State Rep. Moore won’t seek re-election

State Rep. Brian Moore, R-Clayton, announced today that he will leave the Legislature when his current term ends in December 2008.

The decision opens a third seat in the state House currently held by a lawmaker who has been part of a bipartisan coalition that often stood up to the speaker during this year’s session. Moore, 55, said the 2008 session will be his eighth, and it’s time for new blood.

“I think the time is right for me. Eight years is a long time,” the District 67 representative said. “I told some folks in Tucumcari last night that I was going to go into political rehab.”

Moore said Dennis Roch, assistant superintendent of the Tucumcari schools, plans to run for his seat. In addition, Moore said some Republicans have called to encourage him to run for the Third Congressional District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Udall.

“It’s flattering that people call,” Moore said. “I would be disingenuous if I said I wasn’t thinking about it some, but I think it’d be a tough situation.”

Even if his consideration of the congressional race isn’t that serious, Moore is the second Republican to say publicly that he’s thinking about running for the left-leaning seat. The other is Los Alamos National Laboratory engineer Ron Dolin, who ran unsuccessfully against Udall last year.

Gov. Bill Richardson said in a statement released by his office that he is “sorry to see Brian leave the Legislature, but I understand and respect his decision.”

“Brian was a statesman who put the interests of New Mexicans ahead of partisan politics,” Richardson said.

House Minority Whip Dan Foley of Roswell said Moore has been “a phenomenal leader and a key player,” and said his departure will be “a major loss to our caucus.”

Moore said one of the factors in his decision was the pay, or lack thereof, for lawmakers. He said it’s tough to serve without compensation.

He said he’s looking forward to the debate on proposed changes to the school-funding formula in what will be his last legislative session next year. The proposal, which aims to more fairly distribute money, is one of the best proposals he’s seen in his time in Santa Fe, he said.

“So it will be fun. Health care will be fun. Ethics will be fun,” Moore said, referring to the major policy issues expected to be debated during the 30-day session.

Key players leaving House

Moore acknowledged the loss that will result from the departures of Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, and Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe. Cervantes is leaving the House to run for Congress. Wirth is leaving to run for the state Senate. Along with Moore and others, they often crossed party lines this year to form a coalition the speaker couldn’t override. Most visible was their successful push for reform of the state’s housing authority system.

“It is kind of tough to see Peter go to the Senate and Joseph run for Congress,” Moore said. “The House will really miss those guys.”

Foley agreed.

“As a group, I hate to see Wirth and Cervantes and Moore leave, because you finally start to see some of these guys stand up to the speaker and the institutional corruption,” Foley said, but he added that he believes some others are starting to stand up as well.

“But losing them is going to hurt the Legislature,” Foley said. “Wirth is one of the most liberal guys in the Legislature. He’s also one of the most honest. … Same with Cervantes. He’s honest.”