Report from Santa Fe; Alice and Bruce King

... ... Report from Santa Fe is made possible in part by a grant from the members of the National Education Association of New Mexico. An organization of professionals who believe that investing in public education is an investment in our state's economic future. Hello, I'm Lorraine Mills and I'd like to welcome you to report from Santa Fe. We have two fabulous guests today, former Governor Bruce King and former First Lady but First Lady Forever Alice King. Welcome, thanks for being with us today. Thank you. Well, you know, as I was preparing for the show, I realized that so many things that you've given us, besides your famous title of being the most recycled Governor, Governor King, the 70s, 80s and 90s, but so many of the things that you've given us are continuing the Governor's Awards for the Arts and the Outstanding Woman Award and that you actually started the Children Youth and Families Department. I'd like to speak with you first, Alice, and talk a little about your commitment to children and all the things you've done that are still continuing, particularly the Children's Trust Fund.

Well, I am very interested in children and always have been and when you see the needs of our children throughout the state, well, you know how much we need to work on that. So there's always plenty to do to try to improve the lives of our children and that's our future and so we really need to put our stress on that. But I am at the present time chairman of the Children's Trust Fund, which is a trust fund set up by the statute in the legislature in the 80s and funds for this program come from the sale of license plates for children and also from marriage license fees. We get a portion of each one of those to put into a fund that funds grants for programs to help prevent child abuse and neglect and works in the violence fields for children to see that we can make life better for children in families that are having very difficult circumstances. And I understand there are there's a license plate fundraising program for the Children's Trust Fund. Would you tell us about this?

Yes, I'd be glad to Lorraine and it's a program that we're trying to educate people about that you can buy license plates with the Children's Trust Fund logo on it, never hurt, never abuse. And the money from these license plates half of it goes into the Children's Trust Fund. We also get money from the marriage license portion to provide funds for us to provide programs for children abuse children throughout the state of New Mexico. And our funds have dropped in the last few years because we're not selling enough license plates. So we want people to know that they should go to their motor vehicle department and they can purchase license plates as a special license plate or get it when you buy your new car from the automobile dealer. And we're putting up signs and brochures and things throughout the state so that people may know about this. And we want them to go out and buy the license plates so we have more money.

And I think was it the number 6,000 come to mind were there 6,000 children that you helped last year that needed that needed that help. And there's what 60,000 children I believe in New Mexico domestic violence and other abuse cases that are reported throughout the state. And we try to help children youth and families department where part of their department now. And we try to fund programs that will educate people that will give people the knowledge and the health they need in their families to get along and to work together to provide all kinds of care for children like all faiths and those programs that people are very familiar with. That care for children that are picked up off the streets and so many other ways. But there are so many children out there who really need to be cared for and help to have a loving home.

One thing I've always wanted to ask you when you created the Children Youth and Families Department there was nothing really for children. Well, there was a small program in the Human Services Department that was called the Children's Division at that time, but they didn't have much money or funding for programs. And so they weren't able to do a whole lot. And as Bruce and I worked throughout the state and saw the need of children everywhere, we decided that there was a great need for this department. So Bruce appointed a committee at which I worked on and we worked all over the state and we did forums for people to come out and give us knowledge about what was needed in their communities all over the state. And so when we put together this plan for the Children Youth and Families Department, the legislature was knowledgeable about it and was very good and passed the bill unanimously, which is really great. And so they knew the need of children and families and how you could put together all of these programs that would complement each other where people didn't have to go to five or six different places to get help when they needed it for their children.

Well, that was 30 years ago and it has made a huge difference in our state. So all of your work to invest our energy and money in children have really paid off over the years and I do want to thank you. Thank you, Lorraine. And the need is still there. We just need people to remember that you need to support your children and in your family level and in your community level and at the state level also. So always support children. Yes, yes. Well, thank you and now I'm going to turn to Governor King. First, I want to remind people of one of my favorite books. This is called Cowboy in the Roundhouse and it's the biography of Bruce King. And I love the picture on the front of it. So I have been dying to talk with you about politics these days. So what are you doing? What are you working on? And what do you think is happening to us politically? Well, of course, I was not working very hard for Democrats. We're a Democrats and we were sad that Karen Edwards didn't win the presidency, but in view of the fact that they didn't win, now we're all working hard for the president administration and we wish them well because they have a very big job and it's not going to be easy.

Well, we're still working and I've visited with Governor Richards and Richardson and we've been talking about what we do to reorganize the Democrat Party a little bit and revitalize it. So we'll be working on that and we have called every morning at El Comet Orcafé in Maraudin, New Mexico is Mike and I and Mike's a former state chairman as I am also. So we have a lot of thoughts and we've seen the times change up and down throughout our lifetime and so we're naturally a little bit disheartened right now, but we'll be back. Well, what is the next step for Democrats? Well, the next step is to just get around and organize a little more at the grassroots level probably and do a little bit of job of getting out to vote. And I guess we should explain that all of we Democrats are good Christian people too, that we didn't do a good job, we could have last time.

And some of the real key issues is some of the things I guess I started to say pro-choice, I guess I just really read and mentioned that it obviously hurts some tear. We'll have to get right together and decide what the situation is, but the basic thing is to get back to the basic things that El Comet does for all of the people, particularly the middle class people, the working class people and all of those. And that's what we always try to do at the Democrat Party. We'll have to get back to that, not saying that the Republican opposition, the Republican president and their administration won't work along that line, but we still have a Democrat majority in the House in the Senate here. I just looked in the Senate chambers and so we'll look forward to a lot of conferences there. We have the Democrat governorship and Governor Richardson and so we'll be out working hard for New Mexico and particularly trying to do the things that people in New Mexico won't done at the grassroots level. We need to tell our story a little more plainly to people, I guess, because the record and story of what Democrats do for the, like Bruce is, the working people and poor people in our country, we still have a lot of poverty in our country and so many things like that that we really need to focus on and to show people where the need is and how it can be helped.

And that's what Democrats have to do and that's what they're about. It's very true, Allison, and we have to look at the middle class also in what the different tax structure does. You know, you have to pay as you go, so we do want to take a look at the tax structure and see that we are accomplishing things, we need to accomplish within the amount of availability of funds. So that's one of the problems we see. One of the things I am concerned about is that the National Health Particularly is the large national deficit and the way that we outsource so many jobs and then we have to take a look kind of on that line and kind of get within our sources and we have to see that the tax burden falls equally on those as they are able to pay. Now, when you were a governor, you formed a close friendship with former President Bill Clinton.

He was here in Santa Fe recently and he led a rally for with Theresa Hines, Carrie, and Martin Sheen. He filled the plaza with 10,000 people and he spoke magnificently. What role do you see for him and the national politics? Well, we went to Albuquerque the next day and we had 15,000 there and we were glad to see our friend President Bill Clinton, he's a very dear friend and he did an excellent job. He was one that left over $2,000,000 in savings. It now has gotten to where we have a deficit of some $5,000,000. We nicely went over that a little bit and some of the needs of some of the basic people and we are as a sideline and we don't have time to cover all aspects of government anyway, but we are going to the opening of the Clinton Library and Little Rock Tuesday. So, President Clinton wanted us to come real bad, and he's got a group of the Democrat governors that were always supporters of the Clinton's, both Bill and Hillary, so we look forward to seeing all of them. I think Bill will always have a place because he's such a great speaker and people always like to hear what Bill has to say, but we also need people to know how hard he works still for those who are underprivileged or downtrodden or whatever kind of title he wants to give to it.

He's working in Europe, particularly in the Asian countries on HIV in Africa particularly, and in the Caribbean he says that he's raising funds and setting up programs, working with the pharmaceutical associations so that they might provide the medicine that's needed for HIV in those countries. So, he's working really hard at some things like that, so he's involved with things that he sees the need for that he can work at, so Bill will always be there and working in some way. Well, you're going to the opening of his library, and I must mention an event recently that thrilled me was when the Farm and Ranch Museum was named in your honor, what a perfect fit and what a beautiful facility. Tell us how that came about. Well, it just came about because it called, and that's because we'd set aside a date to name the Farm Heritage Museum, the Governor called, and the museum people that we'd worked so closely with.

And now we were delighted to go, and we had a lot to do with the building of the Farm and Heritage Museum, and so we were glad to see our name replied, and then we were proud of our family. Both of our sons, Bill, who operates the ranch isn't always my chief lobbyist, and I need to put in a plug for our son, Gary King. And his wife, Yolanda, that campaigns are hard for the congressional district and South, and we appreciate all of the consideration there one gave. But it wasn't a good year for our Democrats, obviously, in that particular congressional district. But Gary enjoyed the 12 years he served here in the legislature, and he will be back visiting with all of the people throughout New Mexico as time goes along. So I just have to get in that plug, but we're happy they named it, maybe Alice would say a little bit more about it. Well, I think, you know, that's Bruce. He's Farm and Ranch, and always has been.

Paulie's governor, that's where he went back to rejuvenate when he would get overloaded with problems and things so he could go to the ranch and spend a day on the ranch with his brothers and come back ready to go at it again. So Farm and Ranch is really much of his life, and people know that. And it's the life of New Mexico, it's the history of New Mexico, with the Farm and Ranch, and the museum is cooperating with the New Mexico State University to do a lot of historical things. Also, in that line, and they're doing oral histories and doing things that both of them cooperate with, and we'll have a wonderful place for people to study and know about what agriculture played the part in building New Mexico, and it's still a great part of New Mexico. And Alice and I, we took one look, as you mentioned, we served as governor and first lady in the 70s, 80s and 90s, and we had three other governors in between. So we always looked at what the components were, and rather than try to tear down what they had done, we took the things they had done in between and build them together, where we'd have 35 years of concative, good government.

Sometimes it may have been a little bit cumbersome, but overall, it proved to be a positive thing. And Governor Crowders and Governor Apidaka were both there that day, and as you know, Governor Crowders was a Republican governor. We enjoyed working with, in fact, you put Alice on the State Fire Board, and we always tried to work diligently to see those things happen. So we appropriated the monies, and then later on when Governor Johnson was there, they finished the building. So it was nice of Governor Richardson's side that they wouldn't name it as the Bruce King Farm Heritage Museum. So we looked at it with a little bit more interest now. And it's a wonderful place to go see. They are truly putting in place, what our culture is, they have all kinds of livestock that are grown in our state. They have a dairy, which where they milk the cattle, and children can come and see where they get their milk. And they have gardens, and they have farm things, and they have our planting trees, and they also are putting a bridge in. That's a very old bridge, engineered many years ago that Tombowlack was very interested in, and the museum finally had the money to buy it, and they're going to move that bridge there and put over the, and they had a flood there this last year.

And they need the bridge, anyhow, they're just doing all kinds of things that you can see on a day-to-day basis how it actually works. I think it's a beautiful museum, and I particularly love those rooms where they have the historical Hacienda Life and the early agriculture. Yeah, and they had all of the farm machinery dating back to the early 1900s when my mother and dad and house and family both came and homesteaded in the Stancy Valley. So we're delighted to see that equipment, and we've been donating quite a bit more that we have scattered around in friends have. So everyone ought to go see, the way we used to farm was with one horse, an attorney plow, and we've developed one up to eight and 16-year-old equipment, and combines and silage cutters, it take what we would've felt the whole fear back then. It's also fortunate now that it was that much when we started.

Well, but they also have the history of the Asakius and things like that, so there's so much there to see. So everyone would enjoy. So speaking of the Asakius, from your historical point of view, either of you, how do you think our state is dealing with our long-term water problem? Well, I think they're dealing with it pretty well. You know, it's not an easy problem to solve, but I think we've done this good job better than all the rest. When we had Steve Rillens as a state engineer for a number of years, that did a tremendous job. In fact, he was there most of the time, because I was in there all in between. And we said a lot of laws into place that many other states have patterned after our water law. So we've always been aware of the need. I noticed that Judge Roger Sanchez, who I appointed as District Judge, is a presiding judge, up in North Western New Mexico Aztec, is the chapter where they're having the hearings. And they have to hear the Indian solvety of their need for water, although there's need for water. So I do think we have a lot of water in New Mexico, both a sake of water and underground water, but we do have to use it wisely.

And we have to see that it's evenly adjudicated, which is very difficult to do. And I think the president engineer and all his staff are having hearings and looking. And I think we'll have ample water for the domestic use. Some of we in the farming business may have to farm a little less, because that's where an awful lot of water does go. But we do have a lot of water, but we need to continue to study it and continue to adjudicate it to where it is used by all New Mexicans. And we also have a lot of salt water, which we need to learn how to use. To disseminate, desalination. And Bruce went to Israel to study desalination when he was a governor. And they've done so much with it in that country. And for a while when we were having a shortage of water, it was high on their agenda here. We kind of had some years of wet weather, and people kind of forgot about it.

But we're getting back to that, and we need to go back and learn how to use the technology we have to do that. And that's one of dairy specialties, is the water law. Right, but refining contaminated water and desalination. Desalination. And also Don, my brother, Sam and Don, and we don't leave them out there with the museum too. And we've run King Bros. Range for the last 60 years, but Don's daughter, Rhonda King, is in the legislature. And she owns a lot of legislation that pertains through the Massachusetts of water, as well as agricultural use. That's a very deep subject. It has a very deep entrenchment, and it will be extremely important to future generations. So we all need to continue to look at that, so I appreciate you giving us opportunity to speak on that particular subject. Well, I have a whole bunch more subjects. I'd like to know from your perspective, again, education.

How do you think, since you have been the champion of children all these years, how do you think our educational system is going? Well, I think that they're showing great improvement, and I think we still have a long road to go. I think that we in New Mexico have to decide we're going to have to spend the money, where it needs to be spent in education, and spend an adequate amount, so that all schools have the buildings and facilities they need to educate our children, and that they also pay teachers well enough, that we can have highly educated teachers where they can teach. To what our children need in the future, and what we used to learn in school is so little compared to what they're learning in school now, and we just need to know and look into the future of what education does. So I think getting a cabinet level education department may kind of give us the impetus to go ahead and do those sorts of things, and I think as people in the state, we have to be willing to go out and work for our school, and parents be involved with their children in the school, as well as participating in the tax base, or whatever it is, the money that we use for schools in our state.

And we have a while Bruce's governor, he equalized the formula for school children in our state, so that all school children get... Except for Los Alamos. Well, that's right. When everybody up to the same level, it's hard to get the people over and tomorrow up to the same level as Los Alamos, but we worked on it anyway, and we are very interested in the kindergarten program. We are, and we worked on starting the kindergarten programs, and I'm really delighted that we have full-time kindergarten all over the state, and we have put money there. And that Governor Richardson is working on early childhood education and in dollars, which also will provide the kind of help that school children need. They need to know a lot of things before they begin school anymore, and so working with our children at a very early age is important.

So I think there is still so much to do, but I think that we have for the most part a good school system, we just need to refine some of the things we're doing. We need to really make reading an important part of education, and there's just too many things to talk about, but I think we're doing it. Let me just give me one or two sentences on some of these issues, because I'd love to know. I know. Just how about NAFTA? Well, NAFTA was a good program, but sometimes I think it got carried a little bit away, and what we were trying to do was to work out a better relationship with our neighbors, particularly Mexico and Canada. I know it was working out fine in years I was there, but it seemed like now it might stand a little fine tuning and a little refinement to where we do protect our own products and our own labor people in the United States. Thank you for keeping it short.

How about gambling? I know that gambling was a very difficult issue for you, and now we've seen how it's panned out. How do you feel about that? That's not the versus favorite subject, but I know it is a hard one. It's a very hard thing. And we have gambling in our state, and so we have to be sure that we make it legal in every aspect, that we make it fair in every aspect, and that we provide the kind of services people who learn to be compulsive gamblers, because it causes a great deal of hardship to many families in our state. So as long as the state works really hard to control it, it does seem to provide jobs for many people. And we just need to not let it get out of hand where it really destroys the fabric of our homes in our state. But I was sure hope we could keep it and not enlarge it. Over the area, we read every day where someone is trying to enlarge it, and of course I have a great affection for our Indian friends.

And I'm glad to see them strike on something that does earn money, but I thought maybe we could do it in different ways, but maybe like selling water, for instance. You might even bring more than Indian gaming, but it is something that's here, and it's obviously here to stay, and so we'll keep working along those lines. But it has a lot of things developed that I mentioned might happen whenever they were getting implemented, and whenever I didn't win the election and the administration that carried out when I had implemented immediately. So it was very obvious that that was one of the big things. But anyway, I'd been there a long time anywhere. I didn't need to die anyway. Well, that's my last question. What are your plans for the future? I know Mrs. King that you will forever be a champion of children. And so you'll be working with the Children's Trust Fund. And I work with the New Mexico Boys and Girls Ranch, and I work with the...

New Mexico Children's Foundation, which we provide grants like the Children's Trust Fund, but we provide grants all over the state for high-risk children. In small communities, we don't provide big grants. We provide small grants to communities. You don't have any other way to do it. And I work with the Curitinely Hospital Steel, and I work with all kinds of children's programs. And that's retirement, right? Well, I see. And you, Governor. Well, I try to keep at least read the paper every morning to see what's going on in the state government. Perhaps now and then make a call or two, but basically I run my home businesses and work with King Boys Ranch. And we've been in bed since I mentioned earlier, and it's something that I enjoy very much. And we still have a lot of cattle on them, settled down with ranches around, and we have their gate farms that we farm a lot, and it's enjoyable to watch the young people and my son, Bill King, and Sam's son, Sam King Jr. running the farms and ranches, and they run into a lot of problems too, because expenses are high.

And farm products are a little bit cheap, and they have to spend a lot of money to make little. But they enjoy it and we enjoy watching them, and so we continue to see what happens in that area. So I'll continue to watch that, someone called me every day, either wants to purchase land or water, or tell us how to do something, you know. Well, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to be with us today. Well, thank you. It's been hard to like. Our guests today are former Governor Bruce King, the most recycled governor in the 70s, 80s and 90s. I don't know what a recycled governor is. That's what was Jerry Opadakis. Well, it's been about 12 years, and that's longer than anyone else served in New Mexico. It's been about how I got to get that pleasure. And we enjoyed it, and hope we did a lot of good for us. Well, we're certainly did. Thank you, did. And first lady, Alice King. Thank you for all your efforts. And I'm Lorraine Mills. I'd like to thank you our viewers for being with us today on Report from Santa Fe. Report from Santa Fe is made possible in part by a grant from the members of the National Education Association of New Mexico,

an organization of professionals who believe that investing in public education is an investment in our state's economic future.