June 06, 2005

The Strange Role of ACI*

The Association of Commerce and Industry (ACI) bills itself as the "statewide legislative advocate of business interests" in New Mexico. Each year, in its FOCUS Report, ACI publishes its ratings of New Mexico legislators, assigning each member of the house and senate a score on a 100-point scale. Someone who receives a 100 is said to have "supported business" 100% of the time. If one were to receive a 0, that person is presumed to have voted "against business" on every rated vote. By publishing the FOCUS Report, ACI maintains it is able to provide "a yearly evaluation of the legislative session" and help "keep lawmakers accountable by publishing their voting records on key legislation affecting business."

ACI is a private organization, so it can set its own rules, publish its own ratings and decide exactly what bills, resolutions or memorials will be used for its own scorecard. As we say, it's a free country. The question is not ACI's freedom to publish, rather it is whether what it publishes is of any value at all: a) to its membership, b) to the business community at large or c) to those in the general public who have an interest in legislators' support for business.

Let's look at just a few of this year's House ratings:

These pairings are offered mainly because they contrast four conservative Republicans, all of whom own their own businesses, with four liberal Democrats, none of whom is in business.

As David Letterman might ask: Is this anything? In other words, is there actually any value in ratings that posit the notion that Gail Beam is more pro-business than Richard Cheney? Does anyone who has ever visited the Round House believe that Miguel Garcia is more inclined to support the free enterprise system than Don Bratton? Or in the last case, that Speaker Ben Lujan and Representative Dan Foley are "exactly the same" with regard to their dependability as a supporting vote for business?