A conceptual drawing of Spaceport America. (Courtesy photo)
Resignation came after Landeene was suspended pending an investigation into the land deal
When Steve Landeene resigned from his job as executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority earlier this month, he and state officials failed to mention that he had been suspended from his job pending an investigation into a private deal he’d entered into to buy a ranch right next to Spaceport America.
Instead, Landeene said in a news release from the spaceport authority that he was resigning to “regain some work/life balance.”
But Landeene had, indeed, entered into a private deal to buy a ranch neighboring the spaceport, the Albuquerque Journal reported today. State officials confirmed the truth to the Journal “only after it had learned of the land deal from other sources,” the article states.
Heath Haussamen
Landeene had told the Journal in December that the family that owns the ranch offered to sell it to the state for $2.5 million. The Journal quoted Landeene as saying the ranch was being appraised “to see if it’s affordable and what we might use it for.” Landeene entered into the deal to buy the ranch after the spaceport authority declined to do so.
From today’s Journal article:
“What Landeene planned to do with the ranch isn’t known. Also not known: whether he planned to personally profit from owning the property. It isn’t clear whether Landeene still plans to purchase the ranch. Sierra County records show it hasn’t yet changed hands.”
The ranch is right along the road that goes from Truth or Consequences to the spaceport – the primary access road for the facility.
An appearance of impropriety
To be clear, since we don’t know what Landeene planned to do with the land, we don’t know whether there’s actual wrongdoing here. But there’s certainly an appearance of impropriety. His entering into a deal to buy the land was a huge conflict of interest.
Imagine a state lawmaker convincing his peers in the Legislature to approve tax increment development district funding for a chunk of land so tax dollars would pay the initial costs of roads and other infrastructure.
Then imagine that same legislator buying up the land in that area to sell for development. Totally inappropriate.
Imagine the governor pushing the state to spend $200 million to build a spaceport in the middle of nowhere because a combination of factors make it the ideal place to launch vehicles into space. Imagine the state securing studies that show that such a project could turn the area around Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences into the center of the commercial space industry in America.
Huge development potential. Huge tourism potential. A financial boon to the area, which means some people could get very rich.
Then imagine the governor personally buying a ranch adjacent to the spaceport to turn it into a resort and hotel so he could make money off all the rich people paying $200,000 a piece to fly into space from the facility he pushed the state to build with public money.
Again, totally inappropriate.
No matter what Landeene’s intent was for the land, the fact that he was responsible for moving the spaceport from concept to reality – and that he succeeded in doing so – meant he had no business privately buying adjacent land that he could potentially use to make a great deal of money if the spaceport project succeeds.
You would think someone with such intelligence and responsibility would understand that.