Corruption, Poor Ethics a Regular Part of New Mexico Politics

The political process in New Mexico is among the worst in all fifty states, perhaps only exceeded by Louisiana on the state level. Efforts to reform and cleanup the state politically have gotten nowhere for generations. New Mexico is one of just a few states in the West that has no term limits for its elected legislative members, a partial reason for its many shortcomings. Money and influence are the dominating elements in the political culture of the state, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley and points west and north. The state has a deep, thorough, and wide-ranging good old boy network that permeates the entire political proces throughout the state with a magnified intensity on the state level. It would seem highly improbable to expect any changes in the future with regards to the dirtiness and corruption that regularly occurs in Santa Fe and surrounding counties. The citizenry and residents of the state largely do not care, and competing institutions in the state have little power or prestige to wage a campaign that would successfully end the generations of graft and smarminess that has always defined the state.

http://www.politicswest.com/local_western_politics/20204/mad_voter_new_mexico_voters_must_force_ethics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_ol'_boy_network

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