Seven hundred fifty. That’s the number of bills that Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson claims to have vetoed during his tenure as governor of New Mexico. In his 2012 book, Seven Principles of Good Government, he states, “Although I do not believe that government is ill-intentioned, I strongly believe in less government. I vetoed 750 bills as governor because I abhor the government spending money on programs that show no improvement in our lives and criminalize actions that do not warrant criminalization.”[1] Johnson has reiterated this claim about vetoes since declaring his candidacy for president earlier this month.[2] We thought that 750 vetoes sounded like an exceptionally high number for a two-term governor, but our …show more content…
With the help of the New Mexico Legislature’s online database and the state’s legislative librarian, we found that this claim is mostly accurate. In total, Johnson issued 739 full vetoes. Verbatim Logo.png Verbatim is a fact-checking project of Ballotpedia. Launched in October 2015, Verbatim examines claims made by elected officials, political appointees, and political candidates at the federal, state, and local levels. We evaluate claims made by politicians of all backgrounds and affiliations, subjecting them to the same objective and neutral examination process. Our focus is always on the claim, not the individual. To learn more about fact-checking, click here. Sources and Notes ↑ Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 Johnson, Gary. (2012). Seven Principles of Good Government. Aberdeen: Silver Lake Publishing. (pages 27-28) Jump up ↑ Facebook page of Gary Johnson, "Who is Gov. Gary Johnson?" January 15, 2016 Jump up ↑ Reason.com, "Gary Johnson To Announce He's Running for President Today," January 6, …show more content…
Fallin flex her veto muscle?" May 7, 2014 Jump up ↑ Oregon Live, "No more 'Dr. No,' as Gov. John Kitzhaber vetoes but a single bill," August 4, 2011 Jump up ↑ Hawaii State Legislature, "Archives," accessed January 25, 2016 Jump up ↑ We were unable to determine how many of these vetoes were line-item vetoes, though the percentage is likely insignificant in this context since California governors, as in New Mexico, may only use line-item vetoes on appropriations measures. Jump up ↑ California Senate Office of Research, “How often do governors say no?” October 1, 2014 Contact We welcome comments from our readers. If you have a question, comment, or suggestion for a claim that you think we should look into, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. You can also contact us on Facebook and Twitter. More from Verbatim Political Map of the World (january 2015) Verbatim.pngPaid and sick leave in the U.S. January 26, 2016 DCVerbatimSlums.jpgDoes half of the U.S. live "in or near poverty"? January 26,