Government Corruption
Public corruption in New Mexico has reached embarrassing levels and has re-defined “politics as usual” in our state – for the worst. As a candidate for Governor, my first pledge to the people of New Mexico will be to fight corruption and eradicate it wherever we can. For seven years Diane Denish has not stood up against the corruption now being exposed in state government, and now she wants a job promotion. New Mexico deserves better.
As Governor I will aggressively root out corrupt individuals and practices within state government, from the Fourth Floor of the Roundhouse to the smallest of state offices in all 33 counties. I will work on a bi-partisan basis to ensure the offices of the Attorney General, the State Auditor, and all District Attorneys have the tools they need to investigate crime and fraud and bring perpetrators to justice. I’ll lead by example and make sure all areas of state government are fully transparent and operate in the light of day. And most importantly, New Mexicans will see an end to special contracts for big campaign donors and personal friends.
Pay-to-play exists only when a politician “plays,” and New Mexicans have had enough of the games played by the Richardson-Denish administration.
Education
Every child deserves a quality education, but under the Richardson-Denish administration very little reform has been made in our schools. A recent report points out that an astounding 46 percent of our high school students drop out before they receive a diploma. Our students’ ACT scores, as well as reading and math scores in both the elementary and secondary years, remain some of the worst in the country. Once again, New Mexico lags behind almost every state in education. This was a big campaign issue for Diane Denish in 2002, but nothing has been done to improve it.
I believe we can do better, and I know I can make the system do better.
As governor, I will strengthen and improve our education system and curb our drop-out rates. I will accomplish this by expanding charter schools, providing parents with real choices in how they educate their children and demanding accountability for performance. For students who are at risk of dropping out of high school, I will make sure there is an alternative route for them, whether it is the completion of a GED or the opportunity to learn marketable work skills so they can enter the workforce with an opportunity to succeed. I will encourage parental involvement at every level and make sure that every dollar going to the classroom is a dollar spent on the right priorities. And this is just the beginning.
Our children are smart and capable of learning, but we have to implement creative ways to encourage them to complete their education.
New Mexico's Budget
As someone who has operated a successful business in New Mexico for 30 years, I understand what it takes to create jobs, meet a payroll and balance a budget in tough times. I also understand what bad government policies can do to hamper or destroy business growth and handicap our efforts to attract new industry to New Mexico.
If New Mexicans really want a growing, healthy economy with good paying jobs in a variety of sectors, then we need leaders who will do three simple things: keep taxes in line with the states around us, make our state government lean and efficient, and reduce unnecessary regulations.
The Richardson-Denish administration has been growing government and writing checks for almost eight years, and soon we’ll all have to pay their bills. During this time, Lt. Governor Diane Denish has done nothing to reform or remove excessive government regulations that hamper business growth. The combination of excessive government spending, high taxes and irrational regulation kills jobs and makes us less competitive. As Governor I will stand up for small business and everyday New Mexicans by letting them keep more of the money they earn and encouraging them to re-invest it here in New Mexico. We’ll keep the government lean and efficient, cut out waste and get government out of the way of private business.
Prosperity and economic strength don’t come from the politicians in Santa Fe; they come from private businesses, and from people like you and me. As Governor, I will aggressively pursue an agenda that reflects those beliefs.
Public Safety
Just like a president’s number one priority is to protect the people of this nation, a governor’s top priority is to provide safety to the citizens of his or her state. In New Mexico, rural communities rely on State Police to help with their crime-fighting efforts. However, the agency has been neglected under the Richardson-Denish administration. As a result, it’s under its authorized strength and lacks the resources it needs to help protect our rural communities.
As governor, I will strengthen our State Police Force by adding more men and women to its ranks. I will do this with aggressive recruitment while providing incentives for officers willing to locate to areas that don’t have the amenities provided in our larger cities. Adding more officers is just one part of the solution. I will also provide the agency with the resources it needs to find and eliminate drug operations, stop gang activity and help the federal agencies protect our border.
We have great men and women who serve in our state law enforcement agency. It’s time we give them a hand.
Second Amendment
Throughout my 38 years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps, I proudly defended the freedoms guaranteed to each of us by our founding fathers.
As your Governor, I will continue to defend our rights, including our right to bear arms. I support every American's constitutional right to bear arms and further support the Castle Doctrine, which allows an individual to defend his home with armed force if necessary.
Immigration
The next governor of New Mexico will have to deal with an increasingly volatile border that poses a grave threat to the security of our state and nation.
As New Mexico’s Governor, I will be in constant communication with the federal government to ensure that our border has the necessary manpower and equipment to stop people from entering our country illegally.
Furthermore, I will end the sanctuary policies of the Richardson-Denish administration that have made our state a haven for criminals who have entered our country illegally. I will immediately rescind the executive order put in place by this administration that forces our State Police officers to not enforce certain laws even though it hampers their ability to protect the public.
I will also work with the Legislature to eliminate the policy of handing out driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, because New Mexico has become a portal for people who are in this country illegally to obtain official documentation that helps them burrow in the United States. This state is currently a very weak link in our homeland security, and I will change that.
If I am the next governor, I intend to be very outspoken on matters of national defense and homeland security. While comprehensive immigration reform is clearly needed, but is the responsibility of the federal government, public safety and related homeland security of this state will be my responsibility. I consider keeping the citizens of this state safe my first priority, and one that I will take very seriously.
Social Issues
I know that we all have one thing in common: We want hope, happiness, prosperity and good health for our family, our friends and our loved ones. Most of us want the good things in life for the people we care about more than we do for ourselves. It is because of this that I believe the government, at all levels, should do nothing to weaken the family, regardless of what an individual family may look like.
Your family may consist of two working parents with adopted children, or you may be a single adult who is caring for an aging relative. You may be a single mother struggling to provide the best life you can for your family, working two jobs and praying that the school you send your children to takes just as good of care with them as you do. Regardless of what your family looks like, I believe government should make policies that help you stay together, to be prosperous, happy and healthy
I am pro-life, opposing partial birth abortions, taxpayer-funded abortions, and the use of fetus tissue for the purposes of stem-cell research.
I believe marriage is the union between one man and one woman. I am opposed to same-sex marriage as was defined in the recently defeated bill in Santa Fe.