{"id":4019,"date":"2008-11-24T17:40:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-24T23:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/11\/richardson-replaces-three-regents-at-nmsu\/"},"modified":"2008-11-24T17:40:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-24T23:40:00","slug":"richardson-replaces-three-regents-at-nmsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/11\/richardson-replaces-three-regents-at-nmsu\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson replaces three regents at NMSU"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This article has been updated.<\/p>\n

Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> replaced three of five members of the New Mexico State University Board of Regents<\/a> today, opting for new blood at a time when the university is going to be making a second attempt at finding a new president.<\/p>\n

With little explanation, Richardson replaced Steve Anaya, Bob Gallagher and Student Regent Ed Kellum with Thomas \u201cDick\u201d Salopek of Las Cruces, Javier Gonzales of Santa Fe and Student Regent Christopher Anaya. The new regents\u2019 terms will begin on Jan. 1, a news release from Richardson\u2019s office stated, but the appointees must be confirmed by the Senate before they can begin their work, and the Legislature doesn\u2019t convene until Jan. 20.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>In the meantime, the terms of Steve Anaya, Gallagher and Kellum end on Dec. 31.<\/p>\n

In an e-mail, Gallagher claimed that he was told he was going to be reappointed, \u201cso I expected to be able to continue some very important work we are in the middle of, and I would like to complete these projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think some experience and continuity would make sense here. The timing of the announcement is curious in that the Senate must hold hearings and confirm regents, and the Legislature does not even convene for two months,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cI am honored to serve NMSU, and my record shows I always put the university first. I would be honored to serve again, should I be asked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked why he believed the governor didn\u2019t reappoint him, Gallagher said, \u201cPrivate conversations between the governor and I should stay that way. I do not think I am in the position to answer that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richardson\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Salopek is a pecan farmer who has a bachelor\u2019s in agronomy and soil science from the university. Gonzales, a former Santa Fe County commissioner, is a well-connected politico who has spent the past four years as chairman of the New Mexico Highlands University Board of Regents and has a bachelor\u2019s in accounting from NMSU. Christopher Anaya is a sophomore majoring in government.<\/p>\n

Richardson\u2019s appointments come less than a week after the regents, led by Gallagher, suspended their search for a new president<\/a> to replace Michael Martin, who left earlier this year to be chancellor at Louisiana State University\u2019s main campus in Baton Rouge. In scrapping their search process after spending some $90,000, Gallagher and others complained that a state law requiring the regents to publicly name five finalists was unfair and hampered the process.<\/p>\n

The regents decided to restart the search next year. Waded Cruzado<\/a> will remain interim president, and she may be allowed to apply for the permanent position the second time around, though she was not during the search that ended last week.<\/p>\n

The Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> and Albuquerque Journal<\/a> have been highly critical of Gallagher\u2019s complaining about the state law he said doomed the presidential search.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 5:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in this in response to Gallagher\u2019s comments:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a regent comes up for reappointment, the governor typically takes the opportunity to appoint someone new,\u201d he said. \u201cThe governor likes Bob Gallagher personally, but he wants news blood on the Board of Regents. The governor also believes the addition of these three outstanding new regents could help the board with its presidential selection process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 9:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

Gallegos said Christopher Anaya is Steve Anaya\u2019s son.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article has been updated. Gov. Bill Richardson replaced three of five members of the New Mexico State University Board of Regents today, opting for new blood at a time when the university is going to be making a second attempt at finding a new president. With little explanation, Richardson replaced Steve Anaya, Bob Gallagher […]<\/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-4019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4019","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=4019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}