Remembering the Roundhouse: David Abbey reflects on 40 years in state government

As you may, or may not, know, the Roundhouse is the nickname for the New Mexico’s state Capitol in Santa Fe. The building, a cake-like cylinder, is where the state Legislature meets and where the Governor’s Office is located.

And it is where David Abbey labored for most of the 40 years he worked in state government — from 1983 to 2023. Not as an elected official but as a staff member in the legislative and executive branches.

His recently published, simply titled memoir is “Forty Years in the New Mexico Roundhouse.”

Abbey wrote that one purpose of the book is to give readers an insider’s view of interrelated financial issues — the sources of revenue and where it goes for state government spending, as well as developing budgetary and fiscal policies.

He also explains such other complex issues as capital outlay, debt, severance bonds, taxes and how the Legislature ensures oversight and accountability of public funds.

Abbey said in a phone interview that the book tries to “demystify how (state) government works.” His plain-spoken, direct language goes a long way to inform readers on those processes.

A second purpose of the book is informational. “I think that most New Mexicans want to know what’s going on at the Capitol, at least I hope they do,” he said.

And the book, Abbey added, “is a chronicle, a history. We should be interested in our history because that’s how we learn as we go forward.”

From there, the book analyzes the administrations of the seven governors Abbey worked with — Toney Anaya, Garrey Carruthers, Bruce King, Gary Johnson, Bill Richardson, Susana Martinez and Michelle Lujan Grisham.

“I rate Gov. Carruthers the highest in modern history,” Abbey writes.

“Don’t undersell the value of positive energy and leadership. … His top priorities of education and economic development were consistent with a market-oriented worldview.”

The book addresses Abbey’s many governmental roles. His first job was as a revenue estimator for the state Department of Finance and Administration. Three years later, he was promoted to chief economist in the department. In effect, he had the lead in preparing and presenting state revenue forecasts.

Six years later, he moved up to director of the State Board of Finance.

Abbey was fired from that position in 1995. One hour after his firing, he writes, he walked across the street and landed the job of chief investment officer for the State Treasurer.

Then two years later, he was asked to apply for the directorship of the Legislative Finance Committee. He got the job and survived political infighting.

“Of course,” Abbey writes, “I was a thorn in the side of governors, but the LFC chairs asked me not to hang it up.”

After 26 years as LFC director, he did retire.

Perhaps one of the more curious detours Abbey takes from the issues of governance is the two pages he devotes to former LFC economist Ed Howard. The same Ed Howard who had previously worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and apparently was under investigation as a Soviet spy. Avoiding capture by the FBI, he famously fled his Santa Fe home for Moscow in the mid-1980s.

Abbey remembers Howard as a friend who was the same age, had young children and shared an interest in international affairs. They worked together at the LFC, traveled together on state business, and had a common network of friends who worked at the Capitol.

Abbey said he felt it was important to tell readers about his own background “… because I believe my worldview, my education, my travels and cross-cultural experiences and my interest in people and places contributed to my success in the New Mexico Legislature.”

He also shines a light on a host of his personal qualities he believes contributed to his success.

Abbey directs readers to the book’s final chapter, “How to Improve Performance.” A heading in the chapter declares “Education Trumps Everything.”

But Abbey said that “New Mexico has been mired at the bottom of reading and math proficiency rankings for decades.”

The state, however, is a leader in investing “in early childhood education, first full-day kindergarten, then home visiting and pre-K, and now 3-year-old and 4-year-old full day. But extended learning time has gone backwards.”

Abbey cautions that a $30 million appropriation for a building to house a reading institute won’t solve the proficiency problem. That money is still unspent, Abbey noted. It was approved by the 2025 Legislature and signed into law, for a building and related programs to improve literacy skills for New Mexicans of all ages.

“There is merit to investing in better instruction, training and professional development in the science of reading,” Abbey writes.

“However, with both school and college enrollment on a long downward trend, it is hard to imagine that we need a new facility to do this work.”

Driving enrollment down is a lower birth rate and more students enrolling in charter schools, he said.

Abbey also identified a number of other capital outlay projects that he felt were wasteful.

Remembering the Roundhouse: David Abbey reflects on 40 years in state government