Richardson's great idea New Mexico, Policy Issues, Presidential Politics

Gov. Bill Richardson wants to pay the premiums on life insurance for National Guard members. He suggested it a month ago for New Mexico, and now Alabama, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Rhode Island are following. The West leads, others follow (sly grin).

"People think the military gets paid a lot but they don't realize how $16 can make a big difference," Archuleta said. "Getting an extra $16 on a Guard check is huge."

Support for those once regarded as "weekend warriors" is increasing because the active-duty Army is too small to meet demands - particularly in Iraq, where troop levels have far exceeded original predictions.

In fact, the National Guard has been used so much in Iraq and Afghanistan that the Army now has deployed, or put on notice, all 15 of its main combat brigades.

This program is a way to make a national issue, the over extension of our military in Iraq, a local/state one. Even though the guard is under federal command while overseas, they are still part of the states, and in a way, it is up to the states to stand up for them.

Read more

UPDATE: This is what Joe Monahan says about the great idea:

It hasn't taken Big Bill very long to figure out where he thinks his Dem Party should go in the wake of the devastating loss to Bush. The Guv was making the national and local media rounds Monday touting his proposed legislation that would have the state pay for $250,000 worth of life insurance for the nearly 4,000 active members of the NM National Guard. No other state provides such a benefit and the Big Guy is getting some good national press on the measure, including a mention Sunday from Andrea Mitchell on NBC's "Meet The Press."

It's all part of the positioning for 2008 of course. And the Big Fella's supportive move of the military is not lost on those conservative Dems who abandoned the party in droves last year Some will call it pandering. Others will call it leadership pointing out that Big Bill at least has a compass and a road map to lead Dems out of their wilderness.

Positioning for 2008? Well yes. Repositioning the Democratic Party? Hopefully the Democratic Party is smart enough.

And, Andre Mithcell on Meet the Press:

And Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, has done something that is not only smart politically but probably is long overdue, which is to take out a $250,000 government-purchase insurance policy for all of the New Mexico National Guardsmen. This is the legislation he's proposing, and I think that this is an attempt by an obviously ambitious Democratic politician to try to make the Democratic Party right with the military. It's a move that's going to spread to other states.

Emmett O'Connell | January 14, 2005 | Comment on This Post (2 so far) Permalink: Richardson's great idea New Mexico, Policy Issues, Presidential Politics

E-mail to a Friend
Your Name: Your Personal Note:	Your Email: Friends' Emails*: * Separate addresses with commas, semicolons, tabs, or line breaks.