employees will receive random drug tests, with one out of every ten employees to be tested. When Carruthers' Republican administration was in charge the ratio for testing was one out of every four. The unions were in favor of the less stringent testing and got what they wanted. Does this make you feel safer on the highway???

More about the Ray and Manny Show or/Manny and Ray Show next time---please be sure to vote to name this great show. As they say in some places in New Mexico, "vote early and often." ...Just one vote per envelope, please.

Sincerely,

George Buffett

P.S. If you have some friends that are mystified by the Greatest Show in New Mexico and want its acts explained to them, print their names on the back of the card and I will put them on the mailing list....more acts to follow.

Previous | Next
Home Page | Bullets List