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After the 95th Legislature was over, Governor Johnson, asked by the press to grade his performance, gave himself a "C." If I were grading him, it would be a "B." I think Johnson's performance was great. But I do and I will continue to disagree with him on the gambling issue. I see no reason to change my stand on gambling, and I hope he will change his. If he does, he'll get an "A."

Let's talk about what Johnson has done right.

First -- New Mexico, one of the highest taxed states in the Union, repealed the additional gas tax. If Johnson had not been Governor, this would not have happened.

Second - Johnson vetoed $40 Million out of the Democrat Budget that was passed. This $40 Million added to the drop in revenue ($60 Million) that is now being forecast would equal $100 Million. If the Democrats were in control of the governor's office this $100 Million shortfall would have meant a tax increase for sure next year.

Look at these interesting figures:

GENERAL FUND *RESERVE HISTORY

Year Ending	Total Expenditures	Recurring Expenditures	Total Balances	% of Recurring
6/30/88	1,545,459,000	1,506,971,000	155,242,000	10.3
6/30/90	1,779,990,000	1,740,838,000	137,389,000	7.9
6/30/92	2,055,289,000	2,044,946,000	115,937,000	5.7
6/30/94	2,584,862,000	2,398,556,000	148,319,000	6.2
6/30/95	2,714,400,000	2,623,500,000	58,900,000	2.3

Notice the Democrat budgets go up but the reserves go down. This guarantees a tax increase sooner or later. The reserves in 1995 are only 50% of what the reserves were a very short seven years ago while the expenditures have doubled. When there is nothing left in the reserve to take care of emergencies and cash flow (because of underestimating revenues) the Democrats always say they must raise taxes (and they love it!).

When Johnson's vetoes first happened, every Democrat in the state complained, but now most are silent because they know without the Johnson vetoes, we would be back voting for tax increases next year. Johnson vetoed 200 bills -- a record for a governor. Some people thought it was a disaster. I think there should have been more. Even with the vetoes, the cost of state government will still go up about six per cent (6%).

Do you realize that Speaker Ray Sanchez and President Pro Tem Manny Aragon vetoed more bills than that??? They just do it quietly in the committees they control, and the press never keeps score.

For example: (1) Except for the gas tax cut, no tax cut ever reached the floor of either house to be voted on. Representative Pauline Gubbels and I sponsored a bill to exempt service clubs' income, up to $75,000 from the gross receipts tax. Our bill was delayed in committee, chaired by Democrat Representative Jerry Sandel, until it finally died. (This exemption would have cost the state less than $100,000 and would help the service clubs, i.e. Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary, etc.)

(2) The Davis-Bacon Repeals were all tabled in the Labor Committee, chaired by Democrat Vincent Gallegos, and were all killed as a result. The unions wanted these bills to die so that the inflated wages on government buildings would not drop. I have just learned that the high school that Intel has offered to build for the Rio Rancho School District will cost Intel $12 Million less than if the school district builds it. Intel is a private enterprise and will not be forced to build under Davis-Bacon rules. Rio Rancho will get a $40 Million school and it will cost Intel (because Intel is not government) $28 Million. Also because Intel is not government, the building will be completed in one year instead of three years. AIN'T GOVERNMENT GREAT?

(3) Tort Reform Bills (to fix the legal system). There were bills to make the loser pay court costs to stop frivolous law suits. There were also bills to put limits on punitive damage awards or taxes on punitive damages. These bills were killed in Democrat Representative Cisco McSorley's committee (he's a trial lawyer) with most of the Democrats following the Speaker's wishes to table the bills, i.e. to kill them. A bill to study tort reform was killed in House Judiciary Committee following an eloquent speech by Democrat Speaker Ray Sanchez, that there was no need to study tort reform because there were no problems in New Mexico. (Speaker Sanchez is a trial lawyer.)

(4) Term Limits bills were all killed in Democrat Representative Edward Sandoval's Voter and Election Committee.

(5) Right-to-Work bill was tabled and killed in the Labor Committee, chaired by Democrat Representative Gallegos.

It goes on and on and on--hundreds of bills are tabled and killed in Democrat controlled and chaired committees and no one keeps score.

In the last session, Johnson compromised with the Democrat leaders to raise the State Employees' salaries by three per cent (3%). The Democrats wanted six per cent (6%). Recently Democrats in the Legislative Finance Committee raised salaries for all Legislative year-round employees between 3% and 7% with an average of 5% (Governor Johnson has no veto over this). If this extra 2% had been done for all state employees, it would have cost $72 Million and guaranteed another tax increase. Democrats just can't say "NO"" to spending your money. That's why we need Republican Governor Gary Johnson!

Remember, the Democrats are the party of Santa Fe, they are the party of the bureaucrats, they are the party of special interests, and they are the party of the tax increases.

GAMBLING

Last November I joined with four other people and sued the state to stop the enforcement of a constitutional amendment allowing video gambling. We sued in the New Mexico Supreme Court and won. In January the Governor signed compacts with the Native Americans which they thought allowed them to set up gambling casinos on their land. I was against it and thought the compacts were illegal. I waited two months hoping someone would sue to stop this. No one did. So on April 20 two of my cohorts in the first lawsuit and I sued in the New Mexico Supreme Court questioning the legality of the compacts. We sued on two different reasons and used the same terrific Albuquerque law firm that we used the first time, Victor Marshall and his partner, Alexis Johnson.

The second one was a more difficult lawsuit, but three weeks ago, all the Justices agreed the compacts were not valid.

Even though we won in the New Mexico Supreme Court the only person who can enforce the ruling on federal land is the New Mexico U. S. Attorney, John
Kelly. He took an oath of office to enforce the laws of New Mexico and of the United States of America. So far all he's said, "I am thinking about it." Maybe his bosses, Attorney General Janet Reno and President Bill Clinton, need to be asked to tell him to do his job.

Here's more information about gambling. There have been only two times when Indian groups in this area requested all their members to vote on the question of having gambling on their lands. Both of these--the Navajo and Hopi tribes--rejected having gambling on their reservations. When only the councils vote, gambling passes and goes into effect.

The Navajos who voted against having gambling on the reservation have just decided in their council to look into gambling for economic development. It looks to me that all politicians and bureaucrats get hypnotized by the money--no matter if it is on the reservation or off the reservation.

In Farmington there is a bankrupt horse race track owned by the county government. The politicians are talking about the Indians opening a casino on it. How dumb can people get? Again, hypnotized by money. In the long run, San Juan County will be far worse with a casino than with an empty race track. It's like replacing a birthmark with cancer.

The number one law man in the State of New Mexico is the Attorney General, Tom Udall. He is elected statewide and according to the constitution he is to enforce the laws.

On Indian gambling, Udall has done the right thing: he has stated that our Supreme Court ruling means that Indian casinos are clearly illegal.

I've decided he needs help so I've come up with a really easy job for him. The legislature had a committee to study gambling. It showed that 1600 illegal slot machines are operating in New Mexico by fraternal organizations. Names and addresses were obtained. Before the legislative session and during the time the constitutional amendment for video gambling was still in the courts, there might have been a very small reason not to stop this breaking of the law. As of now, we have not legalized these machines during any legislative session, the Constitutional Amendment has been declared unconstitutional and the governor has said he would not call a special session to increase gambling in our state.

Udall should send a registered letter to everyone who admitted to using slot machines, giving them 48 hours to get rid of the machines. He should also request a sworn statement that the machines have been moved out of state. If they do not comply, he will be forced to go after them. Actually every District Attorney, Sheriff, Police Chief could do the same thing. They all have sworn to uphold the laws of New Mexico. It will be interesting to see who has the courage to live up to their oath of office.

Here's something to think about: we tolerate elected officials who do not pay their traffic tickets. We have others who are arrested for DWI's. We have elected officials and bureaucrats who look the other way about gambling. We have bureaucrats who use government credit cards for themselves. We have federal and state officials who say they are, "going to think about enforcing the laws." We have fraternal and service clubs that have gambling because "some" profits go to charity. I can go on and on. Is it any wonder our young people are proud to do graffiti, car-jacking, drugs or drive-by shootings? How can we expect our youth to be responsible when elected officials and other public leaders fail in their own responsibilities to the community?

The churches in the last two sessions of the legislature were busy fighting each other over abortion funding and gay rights. So the gamblers won. Let's hope that in the future, churches will combine forces to fight gambling first, before they fight each other.

Sincerely,

George Buffett

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