Resolved: Bill Richardson was a better NM governor than Gary Johnson.

I really don't have that much to say, I am just waiting for Round 3 for rebuttals. I will have a lot more to say then. I. The Economy I. a. Jobs Unemployment Rate for NM, 1994: 6.3% Unemployment Rate for NM, 2002: 5.5% [1] Unemployment Rate for NM, 2010: 9.0% [2] As we can see, Johnson lowered the unemployment rate during his Governersh, while Richardson almost doubled it. I. b. Inflation . http://www.nmpolitics.net... NM inflation his very high at the end of Richardson's governership. I. c. Taxes "In office, Johnson fulfilled his campaign promise to reduce the 10% annual growth of the state budget. [citation needed] In his first budget, Johnson proposed a wide range of tax cuts, including a repeal of the prescription drug tax, a $47 million income tax cut, and a 6 cents per gallon gasoline tax cut. "[3] Unfortunately, only the gasoline tax cut was passed. Whereas, Richardson wanted higher taxes for the rich, and only advocated for a broad income tax cut. II. Civil Liberties Johnson passed several civil liberties bills, while Richardson decreased them. Richardson wanted the gun laws passed on his idea, but he was forced to allow them. He vetoed a bill that would ban eminent domain. He spoke out against gays. III. Scandal "The heart of the problem is a federal investigation into an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving Richardson's political action committee, Moving America Forward. ""In addition, Richardson has come under criticism for awarding state contracts to political allies. Local news outlets have chronicled how one local firm stacked with Richardson allies has been awarded $7.8 million in state auditing contracts since he became governor. In the five years prior to his 2002 election, the firm received $274,000 in such contracts, according to the New Mexico Independent. ""Once unmatched in his power and popularity in Santa Fe, Richardson's grip on state politics has been weakened by the whiff of scandal, and home state opponents have been emboldened by his plummeting approval ratings — numbers that have dropped below 50 percent, according to a recent SurveyUSA poll. "[4] IV. Gary Johnson OVERALL ACCOMPLISHMENTS Left office with New Mexico as one of the only four states in the country with a balanced budget Left New Mexico with a budget surplus Used Line Item Veto thousands of times to trim the budget Vetoed 750 bills during his time in office; more than all other governors combined Cut over 1,200 government jobs without firing anyone Created more than 20,000 new jobs First New Mexico Governor to challenge education status quo and propose statewide voucher program Restored State General Fund reserves to more than $222 million from a low of $28.1 million Limited annual state budget growth to 5.0% during eight years in office Cut taxes 14 times while never raising them—a first for New Mexico Vetoed 32% of the total number of bills submitted for his signature [5] Johnson was the first governor of New Mexico to be elected to a second four-year term, winning the Latino vote against a Latino Democratic candidate in a heavily Democratic Latino state. Interesting. Governor Johnson proposed the first statewide school voucher system in America, refused tax increases, rebuilt the state's roads, shifted Medicaid to managed care, oversaw construction of private prisons, terminated 1,200 state employee positions, and vetoed a record number of bills --- all while cutting taxes 14 times. During his governorship, Gary Johnson slashed the size of government and left the state with a $1 billion budget surplus. After his governorship ended, Johnson nearly lost his life in a sporting accident, breaking many bones. For two years, he utilized marijuana for pain management. As a presidential candidate, he advocates legalized medical marijuana nationwide. [6] "Johnson: Building 500 miles of four-lane highway in the state. We have reduced taxes by about $123 million annually. More significantly, before my taking office there was never a set of six years in the state of New Mexico where not a single tax had gone up. We reformed Medicaid and got Medicaid costs under control. We built a couple of new, private prisons in New Mexico. We had prisoners housed out of state, and the federal court system had been running prisons in New Mexico under a consent decree since 1980. We are now out from under that consent decree. We have approximately 1,200 fewer employees in state government today than we did when I took office. " [7] I have no more to say currently. Sources: [1]:. http://bbrs.nmsu.edu... [2]:. http://www.deptofnumbers.com... [3]:. http://en.wikipedia.org... [4]:. http://www.politico.com... [5]:. http://www.garyjohnson2012.com... [6]:. http://www.californiality.com... [7]:. http://reason.com...