A Secure Future for Every New Mexican.

“I believe New Mexico’s best days are ahead of us. My campaign is about restoring hope and opportunity to our great state.”

Jobs | Education | Crime | Family Security
Health Care | Water | Rural Life

Jobs, Taxes, Regulation and Infrastructure

“Creating prosperity for every New Mexican will be my number one goa1.”

• Creating quality jobs. There’s only one sure way to have more money for education, health care and other high priority needs. We need to make it so that existing and new businesses will prosper and add higher paying jobs that will in turn build the tax base and revenue stream.
• Modernizing the tax structure. John’s plan for bringing good, high paying jobs home to New Mexico begins with modernizing our business tax structure to make it more competitive with surrounding states.
• Providing tax relief. According to the Federation of Tax Administrators, New Mexicans pay the 2nd highest taxes in the nation, per $1,000 of personal income. It’s not enough to simply hold the line on taxes. John believes cutting taxes will grow the economy. John will propose an across the board personal income tax cut so New Mexicans can keep more of what they earn.
• Investing in priorities. As the economy grows, John will invest new revenues in critical needs like education and health care, as well as reforming our tax structure. John believes in planning for the future, and that future starts with educating a stronger, more competitive workforce and creating a business friendly environment where jobs can grow.
• Building a new partnership. Government should encourage jobs, not strangle them. John will work to cut job-killing red-tape. He believes state government must be a partner, not an obstacle, in building a better tomorrow for New Mexico!
• Building a communications infrastructure. John Sanchez believes we must construct on-ramps to the “highway of the future” so that New Mexico can compete in the global economy. That means we must improve access to the Internet and other high-speed communications in every corner of our state.
• Connecting Rural New Mexico. Much progress has been made on roads that serve our larger cities. John believes we must also improve pavement condition and safety of roads serving rural communities. This will help preserve and enhance rural life in New Mexico, as well as making them more attractive and accessible for business development.
  

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Education

“Every child deserves an equal chance to succeed – to be educated – to live the American dream. It is morally wrong to trap children in failing schools.”

• Back to the basics. Reading and math are core subjects that every child must master to do well in life. John supports testing in core subjects to measure success and spot struggling students so schools can direct more help to them.
• Greater opportunity. Equal opportunity in education means no child should be trapped in a failing school. John supports legislation to provide opportunity scholarships for children in failing schools.
• Dollars to the classroom. John supports spending our tax dollars in the classroom, not on bureaucracy. He believes we must reward our best teachers with higher pay.
• A quality teacher in every classroom. There’s a growing shortage of qualified teachers in America. New Mexico must rise to the challenge. John will make recruitment and retention of quality teachers a priority.

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Crime

“When it comes to dealing with crime, we must always put the rights of those who uphold the law above the rights of those who flout it!”

• Protecting our children. John Sanchez believes in putting children’s safety first. In his very first year in the State Legislature, John led the fight to pass a law banning the possession of child pornography in New Mexico.
• Sexual Predator Act. Eighty-eight convicted rapists and child molesters will be released from prison this year alone. That’s why John Sanchez sponsored the Violent Sexual Predator Act of 2002. It would prevent convicted violent sexual predators from being turned loose on our streets if a mental health professional and a civil jury determines they are likely to prey on our children again.
• Life Means Life. John Sanchez believes that if you do the crime, you should do the time. That’s why John supports legislation that abolishes parole for murderers and rapists sentenced to life in prison.
• Domestic Violence. John Sanchez sponsored legislation that would require offenders be held for 12 hours before being released following an arrest for domestic violence. The Sanchez bill received national praise from such domestic violence advocates as Denise Brown, sister of murder victim Nicole Brown Simpson, as well as local advocates including Sherolyn Smith-Desantis, founder of the Womens Resource Center in Albuquerque.
• DWI reform. DWI remains a serious and too-often fatal problem in New Mexico. John supports putting repeat drunk drivers in jail, mandatory treatment and taking their cars away.

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Family Security

“Government should always work to strengthen families, not weaken them.”

• Parental Notification. John Sanchez strongly supports the right of parents to be notified before their child undergoes any major medical procedure.
• Drugs destroy families and dash the dreams of our children. John supports a balanced approach of prevention, treatment and interdiction to confronting the drug problem in New Mexico. He opposes legalization and supports expanding drug courts and increasing the availability of effective treatment options, including faith-based rehabilitation programs.

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Health Care

“Poverty and the scarcity of good paying jobs with health benefits drives health care problems in New Mexico. That’s why I’ll be working to create good paying jobs while also addressing critical health care issues.”

• Senior Prescription Drug Plan. Too many seniors must choose between putting food on the table or buying life saving medicines. Today, nearly 65,000 Medicare beneficiaries lack supplemental insurance for prescription costs. Almost 3,400 seniors are totally uninsured. In 1999, seniors spent 19% of their income on out-of-pocket medical expenses, much of which was spent on prescription drugs. That’s why John Sanchez introduced new legislation this year to provide a prescription drug benefit for seniors. The John Sanchez Prescription Drug Plan would help the neediest seniors buy life-saving medications. As Governor, John Sanchez will continue making affordable health care for seniors a top priority.
• Health Insurance Tax Credit. Nearly half of New Mexicans are without adequate health insurance. John supports creating a program that gives small business owners a tax credit for providing health insurance to their employees.
• Retain Good Doctors. The Gross Receipts Tax on our doctors is driving them away from New Mexico. This tax endangers the health and well being of our people, particularly the very young and old. John will continue to push for phasing out the gross receipts tax on our doctors!

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Water: The Lifeblood of All New Mexico

“Water--where it comes from and how we use it—are vital to the future of all New Mexicans. We must combine resource development with conservation to ensure we have enough water for now and tomorrow.”

• Vigorously defending our water rights. John Sanchez strongly believes individual states, not the Federal Government, should have primacy over water rights. John will strongly resist Federal efforts to take control of water rights and irrigation districts. John will stand up to Texas and the federal government when it comes to protecting our water rights.
• Developing a Statewide Water Plan. John will work to develop a statewide water plan that details approaches to issues like water rights, water conservation, water quality and water resources planning.
  

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Enhancing New Mexico's Rural Life

“Our small towns and villages are the core of what makes New Mexico so special. They must share in the prosperity we will build in the future.”

• Fostering the agricultural economy. While much of our success in creating a more prosperous economy depends on attracting and creating new businesses and jobs, one of the key elements to our prosperity must still be our traditional natural resource industries.
• Bringing new opportunity. Many of our rural communities offer an extraordinary quality of life that would attract well-paid “tele-commuters” if high speed internet and telecommunications were available there. John Sanchez will stress bringing information age communication links to all corners of New Mexico to help build rural jobs and incomes.
• Helping extractive industries compete. Extractive industries, such as oil and gas and mining, underpin much of our revenue base and provide good-paying jobs to rural areas. John will make sure that our tax and regulatory system provides the kind of environment to sustain this vital sector of our economy.
• Rural economic development partnership. John Sanchez will establish a coordinator to help rural communities match their assets to the needs of businesses looking to expand or locate in New Mexico. This will help them compete more effectively in the region and balance economic development between cities and rural areas.

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info@johnsanchezforgovernor.com | 505-242-2008