{"id":4647,"date":"2009-06-11T16:29:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-11T22:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/06\/las-crucen-is-running-for-land-commissioner\/"},"modified":"2009-06-11T16:29:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-11T22:29:00","slug":"las-crucen-is-running-for-land-commissioner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/06\/las-crucen-is-running-for-land-commissioner\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Crucen is running for land commissioner"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

A retired law-enforcement agent who lives in Las Cruces is the second Republican to confirm that he\u2019s running for land commissioner next year.<\/p>\n

Errol Chavez<\/a>, 60, said in a phone interview that he is running because he has been disappointed with \u201cpoor strategy\u201d and \u201cinfighting\u201d that has hampered the GOP in recent elections. He considered running for Congress, but ultimately decided that his executive experience in law enforcement made land commissioner a better fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo run the office you need an executive with the experience to control budgets, deal with regulations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The other Republican hopeful is former congressional candidate and Bernalillo County GOP executive director Bob Cornelius<\/a>. Former state Land Commissioner Ray Powell<\/a> is the only Democrat who has announced his candidacy.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re vying to replace current Land Commissioner Pat Lyons<\/a>, a Republican who is term-limited from seeking re-election.<\/p>\n

Chavez, who grew up in Espa\u00f1ola, spent 31 years with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration<\/a> before moving to Las Cruces in 2004 to be director of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area<\/a> program for the state. The program seeks to improve efforts by local, state and federal officials to stop drug trafficking through coordination and providing equipment, technology and other resources.<\/p>\n

Chavez has since left that position.<\/p>\n

He has served as president of the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association and International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association. Chavez said he has been traveling the state since February to meet with people and learn about issues the land office deals with.<\/p>\n

Chavez said his lack of political experience means he can \u201cbring some fresh blood into the state land office without the political ties and baggage that\u2019s out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without being asked, Chavez brought up the controversy<\/a> Lyons has faced over his dealings with Las Cruces developer Philip Philippou. Lyons agreed to lease thousands of acres in Las Cruces to Philippou in 2006 and, around the same time, received approximately $30,000 in campaign contributions from Philippou and a political committee and lobbyists tied to the developer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a land deal Attorney General Gary King<\/a> has said is flawed. The AG\u2019s formal opinion<\/a> states that the lease agreement\u2019s<\/a> method of compensating 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.<\/p>\n

Chavez said he has discussed the situation with Lyons and others, and while he doesn\u2019t believe anything illegal happened, he thinks Lyons could have handled the situation better.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were not properly informed\u2026 fairness is a question, as is communication,\u201d Chavez said.<\/p>\n

He added that he\u2019s big on transparency and believes his law enforcement experience means he will \u201cbe able to handle the issues without a hint of corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A retired law-enforcement agent who lives in Las Cruces is the second Republican to confirm that he\u2019s running for land commissioner next year. Errol Chavez, 60, said in a phone interview that he is running because he has been disappointed with \u201cpoor strategy\u201d and \u201cinfighting\u201d that has hampered the GOP in recent elections. He considered […]<\/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-4647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647","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=4647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}