Colón wants to connect people to government

Candidate for lieutenant governor also wants to use his strengths – making connections and bringing people together – to help solve problems

Brian Colón says his strength is making connections and bringing people together. It’s what has made him successful in life, and he says it’s a big factor in the work he did as state Democratic Party chairman.

Now he wants to use his abilities to make the “largely undefined” lieutenant governor’s office the conduit between New Mexicans and their government – like the constituent services staff does in a congressional office. He also wants to use his ability to make connections to help solve the state’s problems.

“My vision for the office is what I’ve always done – bringing people together to come up with solutions to critical issues,” Colón said during a recent interview in Las Cruces.

Though the primary race isn’t until June, Colón is off to a quick start. He raised $277,000 in the five weeks he was in the race before the October finance reports were due, topping all of his opponents though they had been in the race longer than him. Two other Democratic lieutenant governor candidates each raised about $150,000 for their campaigns. The others were far behind that.

“It was very humbling to realize… that the response we got was exceptional relative to the field,” Colón said. “I was trying to catch up. I was just trying to get a respectable report out there, because I only had five weeks.”

Still, Colón faces lots of opposition in the primary. Also running are 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 retiring Mid-Region Council of Governments Executive Director Lawrence Rael.

“We’re going to keep working,” Colón said. “That’s what I’ve got. We’ve got hard work. We’ve got blood, sweat and tears.”

‘If it wasn’t for Democratic values and programs…’

Colón, 39, grew up in Valencia County. His parents – both disabled – ran the flea market in Bosque Farms, and he started working with them when he was 10, opening shop at 6 a.m. on weekends.

“I hated it at the time,” Colón said. “I think now it’s the reason I learned to connect with individuals.”

The flea market was the center of town. The area’s incorporation movement was discussed there. Politicians showed up to solicit votes. Being in such an atmosphere, Colón said, “was the beginning of who I was going to grow up to be.”

Colón attended college at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces – moving in and out of school more than once and starting small businesses in between to help pay for it. He then attended law school at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

Growing up with disabled parents, Colón said the community and government programs such as welfare and student loans are the reason he succeeded in becoming the first in his family to attend college.

“If it wasn’t for Democratic values and programs, you don’t get to grow up to be a lawyer,” he said.

Education and economic development

It’s because of his belief in community and Democratic Party values that Colón wants to be lieutenant governor. Though the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate, he said it’s primarily the governor’s job to deal with policy issues.

Colón said he sees the potential for the lieutenant governor’s office to compliment that in the executive branch by becoming the office New Mexicans know they can call for help when they have problems with any aspect of government at any level.

But that doesn’t mean Colón isn’t talking about policy issues. He said he’s supportive of the campaign platform of the Democrat’s likely gubernatorial nominee, current Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. In addition, the top issues he lists on campaign literature are “equal rights for all,” affordable health care, high-quality education, accountability and ethics, “robust, green economic development” and “working with organized labor for fair wages and safe workplaces.”

Colón’s wife is a teacher, so he knows about the challenges educators face. He said he’s a big fan of charter schools, knowing that giving parents and students options can help improve education.

He also said education must be approached in the context of economic development. New Mexico is positioned to take the lead in developing renewable energy, but building transmission lines and increasing storage capacity are key to making that happen. Educating a workforce with this goal in mind is critical, he said.

Colón said he’s also supportive of increasing the focus on educating parents about the importance of early childhood development, a critical area to a healthy New Mexico.

Ethics, fiscal crisis

Colón said transparency and accessibility are the foundation for improving ethics in government. He noted that, when he was state Democratic Party chairman, he made sure journalists had his cell phone number and e-mail address, so they could always reach him and hold him accountable. He mentioned the problematic 2008 presidential primary run by the party – a situation that earned him and the party a great deal of criticism.

“I’ve been through the fire, but I tried to stay accessible,” Colón said.

He acknowledged that the state, and many members of his own party, have been embroiled in scandal in recent years, and said he’s “intrigued” but a recent proposal from Think New Mexico to ban all political contributions from contractors and lobbyists. He also mentioned as important issues putting the state budget online in a searchable form and creating reliable online databases of state contractors and campaign contributors.

“It’s gotta be readily available to the public – and again, when it’s not, I want people to be able to call the lieutenant governor’s office (for help),” Colón said.

“it’s that type of attitude that I brought to the Democratic Party — and I want to bring to state government — that I think encourages good behavior,” Colón said.

There’s another big problem Colón wants to help solve – the state’s economic crisis that could lead to a budget shortfall of as much as $1 billion in January. Though lawmakers will plug that hole before the next governor and lieutenant governor are sworn in, Colón said there will be plenty the next governor and lieutenant governor will need to do to pull the state out of the crisis.

“Obviously, this is one of the biggest challenges the state has faced in a long time, and we’ve got to bring together some great minds,” he said, adding that he wants to “devote some real, substantial energy to bringing stakeholders around the table and come up with some real, creative ideas to address the budget shortfall.”

“That has always been my strength,” Colón said.