Political shifts by NMSU regent hopefuls are likely

Let the party switching begin.

The governor will soon appoint two people to the New Mexico State University Board of Regents, including the student regent. The past two governors have made the constitutional requirement of a balance of political power on the board meaningless by requiring members of their own party to switch political affiliation so they could be appointed.

The new applicants for student regent, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News, are undergraduates Amanda Lowry, 20; Mark Morris, 21; and Phillip Trujillo, 19. Graduate student applicants are Carolyn Dietrich, 45; Ed Kellum, 23; and Eric Montgomery, age unknown. They represent a mix of Republican, Democrat and independent – at least right now.

The appointee will replace outgoing student regent Sherry Kamali.

Richardson will also be deciding whether to reappoint Laura Conniff to the board. Sources tell me Richardson hasn’t been entirely happy with Conniff because she has been fairly independent.

There are currently three Democrats on the board, in addition to one Republican and Kamali, who isn’t a United States citizen and therefore not a registered voter.

The New Mexico Constitution requires that no more than three can belong to the same party.

That means Richardson can’t appoint two registered Democrats. He could, of course, ask one candidate to switch to another affiliation before being appointed.

Based on past precedent, that is likely – and unfortunate.