JOHNSON'S TWO WEEK "TRIP"

Dear Editor:

Your newspaper of April 25, 2001, featured two side-by-side articles: One
with a headline "Johnson gets mixed Reviews on East Coast", and the other
"NM Ranks Worst in Nation for Prenatal Care."

The East Coast article tells of Johnson's two week "trip" across the
country promoting drug use, drug sales, or drug legalization or whatever it is.

The other article tells of the state's Prenatal Care problem which was in
the early 1970's the country's worst; yet by 1990 we were in the country's
best five states. The 1970's saw the governors, UNM, hospitals, and federal
and state health officials make this the number one priority. Now through
Gary's neglect we are again last.

Never mind that drug organizations pay for most of the Guv's expenses and
it only cost $5,200.00 in taxpayers' funds; the Governor must realize the
opportunity costs of being away from the state so much. A former staffer of
the King Administration says they use to say that unless a trip would
provide at least one million dollars in potential business opportunities
per day, then it wasn't worth taking. So let's say the opportunity costs of
the latest trip were $14 million.

Perhaps Gary should make a personal contribution of this amount to our
prenatal health care system.

P.S. I do believe the "War on Drugs" is failing and we need to think of new
ideas but I wonder how much impact a state official can have on a federal
matter.

Enrique Montoya (retired state employee), Santa Fe