Lujan kills independent review of state spending.

Last year, State Senator Tim Keller, introduced a bill, link, that would enable the Legislative Finance Committee to evaluate and review state spending.

The bill passed last year with unanimous bipartisan support.
Then Governor Bill Richardson vetoed it. I suppose he
vetoed it to prevent the exposure of all of the people he has
installed in jobs for which they are under-qualified and overpaid.

It was brought up again this session in order to override the veto.

Speaker of the House Ben Lujan has apparently decided that it should go through another committee hearing before the full house gets an opportunity to vote to override the veto.

In effect, since the session is about to close and time is running out, the move by Lujan effectively kills the bill.

I cannot think of a single good, or ethical reason for him to kill this bill.

His apparent interest is in covering up wasteful spending by state agencies. Why he would do such a thing, defies reason.

It's as if he were a crook covering the tracks, and asses, of his cronies. If there is any other explanation, it eludes me.




photo Mark Bralley