From my comfy chair, the time and effort would be better spent in Colorado. New Mexico has consistently shown an interest in the RR, and has supported it even outside the bounds set by the bi-state agreement. Colorado, on the other hand has withheld support hiding behind TABOR. Now that the TABOR issue has been put to rest, both due to the passage of Referendum C and to the judgement by the states Attourney General that funding the bi-state commission falls outside TABOR restrictions, Colorado should at least pony up it's share, and really should appropriate an amount sufficient to bring the states back to parity.
But I don't think that even the states' fair share will come easily. This state is too Front Range centric (ie Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs). As a result, I believe that the lobbying effort should be focused on the Colorado legislature - NM will likely do it's part regardless. Of course, if Colorado continues to dodge it's responsibilities that probably will not continue to be the case. But, no matter what, the weak link here is Colorado and that is where we should focus our attention.
Which brings us to the other issue, the Gote (spelt wrong on purpose so don't bitch about it). There seem to be a few Gotesters who sometimes seem to try to drive readership from this site (and probably others) to the Gote using "follow the link" posts. The worst of these have nothing more than some sort of teaser subject, "follow the link" and a link back to the Gote. The very worst of them don't even bother to point to a specific post, or thread, but to the website as a whole. And the absolute very worst of them are posted anonymously (hear that Harry, Larry, Sandy, etc.?).
One thing that Jay and I have agreed upon, at least in the past, is that these "follow the link" posts are
extremely annoying and unwelcome. BUT, I believe that they need to be regarded with an eye toward the end result. So, Jay wants to collect money for the shop. "Larry" posts a "follow the link" post back to the Gote. I get pissed off, but let it slide because the end result is a merrier Christmas (Navidad, Kwanzaa, Solstice, Haunikkah, or Holiday - take your pick) for the people working on the RR. In this case, same thing. Sandy posts a "follow the link" sort of thing but the end result is an enhanced lobbying effort - so it slides. That doesn't mean I'm not pissed off by it - I am - and apparrently John shares this sentiment, especially given that the effort may be misplaced.
The thing is that the Gote, the Ash-pit, the NGDF, and, really, any BBS is mostly a reflection of the people who post to it (although how the moderators deal with problems influences the boards too) and people will read and post to the one(s) where they feel most comfortable. As a result I doubt that "follow the link" promotional type posts will help one board over another at least not in the long run. They just piss people off.
Don
