Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Stuart Ingle
link Stuart Ingle
Editor’s Note: New Mexico Sen. Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, has served in the Legislature for 30 years and is the state Senate minority leader. His Senate District 27 has expanded over the years and now represents portions of Curry, Roosevelt, Chaves, De Baca and Lea counties in eastern New Mexico. As the Legislature prepares to convene Jan. 20 in Santa Fe for a 60-day session, we asked Ingle about state and regional issues:
Question: One of the major issues facing eastern New Mexico is the water supply. How do you feel about the status of the Ute Reservoir regional water project?
Ingle: The Ute water project is something that was first talked about back in 1971, when I went to the first meeting about the project with my father. Back then, the project was going to go from Logan to Jal, New Mexico. Now, it’s mainly Curry and Roosevelt counties involved.
The price tag is enormous and the federal government is going to have to be a big part of it. The state’s going to have to help, too. And local communities are going to have to keep paying into it. Right now, the local entities pay about 10 percent of the costs.
Q: You make your living as a farmer. One of the proposals to address the region’s water situation involves the idea of buying water rights from area farmers and/or encouraging area farmers to use less water for irrigation. What is your opinion of the viability of that proposal and have you heard any responses from other area farmers?
Ingle: I don’t have any irrigated cropland, so it wouldn’t affect me personally because I farm dryland grain sorghum and wheat. I think anything that will increase the water supply is a good thing.
The city of Clovis recently acquired water rights from a farmer on some land with better water strata in Curry County near Cannon Air Force Base, so that’s certainly going to help.
I think for other farmers in this area, there’s a lot of talk about it and some of it will depend on how much money is involved with irrigating or not irrigating their crops. I think it will vary by individual farmers as to what they decide to do.
Q: Hanna Skandera remains the secretary-designate for the New Mexico Public Education Department because the Senate still has not confirmed her appointment four years ago by Gov. Susanna Martinez as cabinet secretary. Are you optimistic she may be confirmed this session?
Ingle: Hopefully, there will be a vote there this time on Secretary Skandera. There weren’t any hearings for two years. Then, I was her sponsor and we sat there in committee for about 14 hours and no vote.
I was happy to sponsor her as the Senate minority leader. I sponsored her because she’s from Santa Fe and there weren’t any legislators in the Santa Fe area that would sponsor her.
That doesn’t mean I agree with everything she does. But Secretary Skandera should have been confirmed about three or four years ago. I think she’s doing a good job. Every governor has a right to pick their cabinet staff.
Q: Another recent cabinet appointment made by the governor that is already generating some controversy is the recent switch of Monique Jacobson from cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Tourism Department to secretary-designate for the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. Some people have questioned her lack of a background in social work. What is your opinion on this situation?
Ingle: I was there in the (Bruce) King administration when the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department was created.
There are always going to be critics if someone doesn’t have a certain background or degree, in this case in social work. But it doesn’t mean that person can’t lead the department. You have to work with the employees who are already there, and you’ve got people in those agencies like that who are able to deal with the situations they face.
Monique is a sharp young woman and she knows enough to ask questions and learn. What’s important is to appoint someone who is willing to work hard and learn and make sure the spending in the department is done right, too.
Q: New Mexico’s governor has called again for greater bipartisanship efforts among state lawmakers within the Legislature. How optimistic are you for a greater spirit of bipartisanship now that the state House of Representatives will be GOP-controlled for the first time in 60 years, while the state Senate remains controlled by the Democratic Party?
Ingle: I always hope we will all look at the issues and make decisions based on what helps the people of New Mexico the most and not on party lines.
We only have a certain amount of time in Santa Fe while the state Legislature is in session and we have to get our job done and come home.
We need to decide on what’s best for New Mexico. We need a more business-like environment in the state and we need to do more for children and education.
Q: One key statewide issue that comes up every legislative session in recent years is the status and viability of the New Mexico Lottery Scholarship program that helps many high school graduates in New Mexico attend the state’s colleges and universities. What do you think will happen with that program this year?
Ingle: We’ve got a new director of the New Mexico Lottery and hopefully he’ll increase the sales and bring some new ideas to generate more revenue, which will help the New Mexico Lottery Scholarship funding.
For example, some states ask customers using a credit card at the gasoline pump about lottery ticket sales, too. We’ve done a wonderful thing in New Mexico with our lottery scholarship.
It’s been a great thing for our high school students in New Mexico to help them be able to go to college, but tuition has gone through the roof. I’d like to keep it where we can pay it all with the lottery scholarship. Hopefully we’ll get more lottery sales.
Q: There is already proposed legislation again this session to try to make New Mexico a “right-to-work” state, including a proposal by three Republican legislators that would mean both private and public sector employees in New Mexico could not be required to join unions. What do you see happening with this issue and how do you stand on it?
Ingle: Certainly, I’m in support of that. We’re surrounded by states that have right-to-work laws.
All right-to-work says is that employers do not have to collect dues for unions and that employees cannot be forced to join unions. Unions can exist. It isn’t anti-union. Unions can collect dues, but employees shouldn’t be forced to pay dues to unions and employers shouldn’t be forced to collect dues for unions.
Employees have a right to not have union dues taken out of their paychecks so it’s not mandatory.
Q: What else do you think needs to be done in New Mexico to attract and keep more businesses and improve our state’s economy?
Ingle: The thing we have to do in New Mexico is make this a state where people and businesses can’t be sued for any little thing. In the state of Texas, you can sue, but often if you bring a frivolous lawsuit, you have to pay attorney fees.
We need to make sure in our legal system in New Mexico that we are not having so many frivolous lawsuits being filed. It drives up the cost of doing business. Certainly we need quality products and that’s what liability laws are for. But we don’t need so many frivolous lawsuits.
Our workers compensation laws need to be improved, too. We want to make sure we look after the things that attract businesses to New Mexico. We’re the fifth largest state and yet one of the lowest populated states. So our businesses in New Mexico often have to ship products somewhere else. We need to work on helping our businesses in the state succeed.
Q: This 60-day session will allow for more legislation to be considered than a year ago. What are you hoping to accomplish this session? What are you hearing from your constituents about what they would like to see most during this year’s legislative session?
Ingle: I don’t ever go up there to Santa Fe for myself. I try to make sure I represent the people in my district.
I am going to support right-to-work legislation.
I think we need to help our doctors in our local hospitals and also make them sign contracts to stay for a certain amount of time.
Certainly, I hope there are no more tax increases.
I hope we can fund our education system the best we can.
With all this heavy snow around here this winter, we are going to have more potholes in our roads, so we’ll need to work on highway construction.
We anticipated about $400 million in extra revenue for the next fiscal year that begins July 1, but now that’s probably going to be cut in half primarily because of a drop in oil revenues.
— Compiled by Janet Lyn Bresenham, correspondent
