The New Mexico Department of Transportation says House Speaker Ben Lujan has been maintaining an illegal billboard for years on land he owns and has ordered him to take it down, The Santa Fe New Mexican is reporting.
In a story authored by reporter Kate Nash, the newspaper reports on a letter the department sent to the speaker stating that it “has determined that the billboard structure is non-conforming and illegal and was maintained in violation of the outdoor advertising statute and regulations.”
The letter states that the billboard must be removed in advance of an upcoming highway project along U.S. 84/285 near Pojoaque.
“Nobody had ever notified me that there’s even a permit required in all these years that it’s been there,” the newspaper quoted Lujan as saying. He added that he will talk to his lawyer and respond to the department’s letter.