{"id":4774,"date":"2009-08-03T08:53:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-03T14:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/08\/colon-to-resign-party-job-run-for-lieutenant-governor\/"},"modified":"2009-08-03T08:53:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-03T14:53:00","slug":"colon-to-resign-party-job-run-for-lieutenant-governor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/08\/colon-to-resign-party-job-run-for-lieutenant-governor\/","title":{"rendered":"Col\u00f3n to resign party job, run for lieutenant governor"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

News is all over the Internet this morning — and has been confirmed by my sources — that Brian Col\u00f3n will resign his position as chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico<\/a> later this week and announce that he\u2019s running for lieutenant governor next year.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n, 39, enters an already crowded primary field, but many Democrats expect him to compete heavily for the nomination.<\/p>\n

770 KKOB-AM reporter Peter St. Cyr<\/a> reported that the party\u2019s first vice chair, Annadelle Sanchez, will become interim party chair, and a special election to replace Col\u00f3n will be held within 60 days.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But news of his plans immediately put another significant piece in place for Democrats. State Auditor Hector Balderas<\/a>, who had been considering running for lieutenant governor, instead announced his intention to seek re-election this morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith just 30 brave employees and one of the smallest budgets in the state, we have created an expectation and a reality that New Mexico will have an independent voice to speak on behalf of taxpayers and on the real conditions of our government,\u201d Balderas said in a news release about his first term as auditor. \u201cThere is much more important work to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Already in the lieutenant governor\u2019s race are Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano<\/a> and state Sens. Linda Lopez<\/a> and Gerald Ortiz y Pino<\/a> of Albuquerque. New Mexico State University Regent Javier Gonzales<\/a>; Lawrence Rael<\/a>, who heads the Mid-Region Council of Governments; and former U.S. Navy officer and current law student Matthew Padilla<\/a> have said they are also considering entering the race.<\/p>\n

Sources believe Rael is likely to run.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n is a lawyer and works for the Albuquerque firm Robles, Rael & Anaya<\/a>. The law firm is currently suing two defendants<\/a> in the housing authority scandal<\/a> on behalf of the State Investment Council to try to recover millions of dollars in lost bond money.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n also chairs Popejoy Hall\u2019s board of directors and serves on the board of trustees for the Albuquerque Community Foundation. He has been the Democratic Party chairman since 2007.<\/p>\n

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> is the only declared 2010 gubernatorial candidate, though Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez<\/a> says he\u2019s formed an exploratory committee. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News is all over the Internet this morning — and has been confirmed by my sources — that Brian Col\u00f3n will resign his position as chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico later this week and announce that he\u2019s running for lieutenant governor next year. Col\u00f3n, 39, enters an already crowded primary field, but […]<\/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-4774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4774","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=4774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}