I am David Reagor and I am running for reelection to the Los Alamos County Council. In my last term I pushed back against all types of government overreach. Even as the only Republican on Council, I have made a difference! In the future I will always advocate for small business with every vote and forum available. Some examples of this are listed below:

• Actions hostile to small businesses: I was the only counselor to vote in favor of the Sirphey appeal of the County red tag of a bar and restaurant project on Central Ave. The Sirphey appeal failed in Council in spite of my support. Jain has filed a lawsuit in District Court and a state judge has just ruled against the county. This whole mess should have been settled years ago.

• County Greed: I lead the opposition to the GRT tax increase proposed by the County Administrator. We do not need more money when we are flooded with revenues. Our biggest problem is spending the taxpayer’s money wisely. Several Democrats joined me in voting down the increase in 2023, and voting this winter to put off the increase to FY 2027. My leadership was critical to this defeat. Without my reelection this will certainly pass next time.

• County Oppression: I fought against the oppressive corona-virus lockdowns and shot mandates from the Governor and LANL.  These are the worst things that the Governor and the Lab have ever done to our citizens. Many lost their jobs. Our small business community has never recovered. The impacts continue today in the form of inflation of local commodity and property costs.

• I voted to preserve the Reel Deal movie theater as a private business.  The county attempted to buy the theater but the Council defeated that measure by a single vote, MINE! The County should not compete with businesses.

• I helped to defeat the minimum wage increase for the county.  Small businesses have problems attracting employees but it is not wages, it is the lack of affordable housing for non-lab workers. Most of our small businesses are already exceed the proposed wage mandate. This measure was also defeated by a single vote.

The current county council, six democrats, rubber-stamp every county budget request. This includes the latest round of hires with two DEI positions in HR. If this follows the usual democrat party pattern we will soon be facing reverse discrimination lawsuits over hiring processes. The county has many resources for economic development, but provide almost nothing to small business. Contractors complain that the county permit environment is almost intolerable, with Sirphey as pointed example. This limits local enterprise, which I want to encourage, not stifle. We need to continue to press the bureaucrats on this before we have any additional liabilities from excessive regulatory zeal. The problem with Democrats is that they love big government and never fight back against the excess exercises of power. This is the main reason you should support my campaign.

LANL has grown to where it is overwhelming the county. There are many projects underway that will add hundreds of housing units to the county, but we actually need square miles of housing developed, not just a few acres. The DOE regional manager, Mr. Wyka, says that 2 of 3 LANL employees commute from outside the county. There are thousands of additional employees that commute to jobs with other employers. In the 1960’s the growth of the lab led to the Atomic Energy Commission building the town of White Rock for employee housing. We are now in a similar condition and need almost a White Rock size block of additional housing. The county government has no resources to do this, but the DOE should support its own workers and be publically held to that standard.

In addition to housing for workers we also need improved transportation, especially to the south and Albuquerque. This will join us to a larger market for housing and employment. A highway would be the most direct and flexible solution and many democrats would definitely support a rail extension to our county.

I also want to briefly comment on energy and utilities. We have an overwhelming number of elected councilors that want to take action on our Carbon footprint. I have three reasons to oppose this: First, there is no crisis in climate as is evidenced by the abundant worldwide food production. Second, the worldwide Carbon budget is mostly in place and will plateau without intervention. Thirdly, our county is so small that nothing we do will have a meaningful effect on the worldwide Carbon budget. Local action on such a global issue is just a pompous ego polishing, while we really need a good solar program for our county.

I will continue to argue that our county Carbon actions are just posturing, despite the fact that there will be little near term success in opposing these measures. I pledge to truthfully speak about this issue and attempt to protect the middle class from unnecessary and rapidly escalating costs.

David Reagor

Los Alamos County Council

reagor4council@gmail.com

Paid for by the committee to Elect David Reagor, Cathy Walters Treasurer.