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

Thank you for accepting Con. Without further adieu, I will jump into my arguments.


Arguments


Bill Richardson's policies created a better economy than Gary's did.

When Gary Johnson ran for governor in 1993, he called his platform a "business approach" to governing [1]. A key component of this approach was tax cuts. In his first year, he pushed for several, including a repeal of the prescription drug tax, a $47 million income tax cut, and a 6 cents per gallon gas tax cut [1]. However, these policies failed to address the real issue of economic growth. Throughout his entire tenure, Gary created about 20,000 new jobs in his state [2], which is fairly good. When he left office, unemployment was about 6% [3]. Not too bad, not too great. However, compared to Richardson, Gary's economic performance was very, very weak.

Bill Richardson's actions were far more bold, and for that matter, effective than Johnson's. One of the first things he did in office was cut $1 billion in taxes [4]. Unlike Johnson's tax cuts, though, these cuts were very big, and targeted toward middle class Americans. Also, Bill invested in infrastructure and public safety, unleashing job growth for the unemployed and those on public assistance. Finally, Bill created tax credits for the film industry and business, making New Mexico economically desirable for thousands of corporations nationwide. After all of this, when Bill's tenure had ended, he had created over 61,000 new jobs - 3 times more than Johnson [5]. Also, when he left office, despite a nation-wide housing bubble exploding, unemployment was at about 5.5% - still lower than Johnson's ending unemployment rate [3]. So obviously, Bill's policies did more for New Mexico's economy than Gary's.




Bill Richardson did more for civil liberties than Gary Johnson.

Gary Johnson is frequently regarded as a civil libertarian based on his public statements and policies. But how does this reputation stack up to Bill's record? Well, one of Johnson's big achievements in this category was the fact that he advocated for marijuana decriminalization [1]. In fact, he gained praise from the Cato Institute and even Rolling Stone for this. But the truth is, Gary didn't actually do anything for civil liberties in the category of marijuana. All he did was give a few speeches. And besides that, Gary wasn't really active in defending any other civil liberties [1].

Bill Richardson, on the other hand, has more than a few speeches to back him up - he actually signed one of the first state wide statutes permitting medical marijuana. Also, Bill signed New Mexico's ban on capital punishment, a civil liberty issue that Gary wouldn't touch during his tenure. Plus, Bill signed a conceal carry law in New Mexico, which was yet another example of him defending civil liberties and the Constitution. Finally, Bill began expanding New Mexico's LGBT rights, by adding sexual orientation to New Mexico's list of hate crimes and even publicly denouncing Don't Ask Don't Tell. So as you can see, Bill clearly did more for civil liberties in all forms than Gary did [6 for entire paragraph].




Bill Richardson did more for education than Gary Johnson.

At the beggining of his tenure, Gary boosted education spending by nearly a third, exploding the budget in an attempt to help test scores and dropout rates. Unfortunately, neither of which showed any improvement; in fact, test scores dropped in some areas of New Mexico. Personally, I attribute this to Gary's lack of experience with public education. He probably thought that schools were like businesses, and that he could just blindly throw money at them and expect results. When results did not appear, Gary decided to change his education policy, now in favor of a state wide voucher system. However, the legislature agreed that this would be disastrous considering the massive amount of funding that would be taken away from public schools. So when Gary's tenure ended, New Mexico was left with the 6th worst teacher salaries in the nation, as well as low test scores and an education system in desperate need of repair [5].

When Bill Richardson came into office and saw the mess that Johnson had created, he took immediate action to revitalize schools. He made a $1 billion investment in public education, however he did it in a very different manner than Johnson had initially done [4]. Instead of just throwing the money at the New Mexico Department of Education, like Gary did, Bill put that money directly in the classrooms and away from bureaucrats [4]. Under Bill's leadership, New Mexico saw investments in early childhood education, quality teachers, and new resources for kids [4]. Teacher pay increased by almost 10 places nation-wide and test scores made enormous progress, demonstrating that Bill's education policies clearly benefited New Mexico's more than Gary's [5].




Bill Richardson did more to increase domestic energy production and help the environment than Gary Johnson did.

Gary Johnson's energy policy was... well... non-existant. He came into office on a "business approach" platform, which entailed nothing about controlling energy costs, improving the environment, or reducing New Mexico's dependence on foreign oil [1].

Bill Richardson, on the other hand, understood the danger of foreign energy dependence. He foresaw the looming necessity that would come once oil resources depleted. And he realized the environmental impact of oil. One of the first things that he did in office was mandate that utilities achieve 20% of New Mexico's energy demand from renewable sources. This allowed the use of clean energy capital to drastically increase. Also, Bill established New Mexico's first Renewable Energy Transmission Authority, which allowed clean energy sources in New Mexico to be sold on the market. Along with that, he created a Green Jobs Cabinet to unleash the economic effects of clean energy. But these weren't the only things that he did that benefited the environment. Bill rolled up his sleeves, creating a River Ecosystem Restoration Initiative to get things done for the environment. When all was said and done, New Mexico had been named the "Clean Energy State" and had a healthy ecosystem for conservation [4 for entire paragraph].




Bill Richardson did more to increase state wide health care coverage than Gary Johnson did.

In terms of health care, Johnson did something that few politicians ever dare to do - he slashed Medicaid spending in exchange for tax cuts [1]. In addition, he did nothing to stop rising health care costs for everyone, causing a very bad situation.

Bill Richardson came into office and immediately addressed the problem that Johnson had created. Bill restored Medicaid funding without raising taxes, empowering the poor and giving them the coverage thy needed. Then, he acted quickly to expand Insure New Mexico! initiatives that allowed affordable coverage for New Mexico’s small businesses, nonprofits agencies, individuals and options for every New Mexico child under the age of 12 years old. Under Bill's leadership, New Mexico citizens saw lower costs and more coverage that was denied to them under Gary [4 for entire paragraph].




Conclusion

In conclusion, Bill Richardson created 3 times as many jobs as Gary Johnson, allowing a huge expansion in New Mexico's economy, he did far more civil liberties than Gary Johnson, including his signing of a medical marijuana bill, he greatly improved the education system that Gary Johnson destroyed, he unleashed New Mexico's domestic energy and helped it's environment, both of which Gary did nothing for, and he expanded access to health care that Gary shut down.



Sources
[1]http://en.wikipedia.org...
[2]http://www.garyjohnson2012.com...
[3]http://www.dws.state.nm.us...
[4]http://www.billrichardson.com...
[5]http://www.ontheissues.org...
[6]http://en.wikipedia.org...