Guv appoints 20 to veteran’s museum task force

Gov. Bill Richardson announced today the appointment of 20 people to the Veterans Museum Task Force, which will consider the best location to locate the planned state museum.

Absent from the task force are any lawmakers, including the two who sponsored the bills this year that would have created the museum and located it in Doña Ana County – Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, and Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces.

Richardson vetoed the legislation, which had widespread support among lawmakers, saying there wasn’t consensus on where to locate the museum and that the bill was drafted without input from the state veteran’s community.

But a controversy ensued because Richardson originally supported the bill – and had two of his cabinet secretaries testify before legislative committees on behalf of it. Richardson changed his tune and vetoed the bill after Rawson became his most vocal critic on other issues during the legislative session.

The members of Richardson’s task force are:

• Secretary John M. Garcia

• Secretary Stuart Ashman

• Tony Martinez, Santa Fe

• Meredith Beaton, Rio Rancho

• The Honorable Dolores C. Archuleta, Las Cruces

• Gerald A. Ullery, Silver City

• Terry Bumpass, Raton

• Jon Hunner, Las Cruces

• General Edward Baca, Albuquerque

• John Holguin, Vado

• Hiroshi Miyamura, Gallup

• Leon Morris, Clovis

• Charlene Scherrer, Albuquerque

• Donnie Kee, Kirtland

• Armando Amador, Silver City

• Clinton Smith, Ruidoso

• Richard Broder, Albuquerque

• Charles Daniel, Carlsbad

• Ken O’Keefe, Albuquerque

• The Honorable Tony E. Martinez, Las Vegas

“I am confident that the newly appointed members of the Veterans Museum Task Force will come together and find the best location for a museum,” Richardson said in a news release. “Veterans from throughout the state will be given the opportunity to provide input on the museum that will honor New Mexico’s veterans and rich military history.”