ALBUQUERQUE, AUGUST 19 — Despite a KOAT-TV investigative report revealing that the state has now met its own criteria to reopen New Mexico, Gov. Lujan Grisham’s Administration won’t acknowledge that her “gating criteria” have been met. She asked for science, got it, but now she turns her head away from it. So why aren’t we moving forward?
The television report proves that all state COVID-19 guidelines have been met, the latest being the average number of new cases in a 7-day period. The numbers speak for themselves. Still, the state won’t confirm the figures or reopen our economy. We reach the results she has set out to achieve, yet the governor now finds a different excuse to keep people from going back to work.
It’s shocking, but not surprising, that Gov. Lujan Grisham again ignores her state responsibilities and her duties to protect her constituents.
The governor’s policies have taken us to the point that we lead the nation in suicides and alcohol-related deaths while we remain at the bottom in education. Her poor pandemic decisions have been unjust, illogical and costly, crushing our economy and our citizens’ spirits. We can shop in droves at Walmart but can’t eat in restaurants. We can’t send our kids to school, but we can send them to daycare.
The governor’s legacy is growing with each poor and irrational decision.
“It’s shameful and harmful to New Mexicans that the governor doesn’t reopen New Mexico when her own COVID-19 case criteria are met,” said Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce. “She should be relaxing her crippling pandemic policies, and to break her word on her own rules is an insult to all New Mexicans. With a collapsed economy, hundreds of businesses shut down permanently and a billion dollar deficit in her state, you’d think she’d quickly reopen the economy and schools. Her priorities continue to demonstrate her lack of leadership and empathy, her inability to govern her state justly and her refusal to understand how her decisions have destroyed peoples’ lives.”
