{"id":9076,"date":"2009-11-09T06:00:38","date_gmt":"2009-11-09T13:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2009-11-09T16:19:42","modified_gmt":"2009-11-09T23:19:42","slug":"colon-wants-to-connect-people-to-their-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/11\/colon-wants-to-connect-people-to-their-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Col\u00f3n wants to connect people to government"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Brian

Brian Col\u00f3n, shown during a recent interview in Las Cruces (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Candidate for lieutenant governor also wants to use his strengths \u2013 making connections and bringing people together \u2013 to help solve problems<\/h4>\n

Brian Col\u00f3n<\/a> says his strength is making connections and bringing people together. It\u2019s what has made him successful in life, and he says it\u2019s a big factor in the work he did as state Democratic Party chairman.<\/p>\n

Now he wants to use his abilities to make the \u201clargely undefined\u201d lieutenant governor\u2019s office the conduit between New Mexicans and their government \u2013 like the constituent services staff does in a congressional office. He also wants to use his ability to make connections to help solve the state\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy vision for the office is what I\u2019ve always done \u2013 bringing people together to come up with solutions to critical issues,\u201d Col\u00f3n said during a recent interview in Las Cruces.<\/p>\n

Though the primary race isn\u2019t until June, Col\u00f3n is off to a quick start. He raised $277,000<\/a> in the five weeks he was in the race before the October finance reports were due, topping all of his opponents though they had been in the race longer than him. Two other Democratic lieutenant governor candidates each raised about $150,000 for their campaigns. The others were far behind that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very humbling to realize\u2026 that the response we got was exceptional relative to the field,\u201d Col\u00f3n said. \u201cI was trying to catch up. I was just trying to get a respectable report out there, because I only had five weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Col\u00f3n faces lots of opposition in the primary. Also running are Santa Fe County Sheriff\u00a0Greg Solano<\/a>, state Sens.\u00a0Linda Lopez<\/a> and\u00a0Gerald Ortiz y Pino<\/a> of Albuquerque, State Rep.\u00a0Jose Campos<\/a> of Santa Rosa and retiring Mid-Region Council of Governments Executive Director Lawrence Rael<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep working,\u201d Col\u00f3n said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve got. We\u2019ve got hard work. We\u2019ve got blood, sweat and tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018If it wasn\u2019t for Democratic values and programs\u2026\u2019<\/h3>\n

Col\u00f3n, 39, grew up in Valencia County. His parents \u2013 both disabled \u2013 ran the flea market in Bosque Farms, and he started working with them when he was 10, opening shop at 6 a.m. on weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hated it at the time,\u201d Col\u00f3n said. \u201cI think now it\u2019s the reason I learned to connect with individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The flea market was the center of town. The area\u2019s incorporation movement was discussed there. Politicians showed up to solicit votes. Being in such an atmosphere, Col\u00f3n said, \u201cwas the beginning of who I was going to grow up to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n attended college at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces \u2013 moving in and out of school more than once and starting small businesses in between to help pay for it. He then attended law school at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

Growing up with disabled parents, Col\u00f3n said the community and government programs such as welfare and student loans are the reason he succeeded in becoming the first in his family to attend college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for Democratic values and programs, you don\u2019t get to grow up to be a lawyer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Education and economic development<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s because of his belief in community and Democratic Party values that Col\u00f3n wants to be lieutenant governor. Though the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate, he said it\u2019s primarily the governor\u2019s job to deal with policy issues.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n said he sees the potential for the lieutenant governor\u2019s office to compliment that in the executive branch by becoming the office New Mexicans know they can call for help when they have problems with any aspect of government at any level.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean Col\u00f3n isn\u2019t talking about policy issues. He said he\u2019s supportive of the campaign platform of the Democrat\u2019s likely gubernatorial nominee, current Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a>. In addition, the top issues he lists on campaign literature are \u201cequal rights for all,\u201d affordable health care, high-quality education, accountability and ethics, \u201crobust, green economic development\u201d and \u201cworking with organized labor for fair wages and safe workplaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n\u2019s wife is a teacher, so he knows about the challenges educators face. He said he\u2019s a big fan of charter schools, knowing that giving parents and students options can help improve education.<\/p>\n

He also said education must be approached in the context of economic development. New Mexico is positioned to take the lead in developing renewable energy, but building transmission lines and increasing storage capacity are key to making that happen. Educating a workforce with this goal in mind is critical, he said.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n said he\u2019s also supportive of increasing the focus on educating parents about the importance of early childhood development, a critical area to a healthy New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Ethics, fiscal crisis<\/h3>\n

Col\u00f3n said transparency and accessibility are the foundation for improving ethics in government. He noted that, when he was state Democratic Party chairman, he made sure journalists had his cell phone number and e-mail address, so they could always reach him and hold him accountable. He mentioned the problematic 2008 presidential primary<\/a> run by the party \u2013 a situation that earned him and the party a great deal of criticism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been through the fire, but I tried to stay accessible,\u201d Col\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that the state, and many members of his own party, have been embroiled in scandal in recent years, and said he\u2019s \u201cintrigued\u201d but a recent proposal<\/a> from Think New Mexico to ban all political contributions from contractors and lobbyists. He also mentioned as important issues putting the state budget online in a searchable form and creating reliable online databases of state contractors and campaign contributors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gotta be readily available to the public \u2013 and again, when it\u2019s not, I want people to be able to call the lieutenant governor\u2019s office (for help),\u201d Col\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n

\u201cit\u2019s that type of attitude that I brought to the Democratic Party — and I want to bring to state government — that I think encourages good behavior,\u201d Col\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another big problem Col\u00f3n wants to help solve \u2013 the state\u2019s economic crisis that could lead to a budget shortfall of as much as $1 billion<\/a> in January. Though lawmakers will plug that hole before the next governor and lieutenant governor are sworn in, Col\u00f3n said there will be plenty the next governor and lieutenant governor will need to do to pull the state out of the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, this is one of the biggest challenges the state has faced in a long time, and we\u2019ve got to bring together some great minds,\u201d he said, adding that he wants to \u201cdevote some real, substantial energy to bringing stakeholders around the table and come up with some real, creative ideas to address the budget shortfall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has always been my strength,\u201d Col\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Col\u00f3n says he wants to make the \u201clargely undefined\u201d lieutenant governor\u2019s office the conduit between New Mexicans and their government. He also wants to use his ability to make connections to help solve the state\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[108,107],"class_list":["post-9076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9076","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=9076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}