Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is getting credit for the uptick following a report that News Mexico exports just might set a record this year, but the founder of a group working for her ouster is having none of it.
Brett Kokinadis, Second Vice Chair of the Santa Fe Republican Party and "StopMLG" founder, tried to change the subject in his reply to a Twitter post by Kendall Witmer, the governor's campaign spokeswoman. Lujan Grisham "kept her foot on the gas" during the pandemic, Witmer said in her tweet.
Unsuccessful congressional candidate and Santa Fe Republican Party Second Vice Chair Brett Kokinadis
| facebook.com/Brett4NM/
Kokinadis' response kicked off with a laughing-so-hard-he's-crying emoticon, followed by, "How about 100,000 jobs lost, 40% of small biz that went under, and the +40% in early teacher retirement?"
The governor "put us in a far worse place than when she started. She's hardly scratched the surface of her destruction of #NM through failed & unfair policies," Kokinadis' reply continued.
Last year, Kokinadis ran for the U.S. House in New Mexico's 1st Congressional District but lost the Republican primary to Michelle Garcia Holmes. Kokinadis came in third, taking less than 12% of the vote.
StopMLG, which does not describe itself or its membership, has for much of this year hosted a petition on its the landing page of its website calling for Lujan Grisham to resign over sexual harassment allegations against her by a staff member. The page does not say how many have signed the petition thus far but it does have a donation option.
Witmer's Twitter post linked to an Albuquerque Journal news story the same day that said the state's exports "are barreling" in the direction of an annual record for 2021, "marking a sharp turnaround from last year's pandemic-induced slowdown."
This year, New Mexico's sales increased 55% during the first three quarters, from more than $2.7 billion to almost $4.3 billion, the Albuquerque Journal reported. This year's sales already are $1 billion higher than the January-September period in 2012 which reached $3.16 billion.
Meanwhile, sales to Mexico increased 17% and sales to China have totaled $1.2 billion so far this year.
Things are "looking really good," Jerry Pacheco, trade consultant and executive director of the International Business Accelerator at Santa Teresa in southern New Mexico, said. "I expect this to be our biggest year yet. New Mexico exports are already well exceeding 2019, which was our flagship year before the pandemic."
On Thursday, Lujan Grisham cited the state's economic growth and said it was time to cut taxes.
"With record state reserves due to strong economic growth and judicious management, it's time to cut statewide gross receipts taxes," the governor said in a Facebook post. "We'll save New Mexico families and businesses $145 million every year – about $1.5 billion over 10 years. That's a big deal."