Yes, readers, they are indeed related.
You may recall that earlier this fall, I decided to do a post updating on a story I wrote many years ago while Bureau Chief and State Political Editor for United Press International in Santa Fe. The story involved my curiosity about how many exotic vehicles were registered in our relatively small population base in New Mexico.
Working then directly with the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department, I was able to obtain that information rather quickly. I discovered that there were more exotic car brands registered in the state than I had expected, including in such unexpected locations as Truth or Consequences.
Fast forward 50 years and my initial inquiries to find the same information ran into a brick wall. To begin with, it was impossible to find a live person to talk to at the Motor Vehicle Department, even after going through multiple recorded menus. I was directed — by a voice recording — to the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, which now oversees the MVD. I got nothing but more recorded menus and nothing remotely close to the information I wanted.
I then called the governor’s office and spoke to a live person. They gave me the name of someone in the Taxation and Revenue Department, who then referred me to a process to request such information through the state’s Open Records process. After filing such a request, I got a message back that “no such information exists.”
Stonewalled and becoming more frustrated, I decided to seek help from my New Mexico State Representative, Michaela Lara Cadena. (Full disclosure: We contributed a small amount of money to her first campaign a few years ago, but I doubt she remembers that. I also mentioned in my request that she and my daughter once played on the same high school soccer team, which she acknowledged.)
I sent her an e-mail and within a day, she responded. She said she would direct her Constituent Services Representative, Marijka Cunningham, to help me track down the information. My quest was delayed for a couple of weeks while I volunteered as an election clerk, but as soon as that was finished, Marijka picked up the pace and directed me to a woman at the Motor Vehicle Department, April Vigil. April then forwarded my request to agency Project Manager Sean Bulian. I received the information on Nov. 25 in a nicely prepared Excel spreadsheet.
Once I had contacted my State Representative, the process to get the information I sought was fast and efficient. I was beginning to conclude that everything in State Government was as bogged down as many naysayers proclaim. To my delight and surprise, it worked well once you got to the right person. And to be honest, my request was not nearly as important as many other projects that these individuals work on daily. Still, they were all very pleasant to deal with and professional in their response.
I do have to admit that it was a bit annoying to have to go through as many steps as it took to finally talk to someone in person. And I wonder if someone who has no personal connection to someone in state government, their legislator or the governor will get a response to their inquiry.
I think endless recorded telephone menus are just the norm these days, regardless of whether it’s state government or your cable or cell phone provider. I’d honestly be willing to pay a few extra bucks a year to be able to reach a live (and knowledgeable) person when I need customer support.
Enough pontificating. So what did I discover with this updated information?
Well, the most surprising thing is that one or maybe two people in extremely rural Catron County in far western New Mexico own exotic Ferraris. This is the part of the state where the standard vehicle is a Ford F-250 dually with a gun rack in the back window and a winch on the front bull bar. Cruising a bright red Ferrari in downtown Reserve with a snarling V-12 would definitely get you noticed in a town where people work hard not to be noticed and many prefer to live off the grid.
Here are some other interesting discoveries about exotic vehicle registrations in New Mexico. There are 565 Ferraris registered in the state, 414 Maseratis, 242 Bentleys, 106 Lamborghinis, 91 Rolls Royces and 140 Tesla Cybertrucks.
As expected, Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Dona Ana and Sandoval County (Rio Rancho), have the most exotic cars.
For some reason, Maserati is a hot commodity in oil-rich Lea County (Hobbs, Lovington), where 15 of them reside, the fifth highest count among all 33 counties.
Lincoln County (Ruidoso and home for lots of ex-pat Texans) seems to have lots of exotics for its population size. There are 12 Bentleys, eight Ferraris, five Maseratis and one Lamborghini residing there.
And Grant County (Silver City) had a surprising 21 Ferraris registered there — not too far away from the two lonely units in adjoining Catron County.
Rio Arriba County (Espanola), likely because of its proximity to Santa Fe, had two Ferraris, two Lamborghinis and one Rolls Royce there.
Bernalillo County had 231 Ferraris registered in and around the Duke City, 137 Maseratis, 97 Bentleys, 40 Lamborghinis and 37 Rolls Royces.
With Bernalillo County holding first place for the number of Cybertrucks — 60 — Dona Ana County and Las Cruces came in second at 18. Santa Fe claimed 15 and Sandoval county had 16. The strangest place I found a Tesla Cybertruck was truly rural Mora County, which had one. I suspect there aren’t many Tesla charging stations around that part of the state.
So that’s the conclusion of my research that no one — except maybe for maybe a few nerdy gearheads — really cared about. And if you need some information from your state government and get stonewalled, I hope you’ve got someone as responsive as my state representative.
I’ve attached the information I received if you are interested in looking at it.
aero-cordero.com 