Guest Blog: Patrick Lyons Needs to Answer Questions About Campaign Contributions

This is a guest blog by Stephanie L. DuBois of Las Cruces:
"Fair and honest" are the words used by Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons. He was the same Patrick Lyons that thought buying a pick-up truck with campaign funds was acceptable.I am sure he believes he was fair and honest. I can't say with any certainty that Mr. Lyons has done anything illegal according to New Mexico law.

We, as New Mexican voters, extend to our elected officials a certain amount of trust and we have the expectation that trust will be honored. Some of the comments attributed to Mr. Lyons might cause one to think there is a credibility gap. On one hand he says "everything we do is fair and honest" and he is doing everything he can to raise money for state trust funds. On the other hand he doesn't feel compelled to answer questions about campaign donations given by the same developer before and after the bid was awarded to him. When called by an Albuquerque Journal reporter about those donations he told the reporter, "don't call me back again." He then hung up. I think the commissioner doth protest too much.

To my knowledge, there is no bid process on state trust lands, yet Mr. Lyons created a Request for Proposal process with a reported deadline of February 1. He awarded the bid to a Las Cruces developer on December 26. Mr. Lyons claimed that this contractor had by far the best proposal. Question: How could Mr. Lyons know it was the best proposal if he didn't see any of the others? And why would he go against his process by awarding the bid almost a month early?

The contractor can donate to any campaign he wishes, as long as he doesn't have some expectation of some kind of return. For me, I think there should be an investigation of all transactions made while Lyons has been in office. Unlike the legislature, which must have a majority vote to pass legislation, Lyons is able to make decisions unilaterally and arbitrarily. We learned in the recent past that behavior isn't always wise. Let's have answers to the right questions.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Stephanie L. DuBois. Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their personal opinions on relevant political issues. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

To learn more about the controversy over Patrick Lyons' handling of a development bid in Las Cruces and campaign contributions he received from the chosen developer, try these for starters:

• Lyons Got Donations After Vote, Albuquerque Journal, 6.16.07
• Land Commissioner on Shaky Ground, Albuquerque Journal, 6.19.07
• On trip to Las Cruces, Lyons defends land lease, Heath Haussamen, 5.16.07