State Land Commissioner Pat Lyons responded to an attack from his challenger by saying he is receiving more donations from developers and oil and gas companies because he is business-friendly.
Democrat Jim Baca released an analysis of campaign contributions to the incumbent Republican Monday, which showed that 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.
“It appears to me that a ‘selling of the land office’ is occurring to those who have leases with it,” Baca said. “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.”
“The energy and agriculture industries and developers are the land office’s primary sources of revenue and together have generated more than $1 billion for public education during my first term as land commissioner,”
“My opponent has admitted that he is antagonistic and it appears he alienated the people who did business with him at the land office. If those industries aren’t contributing to his campaign he has only himself to blame,”
I should note the extreme disparity in fundraising thus far in this campaign. At the end of June,