Trust Lands Held for Public Education in New Mexico

More than 150 years ago the U.S. Congress gave land "in trust" to support public education in New Mexico. The revenues from these lands go into a permanent fund which than pays for teachers, builds buildings, and buys books for the children of New Mexico. If not for this trust land our taxes for educational expenses in this state would be a great deal higher. It is important that these lands be managed in a way that best benefits the interest of our current and future children’s education while keeping other forms of tax support low. Sweetheart deals with land developers are not in the best interest of our children either present or future. Those type of deals could at some point in the future end up costing taxpayers in this state as well as harming the states ability to provide a quality education to our children. At issue presently is a deal made between State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons and land developer Solo Investment, LLC. State Sen. Mary Jane Garcia and state Rep. Nathan Cote, both Las Cruces Democrats, each sent letters to Attorney General Gary King asking about the legality of the lease with Solo Investments.

Attorney General Gary King’s Opinion

"While we conclude that Business Planning Lease No BL-1775 by and between the Commissioner of Public Lands and Solo Investments, LLC contains provisions that are not authorized by New Mexico law, we express no opinion about the lease’s enforceability. It is within the province of the courts to decide issues of public policy that bear on the validity of contractual obligations. Consequently, we believe that whether the Solo lease is enforceable or no enforceable is a question of law for the courts to determine."

State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons’ Opinion

"Commissioner of Public Lands Patrick Lyons says the legally nonbinding opinion issued this week by Attorney General Gary King regarding a planning and development lease on state trust lands in Las Cruces specifically misinterprets the commissioner’s constitutional authority.

Lyons noted that his legal staff conducted an extensive legal review which concluded that, absent an express legislative or constitutional prohibition, the commissioner of public lands is vested with discretion in the exercise of his duties to generate revenue for public education. Further, the commissioner’s discretion includes the legal authority to determine how best to market, lease, or sell trust lands, including the relevant lease provisions addressed in the attorney general’s opinion."

Why is this land being sold to a developer in the first place?

My question is why are "in trust" lands being developed and sold in the first place and how does that benefit funding our children’s education either in the present or in the future. What possible benefits can our state gain from reducing the 13 million acres statewide that are currently held in trust to generate revenues for the permanent fund? I understand that once land is developed and sold that the permanent fund no longer receives any future benefit from that land. Great care should be taken when it comes to the management of public trust lands that fund our children’s present and future education.

Very interesting note:

Interesting little detail basically, Philippou gave money to a PAC (the Blue & Red PAC) (to the tune of $20,500 or 87 percent came from another Philippou company, Terra Firma. The rest of the money came from David Kimble and Dominic Silva, the two lobbyists who run the PAC.) that was in turn giving money to Land Commissioner Lyons for his re-election campaign in 2006. Philippou, who owns Solo Investment LLC., has said that he did not know where that money his company gave to the PAC went. The contract that Solo Investment LLC got was a no bid contract. I believe that this is called a problem with the appearances of improper behavior from an elected official. You would think that land commissioner Lyons would do everything in his power to distance himself for any company owned by Philippou.