Richardson takes credit for new jobs

Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that New Mexico gained 75,800 jobs from December 2002 to July 2007, which is slightly lower than Richardson's claim.

As our friends at FactCheck.org note in this article , Richardson has consistently cited the higher number, even when the actual number was lower.

For our ruling, however, we'll rely on the current 75,800 and call it mostly true.

It's difficult to calculate how big a role his tax cuts played in getting businesses to create those jobs.

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James Peach, an economics professor at New Mexico State University, said many factors make a company decide to add jobs and that tax incentives often play only a modest role. Indeed, much of the job growth in the state began before Richardson became governor, Peach said.

Still, Peach said Richardson's tax incentives and income tax cuts have created a favorable atmosphere for business that is a stark change from the state's mentality in the mid-1970s, when state officials refused to provide help to a promising young company named Microsoft.

"The climate here has changed considerably since then," Peach said. "Bill Richardson has been a big part of that. He's not the whole story, but he's been a big part of it."