Baca attacks Lyons’ taking of money from real estate, oil and gas companies as ‘unprecedented’

State land commissioner hopeful Jim Baca’s campaign has completed a review of contributions to incumbent Republican Pat Lyons and says the land commissioner has taken money from real estate and oil and gas companies on an unprecedented scale.

According to Democrat Baca’s review, released Monday, Lyons had taken more than $117,000 from developers and real estate companies and more than $186,000 from oil and gas companies through May of this year.

At the end of June, Lyons reported having just under $500,000 in the bank, dwarfing Baca’s $6,977.

“It appears to me that a ‘selling of the land office’ is occurring to those who have leases with it,” Baca said in an e-mail. “The amount of money for a candidate from those who do business with the office that he governs is truly unprecedented. This shows that he will truly have a difficult time remaining independent. This really makes it clear that the land commissioner races should be publicly financed.”

It is a lot of money from companies that do business with the state. Does it mean that Lyons is owned by these companies? Let’s hear from you. Submit comments by clicking on the envelope icon at the end of this posting.

I’ve also requested a response from Lyons. I’ll let you know if I get one.