Matt Rush
Matt Rush says it’s time for a younger generation to take the reins of state government.
The Republican nominee for state commissioner of public lands is 36, and he says it’s time for his generation to “stand up” as New Mexico approaches its 100th anniversary in 2012.
“I don’t think there is anyone out there who would stand up and say New Mexico has reached its full potential,” Rush said during a recent interview in Las Cruces. “… People who have served in the past, thank you, but it’s time for new leaders.”
In talking about those who have served in the past, Rush is referring at least in part to his Democratic opponent, Ray Powell, who was land commissioner from 1993 to 2002 and wants the job again. Rush is sounding what has become a familiar theme in the 2010 election cycle, saying voters need to elect people who aren’t “career politicians.”
Rush is a fourth-generation farmer and rancher in Roosevelt County, and he also does leadership training, consulting and motivational speaking for agriculture and corporate clients in a number of states.
He’s an unabashed defender of the oil and gas and agriculture industries. Rush said the land office can be more than an office that collects royalties from leasing state trust land: It can promote those industries.
Rush said there’s a disconnect in America. People will protest actions of those industries but stop to put gas in their vehicles and buy a hamburger on the way. The industries need to do a better job of educating people about what they do, he said, and he can help do that as land commissioner.
“We need to reintroduce ourselves to our customers,” Rush said.
Rush has been involved in doing just that through his work with the national Farm Bureau. One program on which he has worked involved getting “accurate” textbooks about agriculture into schools.
Rush said he’s also interested in diversifying the money the state makes off leasing trust lands beyond oil and gas and agriculture. He mentioned uranium in Northwest New Mexico and potash in Southeast New Mexico as resources that have potential to make more money for the state.
He also said he’s interested in wind and solar, but said those industries exist because of government assistance, and the land office needs to work with them – but do so carefully.
The State Investment Council
The land commissioner is a voting member of the State Investment Council, which has been plagued by scandal in recent years. Rush said hundreds of millions of dollars have been “lost or stolen” from the investment agency, and “that’s got to stop.”
“We’ve got to cut that kind of business out of our state,” Rush said, adding that a good first step is electing people who have honesty and integrity.
Powell and Lyons
In response to questions, Rush had some interesting things say about the previous two land commissioners – current Commissioner Pat Lyons, a Republican, and Powell, who preceded Lyons in office.
Powell, Rush said, is a “nice man,” but he’s too far to the left.
“This office is not about a far left agenda, and for that matter it’s not about a far right agenda,” Rush said. “It’s about doing what’s right for New Mexico.”
Asked about Lyons, Rush pointed out that he’s operated the land office on a flat budget for eight years, reverted money back to the general fund and will end his tenure with nine fewer employees than when he took office.
“If every state agency ended with a flat budget, imagine where we’d be,” Rush said.
Lyons has faced a great deal of scrutiny during his tenure and found himself in the middle of controversy related to some high-profile land deals in Las Cruces and elsewhere. Rush said he believes the controversy followed Lyons in part because he’s the only Republican statewide elected official. Still, he said Lyons “can be very polarizing,” and talked about what he would do differently.
“I hope that I bring a very non-polarizing vision,” Rush said. “… I really feel like I have the ability to sit down with anyone.”
Bringing the land office into the 21st Century
Rush says he’ll be a full-time land commissioner, which he said is “different than the majority of land commissioners in the past.” He said he has told his father, with whom he operates the family farm and ranch, that he won’t be around to help if he is elected.
If he’s not in the office in Santa Fe, Rush said he will be in schools or at meetings around the state talking about what the land office does. Rush says he’s energetic and passionate.
He’ll also focus on bringing the office into the 21st Century and making it more transparent.
“There are still area of the land office that aren’t on computers,” Rush said. “We need to bring the land office into the 21st Century, and that’s why we need new blood.”
Rush said he will work to put all departments in the land office on computers. He will also put land office records online so the public can access them and scrutinize the land office’s dealings.
“I think every branch of state government has that responsibility,” Rush said.
Rush acknowledged that modernizing the office’s records systems and putting documents online is a huge task that could take an entire term in office. He said that’s why past commissioners haven’t done it.
But Rush said he’s the candidate to get it done.
“Those of us who are of the younger generations understand the need and the complexity of doing it” and have the ability to make it happen, he said.