{"id":3144,"date":"2008-04-25T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-25T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/04\/auditor-will-consider-request-to-scrutinize-land-deals\/"},"modified":"2008-04-25T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-25T14:00:00","slug":"auditor-will-consider-request-to-scrutinize-land-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/04\/auditor-will-consider-request-to-scrutinize-land-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"Auditor will consider request to scrutinize land deals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>State Auditor Hector Balderas<\/a> says he\u2019ll consider a request to investigate the land commissioner\u2019s dealings with developers and determine whether he should get involved in a controversy over a provision in a lease agreement the attorney general says is illegal. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Five state representatives sent a letter on Tuesday to Balderas requesting that he audit all land-sale, land-swap and leasing contracts entered into by the commissioner of public lands. Their request comes in light of a recent opinion issued by Attorney General Gary King\u2019s<\/a> office that says a lease agreement for land in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> includes a compensatory provision not authorized by state law.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe suspect other State Land Office contracts throughout the state may reflect similarly illegal financial arrangements,\u201d the lawmakers stated in their letter, which you can read by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The lawmakers want Balderas to consider \u201cwhether contracts are written for the benefit of New Mexicans, not developers,\u201d and wrote that the contracts \u201cmerit special scrutiny, an investigation of potential mismanagement and a complete audit by your office.\u201d The letter is signed by Democratic Reps. Nate Cote<\/a> of Organ, Ray Begaye<\/a> of Shiprock, Mimi Stewart<\/a> of Albuquerque, Elias Barela<\/a> of Belen and Thomas Garcia<\/a> of Ocate.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Though the letter is dated Tuesday, Balderas said in an interview that he didn\u2019t receive it until Thursday.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll begin an immediate evaluation of the request, and that also may include meeting with the legislators that signed this letter,\u201d Balderas said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s formal opinion<\/a> related to The Vistas at Presidio land deal on Las Cruces\u2019 East Mesa states that the lease agreement\u2019s<\/a> method of compensating Philip Philippou\u2019s company for developing the land is \u201cnot comprehended by and in conflict with\u201d a statute that allows developers who improve land for the state to be compensated only for the appraised value of the improvements. In the lease, the land office also agrees to compensate Philippou for other project costs and 40 percent of the change in value of the land as a result of the improvements.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

There are a number of other leases for land in Las Cruces<\/st1:City>, Albuquerque<\/st1:City>, Rio Rancho and Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> that contain similar provisions. After initially saying he didn\u2019t plan to take Land Commissioner Pat Lyons<\/a> to court to try to void The Vistas at Presidio agreement, King has since said Lyons \u201cdoes so at his own risk\u201d if he chooses to proceed with the agreement. Lyons<\/st1:City><\/st1:place> briefly put all land deals on hold while he met with King about the situation, but has since decided to proceed and said he suggests that \u201cthe attorney general work with us, not against us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

Land office accuses lawmakers of partisan politics<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Kristin Haase, assistant land commissioner, said Lyons<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has an open-door policy and, as a former lawmaker, has an excellent relationship with most legislators.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHe would have welcomed the opportunity to meet with these five representatives to address their concerns personally and explain how planning and development leases do in fact benefit the trust,\u201d she said. \u201cClearly they are less interested in matters of state than they are about playing partisan politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

She said if the lawmakers had \u201cdone their homework\u201d they would know that Lyons<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019 predecessor, Democrat Ray Powell, was the first land commissioner to enter into agreements containing provisions similar to the one the AG says is illegal. She said Powell\u2019s development leases \u201cwere less lucrative for the trust,\u201d but Lyons<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> \u201chas improved them significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In an interview, Cote<\/st1:place> said he signed the letter because there is \u201capparent tension\u201d between the AG and land commissioner, so an audit may be the best course of action. He said many constituents have urged him to take action.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe results of this audit may also answer some questions the public has voiced regarding the appearance of impropriety on actions by the SLO,\u201d he said. \u201cThe outcome may either validate those practices and the SLO or give us some idea on what direction we might need to head in regards to doing the best for our beneficiaries and protecting state lands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Auditor Hector Balderas says he\u2019ll consider a request to investigate the land commissioner\u2019s dealings with developers and determine whether he should get involved in a controversy over a provision in a lease agreement the attorney general says is illegal. Five state representatives sent a letter on Tuesday to Balderas requesting that he audit all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}