Rael, shown during last week’s interview in Las Cruces (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Democratic candidate says he ‘can manage programs and projects in a manner that lieutenant governors haven’t done in the past’
The lieutenant governor hasn’t historically been too involved in managing state government. Lawrence Rael thinks that should change.
The Democratic lieutenant governor candidate says he’s running because his experience as an administrator in a number of different government jobs gives him the knowledge to expand the lieutenant governor’s role in the administration of the executive branch.
“I can be an asset in this system,” Rael said in an interview last week in Las Cruces. “I can manage programs and projects in a manner that lieutenant governors haven’t done in the past.”
Rael, currently the executive director of the Mid-Region Council of Governments in the Albuquerque area, is a former deputy secretary of transportation, former aide to Sen. Jeff Bingaman and former chief administrative officer for the City of Albuquerque.
In his current job, he runs an organization that assists in a variety of planning services ranging from transportation and land-use to workforce and economic development.
In that capacity, Rael has become a sort of troubleshooter who handles complex issues. When much of the state’s regional housing authority system crumbled in scandal in 2006, Gov. Bill Richardson asked Rael to clean up the mess.
And when the governor and lawmakers began talking several years ago about a proposal to create a commuter rail system in the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area, there was no obvious government agency to put in charge of it. Rael made the case that his agency could handle it, and so the council of governments was given the task.
Several years later, the Rail Runner has had more than 2 million riders, and the vast majority of them say they like it. Now there’s talk of creating a similar commuter rail system in the Las Cruces-El Paso region.
Rael thinks it’s a good idea.
“I am thrilled that people are talking about expanding the commuter rail system,” he said. “… I think the Las Cruces-to-El Paso corridor offers a lot of value.”
Rael said the Las Cruces area is fascinating and more challenging than other quickly growing areas around the state because it’s part of a region that crosses into Texas and Mexico. It’s becoming a much more important region in a state that’s often been dominated by the north, he said.
“The growth that’s happened here is pretty amazing, and I think it’s really important that this part of the state be more engaged and that the north be more engaged with them,” he said.
‘A progression that is pretty logical’
One of the ways Rael said the state can work to improve lives is through encouraging regional cooperation. He cited the various agencies that came together on the Rail Runner project as an example, and said something similar could happen in the Las Cruces-El Paso area.
There may not be anyone in the state with more experience at making such regional projects happen. With his vision for the job of the lieutenant governor, Rael said he is trying to make “a progression that is pretty logical.”
Before he can get there, or even to the general election, Rael is facing a lot of competition in the Democratic primary. Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano, state Sens. Linda Lopez and Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque, State Rep. Jose Campos of Santa Rosa and former state Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón are all running.
Sen. Tim Eichenberg, D-Albuquerque, has also been making rumblings about running or considering running, but he has not formally declared his candidacy.
Rael said his experience places him above the rest.
“To have an individual with the experience and knowledge I have, I think I can make that position even more influential,” he said.
Expanding on what Denish has done
How would he do it? Rael cited examples from his time running the council of governments, including the Rail Runner project. He will simply make the case that he knows what it takes to get things done and ask for the responsibility to do it.
With that attitude, and the mindset that the lieutenant governor is “an extension of the governor’s office to help manage state government,” Rael said he could help make sure things get done on some important projects.
Running the state is ultimately the governor’s job, but Rael said the governor has little time to be involved in day-to-day management. And the governor’s chief of staff, he said, “has very limited oversight over department heads,” which leaves department secretaries to “really run the place.”
Unless Rael has his way. He said New Mexico, in the current economic climate, “can’t afford” a lieutenant governor who presides over a 30- or 60-day session of the Senate but has no plan about what to do when it ends.
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, the likely Democratic nominee for governor, has “elevated that job” more than has been done in the past through her involvement in the New Mexico Children’s Cabinet and in other ways.
“I’m looking to expand on what she’s created,” Rael said.