Nate Cote is fairly unassuming and soft-spoken.
Maybe that’s why longtime state Rep. Terry Marquardt of Alamogordo underestimated him in last year’s election. Marquardt, a Republican and 12-year representative of House District 53, lost to Cote, a Democrat, by 199 votes, or 2.8 percent. With the help of Democratic leaders in Santa Fe, Cote outspent Marquardt by about $12,000.
Cote, 60, also out-hustled his opponent. Cote and a group of his supporters went door-to-door throughout the two-county district, and many homes had several visits. Residents of the district consistently received mailers promoting Cote and attacking Marquardt for several months, but didn’t start receiving Marquardt-promoting mailers until a few weeks before the election.
That’s because, Marquardt told me a few weeks before Election Day, he saw no chance that Cote would beat him and wasn’t worried. Cote’s victory has a few Republicans scratching their heads – some saw this coming – and earns the freshman lawmaker immediate respect in his own party.
Cote is one of several rookie House members who will start their first legislative session on Tuesday.
Cote said his door-to-door philosophy will continue, now that he’s won the election, with regular meetings in communities throughout his district.
“My predecessor did none of these things, and I think that contributed to his downfall,” Cote said. “If you listen to people and they feel like you are listening, that’s good.”
‘Familiar with public policy’
Cote knows how to be an effective communicator. He spent 30 years as a human relations employee with the U.S. Air Force doing just that.
In addition to being stationed in various locations in the United States, Cote has worked in South Korea, Germany and Portugal. He has negotiated resolutions with employee unions, including working through a strike of more than 3,000 employees in South Korea. He said he also dealt with “discriminatory issues” at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque before he retired in 2003.
“It’s been a career of implementing and administering law and regulations, all involving national security and military issues,” Cote said. “I’m very familiar with public policy.”
Cote’s career in the Air Force was backed up by his four years of service in the U.S. Navy, in addition to three master’s degrees in public administration, human resources and human relations, and a doctorate in education.
Cote draws from the last degree for his second career as an educator. He has been teaching college courses for several years, and is currently the director of academics for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s campus at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo. He also teaches courses for New Mexico State University’s Doña Ana and Alamogordo branch campuses, and teaches from time to time at Fort Bliss in El Paso.
He’ll even be doing some online teaching for the NMSU campuses while he’s in Santa Fe during this year’s legislative session.
‘So many things to be done’
That range of experience, Cote said, is reflective of his diverse interests and goals.
“There are so many things to be done,” he said. “It’s just going to be a lot of work, and I have a lot of priorities.”
Cote listed higher education as a major priority. He wants to expand the lottery scholarship. He also spoke of the need to improve public safety. Cote said he is currently working with Doña Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison to get a substation on the mesa east of Las Cruces.
With the exception of one precinct in Doña Ana County and another in Otero County, Cote said the residents of his district lack basic infrastructure. That raises the topic of flooding, which he called his “No. 1 issue.” There was severe flooding this summer in both counties he represents.
Cote’s concerns about poverty go beyond infrastructure. He specifically pointed out the one precinct in his district located in Chaparral as a place that needs a lot of help, and shared his belief that poverty has a lot to do with circumstance and a lack of opportunity.
“My big thing is giving them the choices,” Cote said. “I want to do that.”
Veterans’ issues are another topic important to Cote. He said he will work on securing tax relief for veterans and free access to state parks for disabled veterans.
He also talked about protecting the environment. He was raised on a family farm in Maine and said he has a basic understanding of agricultural issues and how they relate to the environment. As an avid backpacker, Cote has hiked most of New Mexico in his 11 years here, “so I know its beauty and I want to preserve as much of that as possible.”
That’s one of the reasons Cote and his wife of 26 years, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Korea, decided to retire in Doña Ana County. They have one adult daughter who is a dermatologist in Atlanta.
“We looked at the Las Cruces area and we found five acres at the foot of the mountains that we couldn’t resist,” Cote said. “I mean, how great is it to wake up every morning and look at the Organ Mountains?”
Cote said he understands that development is necessary, “we’ve just got to move very cautiously.”
He is a supporter of one major development project – Spaceport America in Sierra County. He said the space industry is already having an impact by bringing money into the local economy, and noted that it’s generally an environmentally friendly industry.
“I think it’s the future,” Cote said. “If we can make it work, I think it’s a very good thing for the area.”
‘The ultimate community service job’
Cote’s only caution about the spaceport is that a lot of taxpayer money will be spent on the project, and the state needs to guard against its misuse. He noted the recent scandals that have plagued state government as a reason to be careful.
“We need to make sure we have the right management and oversight of the program,” Cote said.
On another topic that has ethical implications – the recent vote by House Democrats to keep Ben Lujan as their speaker, Cote would not reveal how he voted. He did say that he doesn’t think the division revealed when Ken Martinez challenged Ben Lujan will affect Democrats’ ability to work together during the session. He also said he doesn’t expect there to be any retribution against “the members who wanted to run for leadership.”
Cote also said he is a big supporter of Gov. Bill Richardson.
“I have a high regard for Gov. Richardson. He’s only human and he does have his weaknesses,” Cote said, while declining to name them. “I really think that his programs and initiatives so far have pushed us in a very good direction.”
He is glad Richardson will ask the Legislature to approve the creation of a state ethics commission, and said he plans to vote to create such a body.
“We need to hold our people accountable. We can’t let them get away with corruption,” Cote said.
He also supports, as does Richardson, the proposal to ban cockfighting, but says his support for animal rights goes far beyond that.
“Domesticated animals depend on us to take care of them, not to put them in harm’s way, and I intend to do just that,” Cote said.
Asked whether he has plans for a higher office, Cote said he has “no immediate future ambitions” and is excited about being a legislator.
“This is the ultimate community service job because it doesn’t pay and it takes a lot,” he said. “People don’t realize how much time and effort is required for this.”
Nate Cote is fairly unassuming and soft-spoken.