Three lawmakers endorse Powell for Land Office

Jeff Steinborn (left), Ray Powell, Nate Cote, Steve Fischmann at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe on Monday.

Democrat Ray Powell, a primary candidate for commissioner of public lands this year, picked up endorsements from three Doña Ana County lawmakers on Monday.

Sen. Steve Fischmann and representatives Jeff Steinborn and Nate Cote said they will back Powell “because of his commitment to reforming the State Land Office and re-establishing an and open and transparent administration.”

In 2009, all three lawmakers proposed legislation to reform the State Land Office after a land exchange on Las Cruces’ East Mesa.

“Ray Powell is the reform candidate,” Sen. Fischmann said. “He’s who I trust. It’s no question that we need him back at the Land Office.”

“The stakes are high. With Ray, he’ll bring much needed stability back to the Land Office,” Steinborn said. “He’s ethical, principled and knows how to work with communities to maximize the dollars returned to the land office and ultimately our schools.”

“When Ray Powell served as land commissioner, he was recognized for running one of the best land management agencies in the country,” Cote said. “Right now, the Land Office is in crisis, and we are desperately in need of leadership we can trust.”

Ray Powell, a veterinarian, who previously served as land commissioner from 1993-2002, is currently employed as a regional director for the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research Education and Conservation in the western United States, said “these legislators have been instrumental in exposing the behind-the-scene deals happening at the Land Office.”

“I’m eager to clean the place up. I look forward to working with these outstanding leaders to ensure real reform is enacted to protect our public lands and the significant revenues they generate for our public schools, universities, and hospitals,” Powell said after receiving the endorsements.

Powell face Santa Fe County Commissioners Harry Montoya and Mike Anaya, and PRC Commissioner Sandy Jones in the Democratic primary this June.

Earlier this month, Jones, who is currently a Public Regulation Commissioner, was endorsed by the New Mexico Professional Fire Fighters Union, New Mexico Building and Construction Trades Council, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 611, Iron Workers Local 490, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 412 and Lordsburg Mayor Arthur Clark Smith.

Four Republicans are also running in the primary, including oilman Spirio Vassilopoulos, Jim Jackson, who took a leave of absence from the land office to campaign for the post; cattle rancher Matt Rush; and GOP activist Bob Cornelius.

Powell commends AG's action on Whites Peak land swaps

“We must keep White Peak open to hunters and the public,” the former land Commissioner says

By Ray Powell

State Land Commissioner Pat Lyons has been at the center of controversy for his decision to trade away White Peak state lands in northern New Mexico. Sportsmen, elected officials, leaders from northern New Mexico communities, and I have been critical of the exchange.

Lyons has been under investigation by both the New Mexico Attorney General and New Mexico State Auditor regarding the process for selling, exchanging, and leasing of trust lands. Today, Attorney General Gary King sued the State Land Office in the New Mexico Supreme Court, requesting an emergency stay for the White Peak Exchange.

The decision by the Attorney General to protect lands treasured by hunters and used by generations of northern New Mexicans is a good one. I fully support the decision to take this case to the State Supreme Court.

From the onset, this exchange needed more oversight and scrutiny.

Affected groups, local communities and the public were never consulted. The danger, as noted by the Attorney General, is that more White Peak exchanges are forthcoming in the remaining nine months Lyons has in office.

The State Land Office’s proposed land exchange around White Peak represents a case study of what not to do when one is responsible for our public lands.

I am committed to working to reform the policies and procedures at the Land Office to increase transparency and accountability and prevent abuses like this from happening in the future.

Powell, who served two terms as land commissioner from 1993-2002, is making his fourth bid for the office this year.

Powell launches campaign for State Land Commissioner

Powell wants Oil and Gas Industry to pay their fair share of royalties.
(Photo: Peter St. Cyr)

Democrat Ray Powell, who served in the office from 1993-2002, formally launched his campaign for State Land Commissioner on Saturday in Albuquerque. He's calling for green-energy job creation and economic development, land conservation, and ethics reform within the State Land Office.

He said he wants to bring back his team and is looking for creative options to maximize the value of the state's lands, create jobs, and build a new energy economy while providing ethical leadership.

"As a candidate for State Land Commissioner, I bring a record of ethical leadership," Powell says. "I have worked to create thousands of new jobs for New Mexicans. I have a track record of generating more money for our schools and a proven commitment to healing and protecting our state lands. I’m eager to return to the State Land Office where there’s much to be done!"

In this video, Powell cautions against ideas to tap the state's permanent fund to help offset the state's current budget shortfalls



Powell faces three other Democrats including Santa Fe Commissioners Harry Montoya and Mike Anaya and PRC Commissioner Sandy Jones in the state's primary election. On the Republican side, GOP activist Bob Cornelius and retired law-enforcement agent Errol Chavez are running. They’re all battling to replace the GOP’s Pat Lyons, the current land commissioner who is term limited from seeking re-election.

Cornelius Considering Running for NM Public Land Commissioner in 2010

Self-described conservative Republican Bob Cornelius gave us the word this weekend that he's formed an Exploratory Committee and intends to seek his party's nomination for New Mexico's Commissioner of Public Lands.

In April, former two-term Land Commissioner Ray Powell, who served from 1993-2000 and still has his 2006 cambpaign website active , told blogger Heath Haussaman that he was going to seek the Democratic Party nomination in 2010.

Powell lost a close primary election, in 2006, to former Land Commissioner Jim Baca.

Cornelius, a native of Tatum in Lea County and a graduate of Eastern New Mexico, has launched a campaign website, I'm Backing Bob, here.

Cornelius is a long-time GOP activist and Co-owner and Executive Vice President of Petro Verde. A company he said he started to both build and promote alternative and renewable fuel sources in New Mexico and beyond. He is also a fraud investigator employed by the NM Public Regulation Commission.

Corneilus said he has a unique perspective to add to the State Land Office because he grew up in Southern New Mexico:

Oil and gas are the backbone of our economy, but I believe that we must diversify in order to provide new jobs, sustain growth, and to insure that our future generations have every opportunity to succeed.

In his announcement, Corneilus states that he has an appreciation for the state's beauty and its people and pledges to be "an avid protector of our public lands, assuring they will be preserved for future generations.

Current GOP State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons, the only Republican to hold a current state office, has several run ins with the state's attorney general's office because of lease agreements given to a political donor, will be term-limited out of office next year.

Corneilus said:

Commissioner Lyons has served New Mexico well. I wish him the best as he seeks to become a Public Regulation Commissioner. Pat oversaw record breaking oil and gas revenues that have benefitted all New Mexicans. I applaud these efforts, but believe that the State Land office can continue to improve in the areas of promoting alternative energy and job growth, as well as assisting our communities with special projects.

Cornelius tells us he's traveling the state to discuss his possible candidacy with concerned citizens, elected officials, and business leaders. He will make a formal decision about his candidacy this summer.

Democrats Re-elect Entire Slate of State Officers

DPNM Chairman Brian Colon

On Saturday, members of the state's Democratic Party Central Steering Committee met at the Kiva Auditorium. By 3pm, they had re-elected each of the party's leaders, including Chairman Brian Colon.

"I'm humbled and honored," said Colón who was nominated for a second term by State Auditor Hector Balderas. Watch Colón's emotional acceptance speech here.

"It's a great day for the Democratic party. They elected the entire slate of statewide officers. They gave them another term. That means they like the direction of the party, they like the direction the country is going to move in under President Obama."

Colón told me the party's leaders will be focused on the 2010 election, and stressed they want a Democrat to win back the one state office held by a Republican. Land Commisioner Pat Lyons, is term-limited and can't run for re-election.

"We know it's a very important office and we want to make sure a Democratic is in it and make sure we protect New Mexico's lands and provide education opportunities our children deserve.

Former Land Commissioner Ray has already confirmed he'll seek the office next year. Powell, who had the post in the early '90s, lost his bid to regain the office in the 2006 Democratic Primary to former Land Commissioner Jim Baca.

Listen to Colón's remarks here:



The elephant in the room, and there have been a lot of elephants and in Albuquerque this week (read about them here and here), was the resolution on Marriage Equality that gay activists have wanted to include in the party's platform.


"It passed," said Democracy for New Mexico blogger Barbara Wold with a big smile on her face. "There was a movement to vote on it on its own, but that was overthrown; so we were happy with that. There was a language change and now it's called Marriage Equality. That's what we wanted. It won by a huge amount to keep it in with the packet and to have everything together."

Southern New Mexico's Al Kissling, who has a background as a minister and who ran for the congressional seat Harry Teague now holds, wanted to keep the resolution out of the platform, but Democrats voted 309-35 to keep it.

"In this case my fellow Democrats support me and respect my relationship with Mary Ellen [Broderick] of twenty years, and respect us as human beings," said Wold.

Wold told me she doesn't think the stronger resolution language will undermine their efforts in Santa Fe, but wouldn't make any predictions on what legislators will do during a special session or during the 2010 legislature.

Wold says Marriage Equality isn't a religious issue, but Kissling says, "the state shouldn’t push a religious rite.”

She attributes the bigotry in New Mexico to the Catholic Church and tradition.

"There's some perception that this will take away from heterosexual marriages. I don't see it that way," said Wold. "It's not about a sacred sacrament. It's about the license and the piece of paper."

"It gives us some legal rights that other people have in their relationships. Hopefully, at some point in the future, we hope to get the same rights on the Federal level," said Wold.

Listen to our interview here:

[For more on the days events and to look at the specifics of the resolution, read Barbara Wold's blog post here]

Colón told us the Democrats sent a message that everyone should be treated equally and fairly.”

Colón said it's time to rethink whether or not government should even be involved in talking about about marriage. That should be a religious institution he said.

"At the end of the day, we need to understand what's religion, and we need to understand what's a governmental entity," Colón told me. "We've blurred that line, when it comes to marriage, because of our history. But, not all of our history is good."

Later, we asked Colón to talk about what NM's Washington delegation should do after this morning's ABQ JOURNAL story on the New Mexico National Guard's Flying Taco's losing their mission after the F-22 Raptors are mothballed.

Colón, along with NM Secretary of State Mary Herrera, will oversee next year's state wide election. We asked him if he's concerned about the legislature failing to fund money for ES&S voting machine upkeep and ballot printing.

"My goal is to make sure every vote counts in New Mexico," said Colón. "And whatever it takes to make that happen is what we should be doing."

He thinks the legislature may have rejected the funding measure as a way to negotiate a better maintenance contract with Herrera and county clerks.

For Pete's Sake:

Tonight, we learned, Senator Linda Lopez announced that she'll enter the 2010 Race for Lieutenant Governor. She told us while viewing John Walsh's America's Most Wanted with family members of the West Mesa Murder victims.

UPDATE: 10 pm

Santa Fe New Mexican Reporter Steve Terrell was also in ABQ to cover today's committee meeting. He posted this report on his blog Roundhouse Roundup.

Colon Photo: MG Bralley