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Real Conversations for Real New Mexicans.
The Chile Wire with A. Baldonado. Hey, New Mexico. This week, we're back with The Chile Wire and we're doing something a little different around here. We've been talking about elections.
Abe Baldonado:We've been talking to candidates, but there's something deeper on the ballot that you're gonna see when you go vote either through early voting or on election day, and that's constitutional amendment four. Now, what is constitutional amendment four? Well, it is a proposed question asking voters to authorize the legislature to now be paid. I'm sure you've seen the commercials, you've seen the paid ads on social media. One particular group called Vote for Change is running ads on Instagram, Facebook, all platforms, and it's very persuasive.
Speaker 1:It's really good. And let's take a look at the commercial that they have out right now. Politicians say they know what we're going through. But try paying for groceries or gas. Running your own business.
Speaker 1:Most politicians don't understand how hard it is to make ends meet. Amendment for is simple. It ties legislation to pay to what the rest of us make. No more. No less.
Speaker 1:Maybe then they'd actually get it. When they vote on health care. Education. Housing. If they wanna represent us, they should live like us.
Speaker 1:Vote yes for a constitutional amendment for paid for by vote for change. Interesting. Very persuasive. Right? I mean, the commercial makes you believe that, hey, legislators are out of touch with us.
Speaker 1:And you know what? They are. We have a legislature filled with retirees, current teachers, lawyers, making hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars on their lawsuits. You know, we have teachers that are making really good salaries. We've increased teacher pay, and we have retirees who are doing well.
Speaker 1:And we also have business owners that are also doing very well. And believe it or not, the current legislature has a very generous pension plan. And in 2024, they made changes to that pension plan in senate bill one sixty five. And what they did is they adjusted the multiplier from 60 to 90. So over ten years with this new multiplier, and we have the Santa Fe New Mexican did an article on this talking about legislator pay.
Speaker 1:If you'd like to take a look at that article, I'd I'd encourage you to do so. But after ten years of service now with this new multiplier of 90, a qualified pension plan for a legislator who serves ten years will walk away with $31,000 a year of a guaranteed pension. 31,000. They're gonna get a fully vested pension. I...
Speaker 1:I'm a former state employee. I have many friends, family who are state employees currently that are retired state employees. State employees should be furious because this is a very generous pension plan. After ten years, you have a fully guaranteed pension that you can tap into for that amount of service credit for ten years, and you get $31,000 a year fully guaranteed. Now you wanna pay legislators.
Speaker 1:And in that commercial, they tell you they wanna pay the median household income to make legislators more like us, everyday New Mexicans. What they don't tell you is legislators work either thirty day sessions or sixty day sessions. And yes, they're fully volunteer. And yes, there is some travel requirements during the interim where they have to go to interim committees, but they also get very good per diem. So not only do they have a pension plan, but they get per diem, so they get reimbursed for their cost to travel to these meetings.
Speaker 1:Now they wanna pay the median household income. New Mexico, that is $68,000. $68,000 that they want to pay legislators for one month or two months of work, interim committees, and they didn't even touch the per diem or the pension plan. So now they have a very lucrative and generous pension plan on top of $68,000 a year for their work. And they're trying to tell you that this is going to make the legislature more like New Mexicans, that doesn't seem in touch to me, and it shouldn't seem in touch to you.
Speaker 1:And again, these commercials and these ads are very persuasive. Right? And let me say, I'm not opposed to paying a legislature. I'm not. I'm okay with a paid legislature.
Speaker 1:The problem is is they get keep their regular day jobs. So if you're a teacher making 60... Let's say $65,000 a year, $70,000 a year, and you want to run for office. Now you're gonna get paid another 68, maybe close to 70,000 a year. Again, it's probably more than that with total compensation.
Speaker 1:Right? You think about your retirement, your pension plan, and also your per diem. I mean, come on now that teacher is not living like an everyday new Mexican. They're now a 135,000, $140,000 employee with two income streams. That doesn't meet the median household income.
Speaker 1:I'm for a paid legislature if they have to quit their day jobs. You have to quit your day job. You're you're focused on public service that you are dedicated to stop being a lawyer and give up your hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollar lawsuits and your payouts that you do on your day job to run for office, and you're okay with making $75,000. I can respect that. I can respect a legislature that is paid for full time work.
Speaker 1:I cannot support a legislature that gets a very generous pension plan, which is a slap in the face to state employees who have to put in thirty years to get their full pension plan and and get, you know, whatever they put in their top three years. Legislators put legislators put in ten years, and then they get the guaranteed income of 31,000. After twelve years, 35,000. And if you have a legislator who does twenty five years, and believe it or not, there's some of those folks in our legislature right now, they will walk away with a pension of nearly $73,000. $73,000 for one month or two months of work, including some interim travel.
Speaker 1:A generous pension plan and per diem. That's not living like you, New Mexico. You know, they try to say that this is going to open it up for more people to run for office. No, it's not. It's not.
Speaker 1:It's not going to open up politics to individuals who, you know, say, oh, I can't afford to run for office. No, because guess what? Political establishments are still going to pick and choose their candidates, and they will support those candidates. Current legislators will absolutely benefit. So really, you're just protecting the status quo right now.
Speaker 1:You're not opening it up. And that's the pitch. Right? Again, very persuasive. It sounds like they're opening it up for people like you and I to run for office and make some money.
Speaker 1:What they don't tell you is, it's only for a month or two of work. You get a very generous pension plan and you get per diem, so you get reimbursed. That's out of touch. This now becomes fun money for our business owners who are making really good money, our lawyers who are making really good money, our longtime educators who have moved up and our experienced teachers making good money. We have a lot of those.
Speaker 1:And they're voting on policies that now benefit themselves to say, hey, I'm gonna get $68,000 of fund money from state government, and all I have to do is do ten years, and I get to add that to my current retirement plan if I'm a educator through ERB. You know, and state employees can't even run for office, and that's a whole other conversation that if you're a state employee, you can't even run for office. You're not represented in the legislature. That's why state employees continue to get only 1%, 2% raises year over year. This truly does not open the door for more regular folks who are making the median household income to run for office.
Speaker 1:It empowers those that are already there. It makes them wealthier because they're not having to quit their day job, and they're walking away $68,000 a year for one month to two months of work. So New Mexico, I encourage you, please pay attention to this. We found it important to talk to you today about this ballot question because, again, we're seeing a lot of the rhetoric out here. We're seeing the paid ads talking about this.
Speaker 1:And again, it is very persuasive. If you've seen it, it sounds like, oh, yeah. Hey. They're trying to professionalize the legislature to be just like me. The problem is that they're not gonna be just like you and I.
Speaker 1:They're gonna double their salaries. Many folks are going to have some fun money to to use, and they're going to laugh all the way to the bank. And that's unfortunate. And that is not addressing affordability that many New Mexicans are facing right now. It's not changing, you know, prices on gas and what we're paying at the pump.
Speaker 1:It's not making people more equal. We're now just subsidizing the political class to make a lot of money, and that's unfortunate. And so with that, y'all, as you all head to the polls, please verse yourself in constitutional amendment four, which asks you to pay a legislature. You know, again, I'm not opposed to paying the legislature, but I expect full time work. And most importantly, I expect results.
Speaker 1:And unfortunately, we don't have those right now. And so I encourage you all to put some thought into this. And again, I respect any decision that you make. I've talked to many folks who support this. They really believe that this will open up an opportunity to hold legislators accountable.
Speaker 1:I don't discredit that. My problem is is that we're gonna pay a median household income of $68,000 to legislators already making money from their day jobs. That is not gonna put irregular New Mexicans on an even playing field with legislators. It's just not. And if these legislators had to quit their job and be full time legislators and they would get paid $68,000 a year, I can get behind that.
Speaker 1:I can say, okay, hey, your full time job is to represent me, and I expect outcomes. Unfortunately, this does not do that. Do your research. We'll provide some links as well so you all can read up on this on the pension plan. You can learn more about the changes in Senate Bill one sixty five that adjusted the multiplier, And you can also see, you know, the the commercial that's running right now.
Speaker 1:And you all can make that decision for yourselves, but we wanted to bring you another perspective to this because they're failing to give you the realities of what the current system entails. And they didn't make any adjustments to the current pension plan. They didn't make adjustments to per diem. They doubled down. And that's not okay.
Speaker 1:With that, thank you all very much. It's a short segment this week. We just wanted to bring you some information on constitutional amendment four, and we hope that you all get out to the polls. Go do your civic duty and vote, and we'll see you next time on The Chile Wire.