Guest Commentary
According to the excellent story about the controversy related to the Northern New Mexico College Board of Regents in the 1/29/09 edition of the Sun, current board member Michael Branch of Santa Fe (whose reappointment by Gov. Bill Richardson is pending before the state Senate) believes the law does not require that at least one member of the board be a resident of El Rito because “El Rito is not an incorporated town or city.”
The statute in question does not speak to the issue of whether or not the legal seat of the college is an incorporated community or not. That state statute (211-15), referring to the several boards of regents of state institutions of higher learning, including Northern, reads:
“At least one member of the said several boards shall be a resident of the town or city at or near which the institution is located.”
Additionally, the state constitution (Article XII-Education, Section 11) clearly states:
“…the northern New Mexico state school, at El Rito, formerly known as Spanish-American school; (is) hereby confirmed as (a) state educational institution…”
The constitution establishes no requirement regarding the “incorporated” status of the communities that are the legal seats of the several state institutions of higher learning.
At the time of Northern’s founding as the Spanish-American school in 1909, when New Mexico was still a territory, El Rito, like numerous other significant rural communities in the territory/state, was not incorporated. The constitution and various statutes definitively establish El Rito as the legal home of Northern.
Gubernatorial spokesman Gilbert Gallegos’ comments to the Sun, regarding the governor’s supposed position that he is not required to ensure that at least one resident of El Rito serve on Northern’s board, are most unfortunate.
Having a member of the board from Espanola does not, as Mr. Gallegos supposes, satisfy the legal requirement of having “…a resident of the town or city at or near which the institution is located..” Perhaps Mr. Gallegos needs to do some legal and geographic research.
It is also unfortunate that the governor was apparently unavailable to speak directly with the Sun about this matter and that the governor’s staff person in charge of gubernatorial appointees to state boards and commissions, Debbie Romero, did not return a call form the Sun.
We hope the governor and his staff are not developing a “bunker mentality” during these days increasing scrutiny by the public and press into various issues under investigation at the Roundhouse.
State Senator Richard Martinez (D-Espanola) told the Sun the governor’s two pending appointments, Alfred Herrera of Espanola and Santa Fe’s Michael Branch (reappointment in the instance of Mr. Branch) are “…good, upstanding gentlemen.”
We have no reason to quarrel with Sen. Martinez’ description of those gentlemen. But being “good” and “upstanding” is not the point. The point is that neither of them nor any other Northern board member, including the senator’s wife, Theresa Martinez, is from El Rito as the law requires.
What’s more: the lack of a resident of El Rito on the Northern board might call into question the validity of actions taken by that board. Surely Northern does not need to deal with any additional matters of that nature.
As far as the issue of whether or not El Rito is truly a “town” or not goes:
We invite Gov. Richardson, Mr. Branch, Mr. Gallegos, Ms. Romero and Sen. Martinez to pay a visit to our community.
They would then learn that our town, just like the unincorporated Rio Arriba County seat of Tierra Amarilla and the great metropolis of Española, has its own U.S. Post Office and zip code, its own telephone exchange and listings in the telephone book, state highway signs directing travelers to our town, a spot on the state-issued highway map, governmental offices, its own elementary school and medical clinic, a restaurant and stores, other commercial enterprises and art studios, as well as a number of eligible and qualified citizens whom the governor could consider as Northern board members.
Upon acceptance of this invitation, we would be pleased to introduce those officials to these citizens of El Rito willing to serve on the Northern board.
Our town even once had a thriving, dynamic state college, until certain politicos hijacked most of its resources and shipped them to Espanola, leaving only remnants in El Rito to be in technical (and legally dubious) compliance with the law.
Ted Bucklin is an El Rito carpenter and 1990 graduate of Northern.