Rio Grande Foundation

Last updated
Rio Grande Foundation
Formation2000
Founders Hal Stratton and Harry Messenheimer
TypeNonprofit think tank
Location
  • 5500 Benson Ct. NW
    Albuquerque, NM 87120
President
Paul Gessing
Budget
Revenue: $297,460
Expenses: $324,357
(FYE December 2022) [1]
Website www.riograndefoundation.org

The Rio Grande Foundation is a free market economic policy think tank and taxpayer watchdog group based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. [2] It is affiliated with the U.S. nationwide State Policy Network. It was founded in 2000 by Hal Stratton, a former state representative and Attorney General of New Mexico, and Harry Messenheimer, an economist then at George Mason University. Paul Gessing became president in 2006. The group is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

Contents

Activities

The Wall Street Journal ran an article on January 19, 2009, outlining several allegations of state corruption in New Mexico and pointing to the state's lack of comprehensive ethics laws as a possible cause. [3] On January 29, The Wall Street Journal published a letter by Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing, suggesting that government transparency would improve New Mexico's political situation. Gessing pointed out that the legislature had failed to follow through with any of the proposed ethics reforms of recent years. He suggested that the legislature begin Webcasting its sessions to give citizens the opportunity to monitor their government's actions. [4]

In 2009, the Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing criticized the creation of a Department of Motor Vehicles and Hispanic Affairs Department in New Mexico, an idea proposed in two bills introduced in the New Mexico legislature. In an interview with the Santa Fe New Mexican , Gessing said, "the last thing we need is to hire more highly-paid cabinet-level state bureaucrats." [5]

The Rio Grande Foundation "made a big splash" in its fight against a streetcar project in Albuquerque; several members of the group spoke in opposition to the streetcar at the City Council, and the Foundation supported an anti-streecar group called Stop Wasting Albuquerque Taxes (SWAT). [6]

In 2024, Rio Grande Foundation President Paul Gessing authored an opinion editorial that defended Representative Larry Scott's conservative record against attacks from his Republican primary opponent, Steven McCutcheon II. Gessing wrote a follow-up letter to the editor "at the 'behest' of McCutcheon's campaign consultant reiterating the foundation doesn't endorse candidates and also that McCutcheon ranked as the fourth-most conservative member of the Senate." [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Mexico</span> U.S. state

New Mexico is a landlocked state in the Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also borders Texas to the east and southeast, Oklahoma to the northeast, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to the south. New Mexico's largest city is Albuquerque, and its state capital is Santa Fe, the oldest state capital in the U.S., founded in 1610 as the government seat of Nuevo México in New Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rio Grande</span> Major river forming part of the United States and Mexico border

The Rio Grande in the United States or the Río Bravo in Mexico is one of the principal rivers in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio Grande is 1,896 miles (3,051 km), making it the 4th longest river in the United States and in North America by main stem. It originates in south-central Colorado, in the United States, and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Rio Grande drainage basin (watershed) has an area of 182,200 square miles (472,000 km2); however, the endorheic basins that are adjacent to and within the greater drainage basin of the Rio Grande increase the total drainage-basin area to 336,000 square miles (870,000 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albuquerque, New Mexico</span> City in New Mexico, United States

Albuquerque, also known as ABQ, Burque, and the Duke City, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Founded in 1706 as La Villa de Alburquerque by Santa Fe de Nuevo México governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, and named in honor of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque and Viceroy of New Spain, it served as an outpost on El Camino Real linking Mexico City to the northernmost territories of New Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Fe de Nuevo México</span> Provincial kingdom of New Spain (1598–1821); territory of Mexico (1821–48)

Santa Fe de Nuevo México was a province of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. The first capital was San Juan de los Caballeros from 1598 until 1610, and from 1610 onward the capital was La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico</span> Ethnic group

Santo Domingo Pueblo, also known Kewa Pueblo is a federally-recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people in northern New Mexico. A population of 2,456 live in structures some of which date from circa 1700; in Sandoval County described by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belen, New Mexico</span> City in New Mexico, United States

Belén is the second most populated city in Valencia County, New Mexico, the United States, after its county seat, Los Lunas. The population was 7,360 as of the 2020 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mexican Cession</span> Land the U.S. acquired from Mexico following the war in 1848

The Mexican Cession is the region in the modern-day western United States that Mexico previously controlled, then ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. This region had not been part of the areas east of the Rio Grande that had been claimed by the Republic of Texas, though the Texas annexation resolution two years earlier had not specified the southern and western boundary of the new state of Texas. At roughly 529,000 square miles (1,370,000 km2), not including any Texas lands, the Mexican Cession was the third-largest acquisition of territory in U.S. history, surpassed only by the 827,000-square-mile (2,140,000 km2) Louisiana Purchase and the 586,000-square-mile (1,520,000 km2) Alaska Purchase.

Luis Lopez is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Socorro County, New Mexico, United States. It lies between Socorro and San Antonio along the Rio Grande.

The University of Albuquerque was a Catholic liberal arts university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which opened in 1920 and closed in 1986. Its former campus on Albuquerque's West Side now houses St. Pius X High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal Stratton</span> American lawyer (born 1950)

Harold Duane "Hal" Stratton, Jr. is an American lawyer currently practicing law with the Albuquerque office of the Denver based western regional law firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP. In addition to a career in the private practice of law, he has served in the New Mexico House of Representatives (1979–86), as the Attorney General of New Mexico (1987–1990) and as the chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (2002–2006).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern New Mexico</span> Geographic region in the state of New Mexico, United States

Northern New Mexico in cultural terms usually refers to the area of heavy-Spanish settlement in the north-central part of New Mexico. However, New Mexico state government also uses the term to mean the northwest and north central, but to exclude both the northeastern high plains counties and Sandoval County. The five largest cities in northern New Mexico are: Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Española, Los Alamos, and Raton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Mexico Rail Runner Express</span> Commuter rail system in New Mexico, US

The New Mexico Rail Runner Express is a commuter rail system serving the metropolitan areas of Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is administered by the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) and the Rio Metro Regional Transit District, a regional transportation agency, while Herzog Transit Services currently holds the contract for the operation and maintenance of the line & equipment. Phase I of the system, operating on an existing right-of-way from Belen to Bernalillo that NMDOT purchased from BNSF Railway, opened in July 2006. Phase II, the extension of the line to Santa Fe, opened in December 2008. Daily ridership, as of February 2019, was 2,200 trips per day. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 584,400, or about 1,900 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tijeras Canyon</span> Mountain pass in New Mexico east of Albuquerque

Tijeras Canyon is a prominent canyon in the central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It separates the Sandia Mountains subrange to the north from the Manzano Mountains subrange to the south. These subranges are part of the larger Sandia–Manzano Mountains; Tijeras Canyon forms a pass through this range. Elevations along the bottom of the canyon range from 5,600 feet (1,700 m) to 7,000 feet (2,100 m) above sea level. The canyon drains to the west, into a large dry wash known as Tijeras Arroyo, which runs through Kirtland Air Force Base, passes just south of the Albuquerque International Sunport, and then joins the Rio Grande. The arroyo heads at the historically important pass, and this pass and the entire canyon are traversed by Interstate 40, following the path of historic U.S. Route 66.

Central Avenue is a major east–west street in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which historically served as the city's main thoroughfare and principal axis of development. It runs through many of Albuquerque's oldest neighborhoods, including Downtown, Old Town, Nob Hill, and the University of New Mexico area. Central Avenue was part of U.S. Route 66 from 1937 until the highway's decommissioning in 1985 and also forms one axis of Albuquerque's house numbering system. It was also signed as Business Loop 40 until the early 1990s when ownership of Central Avenue was transferred from the New Mexico State Highway Department to the City of Albuquerque.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle Rio Grande Valley AVA</span>

The Middle Rio Grande AVA is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) with a wine grape heritage dating back to 1629. Located in New Mexico, it is part of American wine’s larger New Mexico wine region. The region is located from Santa Fe to the bosque of the Rio Grande, centering around the Albuquerque metropolitan area. It was officially designated as an AVA in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rio Grande Trail</span> Proposed trail in New Mexico, United States

The Rio Grande Trail is a proposed long distance trail along the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The river extends over 1,800 total miles, some 700 miles (1,100 km) of which pass through the heart of New Mexico. It is the state's primary drainage feature and most valuable natural and cultural resource. The river and its bosque provide a wide variety of recreation, including hunting and fishing, birdwatching, river rafting, hiking, biking, and horseback riding. The river also flows through or beside numerous spectacular and geologically interesting landforms, the result of extensive volcanism and erosion of the valley within the Rio Grande Rift. Although some trail advocates would like to see the trail extended the full distance through New Mexico, from the Colorado border to the United States–Mexico border, the portion proposed for initial development extends 300 miles (480 km), from Bernalillo south to Las Cruces.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Fe Group (geology)</span> Group of geologic formations filling the Rio Grande rift

The Santa Fe Group is a group of geologic formations in New Mexico and Colorado. It contains fossils characteristic of the Oligocene through Pleistocene epochs. The group consists of basin-filling sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Rio Grande rift, and contains important regional aquifers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancha Formation</span> Geologic formation near Santa Fe, New Mexico

The Ancha Formation is a geologic formation found near Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is estimated to be between 1 and 3 million years in age, corresponding to the late Pliocene and Pleistocene.

Kha'p'o Community School, formerly known as the Santa Clara Day School, is a tribal elementary school in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, with an Española postal address. It is affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).

References

  1. "Rio Grande Foundation Inc". ProPublica.
  2. Wilham, T. J. (10 June 2022). "Albuquerque utility bills have gone up $12 in past 18 months". KOAT. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  3. New Mexico's Political Wild West
  4. Land of Enchantment's Culture Hurts Transparency
  5. Proposed agency add-ons hit sore spot, Santa Fe New Mexican (February 24, 2009).
  6. Jim Scarantino, Free Market, Free Thinking: A Conversation with Paul Gessing of the Rio Grande Foundation, Weekly Alibi , Vol. 16., No. 11 (March 15–21, 2007).
  7. Chacón, Daniel (2024-04-15). "Republicans duke it out over southeastern N.M. Senate seat". Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved 2024-04-18.

35°08′11″N106°42′08″W / 35.1364°N 106.7022°W / 35.1364; -106.7022