State Rep. Brian Egolf (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
‘Ultimately, I would like to know whether any analysis done by (the State Land Office) was sufficient,’ Rep. Egolf wrote in a letter to the state auditor
A lawmaker has asked the state auditor and attorney general to investigate a series of proposed land swaps between Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons and private owners that primarily involves land in the White Peaks area.
State Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, who has expressed concern about the proposed land swaps that involve Stanley Ranches, CS Cattle and Express UU Bar Ranches, sent the letters to State Auditor Hector Balderas and Attorney General Gary King earlier this week.
Egolf, who grilled Lyons at a Legislative Finance Committee interim hearing in November, asked in his letter to Balderas that the auditor determine whether the financial terms of the deal meet the land commissioner’s responsibilities to generate income for state land trust beneficiaries — primarily public education.
Egolf also asked Balderas to consider whether the commissioner had a plan to replace the $200,000 the Department of Game and Fish pays every year to give hunters access to the land that is to be swapped. And he asked Balderas to determine whether the land swaps were “influenced in any way by the Commissioner’s personal relationships with the persons swapping the land with the trust.”
“Ultimately, I would like to know whether any analysis done by the Commissioner was sufficient to meet his responsibilities as trustee of state lands with regard to generating income for the beneficiaries (public education) of the trust,” Egolf wrote.
Land Office spokeswoman Kristin Haase told NMPolitics.net that the land office “will not lose a penny,” referring to $200,000 from Game and Fish, because those revenues come from statewide trust land.
“I should note that when Commissioner Lyons took office, he renegotiated the easement fee so the trust would receive more money from hunting fees than it had during his Democrat predecessor’s term,” Haase wrote in an e-mail after reading Egolf’s letters.
Balderas, who is already conducting a special audit of the land office, told NMPolitics.net that he’d received Egolf’s letter, and that “a review of the proposed swaps will be a top priority in my office.” King said he has assigned two of his top deputies to review legal issues surrounding the land exchange.
In his letter, Egolf asked King to review whether the land swaps are “being conducted in accordance with applicable federal and state laws.” He also wants the AG’s office to determine if Lyons “may have violated the Campaign Reporting Act in accepting unreported gifts from persons involved in the transaction.”
Lyons’ spokeswoman: Egolf playing ‘partisan politics’
Egolf is referring to a 2002 bull elk hunt Lyons went on with the previous owner of what is now called Express UU Bar Ranches, Brad Kelly, who is not involved in the current deal.
What some, including Egolf, say they have a problem with is the fact that the current manager of the ranch — Mike Hobbs — was also manager when Kelly owned the ranch. Hobbs told NMPolitics.net that Lyons has not hunted or been a guest at the ranch since it was taken over by the current owners.
Haase has accused Egolf of playing “partisan politics instead of calling us directly so we could have put his mind at ease about these concerns.” She wrote in an e-mail that there is no conflict of interest involved in the White Peaks land swap.
“Nearly eight years ago then-Senator Lyons went on a half-day hunt with his FRIEND (emphasis Haase), Brad Kelley, the FORMER owner of the UU Bar who is NOT involved in this exchange. So what?” she wrote in her e-mail. “If Rep. Egolf is so concerned about the appearance of a conflict of interest, then I assume he’ll be abstaining from every dinner, reception, gift, donut, and cup of coffee paid for by a lobbyist over the course of the upcoming session. It would look a little shady if he voted in line with said lobbyist’s objective.”
‘The public should be involved’
N.M. Wildlife Federation Executive Director Jeremy Vesbach has joined Egolf in questioning the proposed land swaps. He is asking Lyons to “take a step back and realize the public has a valuable interest and point of view as well, and do the right thing and just scrap the whole deal.”
“The public should be involved in an open, transparent effort to solutions of any problems the commissioner of public lands wishes to solve at White’s Peak,” Vesbach said.
Lyons, who was elected to head the land office in 2002 and again in 2006, is term limited from seeking re-election. He’s instead running next year for a seat on the Public Regulation Commission.
NMPolitics.net has delivered a formal request to inspect correspondence between the land office and all potential White Peaks bidders, and will review those materials later this month.
St. Cyr is a contributing writer for this site and a reporter at 770KKOB.com. He can be reached at peter.stcyr@gmail.com.