Gov. candidates split on economy
Lujan Grisham targets 8 sectors; Pearce wants ABQ trade hub
SANTA FE — Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham says she would work to raise the minimum wage, double film production in the state and serve as an enthusiastic champion for New Mexico as a place to visit and invest in.
Republican Steve Pearce says he’d push to turn the Albuquerque airport into an international trade hub, build toll roads for industrial traffic in oilrich areas and intervene personally to keep red tape from driving businesses away.
Both candidates — campaigning to win the Governor’s Office in next week’s election — are pitching themselves to voters as the right choice to help diversify New Mexico’s economy.
The state is heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry and on the federal workforce at two national laboratories and three Air Force bases. In recent years, New Mexico has had one of the nation’s highest rates of childhood poverty, and its unemployment rate has been among the highest.
On the campaign trail, meanwhile, debate over the economy has produced some of the sharpest exchanges between Pearce and Lujan Grisham.
They have clashed repeatedly, for example, over whether to increase the
minimum wage — an issue that provides insight into their overall views on the economy.
Lujan Grisham favors increasing New Mexico’s minimum from $7.50 an hour to $10 next year, with an increase to $12 in 2022, with adjustments for inflation after that. More than 100,000 New Mexicans would receive an immediate raise, she said.
“My multimillionaire opponent is completely out of touch with everyday New Mexicans who right now cannot afford their rent, housing, food, gas or child care costs,” Lujan Grisham said in the candidates’ final TV debate last week.
Pearce, in turn, says Lujan Grisham’s proposal would simply “kill jobs” for low-income workers by accelerating the economic shift to automation and customer kiosks. Many companies struggle to meet payroll as it is, he said, and they don’t have enough cash to boost employees’ pay just because the government wants them to.
“The answer of my opponent shows just how little she really understands business,” Pearce said. “You can’t just mandate a minimum wage increase and people automatically have money to pay for it.”
Shared priorities
Pearce and Lujan Grisham, nonetheless, share some broad priorities for improving the economy. They both say they support expanding broadband to support business growth in rural areas and promoting renewable energy.
And they both support increasing the $50 million cap that now limits the total annual payouts for film rebates.
Lujan Grisham has also said that she’d like to double film production in New Mexico over the next two years and that she’d consider eliminating the film cap altogether.
Both candidates have also expressed support for simplifying New Mexico’s complex system of gross receipts taxes.
But they also draw plenty of contrasts when they speak to voters about their economic plans.
Trade hub
Pearce said he would capitalize on Albuquerque’s location and bilingual workforce by working to turn it into an air, rail and trucking hub for international trade.
He also has spoken repeatedly about increasing apprenticeship opportunities for students who aren’t interested in college degrees, building toll roads in southeastern New Mexico to handle oil and gas trucks, and changing the attitude in government to ensure companies aren’t scared away by lengthy permitting processes.
“This state is very hostile to business,” he said in one debate.
Pearce has also said he would impose a work requirement for some Medicaid recipients and offer training to help them get back on their feet. The requirement would be for able-bodied adults without children, he said.
It would help harness the “dignity of work” and the “power of earned success” to improve the lives of needy New Mexicans, he said.
New Mexico has some assets with unrealized economic potential, Pearce says, including the Roswell boneyard for old airplanes.
His campaign spokesman, Kevin Sheridan, said Monday that Pearce “wants to create jobs and expand the economy in every corner of the state through every means possible.”
Eight-sector plan
Lujan Grisham has unveiled an eight-sector plan that she says would capitalize on places where New Mexico can seize a competitive advantage — such as commercializing cybersecurity research with help from the national laboratories and expanding outdoor tourism. She also wants to establish “Centers of Excellence” at colleges to promote innovation in bioscience, agriculture and other subject areas.
A high-quality school system — from prekindergarten through adult education — would also help develop the workforce, she said, and she would revise the procurement code to help local businesses win government contracts.
Lujan Grisham also says she would be an energetic booster for New Mexico.
“One of the jobs of a governor is to really be a champion of your state and to be an advocate for every single person working or living in your state,” she said in a recent meeting with business leaders.
She has also made an investment in universal pre-K a part of her economic pitch, saying it would help ensure children get a strong start in school.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that one out of every five New Mexicans lives in poverty and that’s exactly why I have an in-depth plan to attack poverty starting on Day 1,” Lujan Grisham said in a written statement Monday. “Our state is only strong if our families are succeeding instead of living paycheck-to-paycheck.”
Candidates’ backgrounds
As for their backgrounds, Pearce has repeatedly stressed his climb out of childhood poverty and his success as a businessman in New Mexico’s oilfields.
Lujan Grisjam is a former state Cabinet secretary who later co-founded a company that helps run the state’s high-risk insurance pool. She divested herself from the business last year.
Both candidates are giving up seats in Congress to run for governor. The winner will succeed Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.