I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Attorney General Gary King announced today that his office is aking action to stop a proposed deal that would swap the public lands at White’s Peak for private land. King said the deal as proposed now would violate the New Mexico Constitution.
“The public auction requirement for State Trust Land exchanges with private parties appears to be predetermined in the first two of the four proposed deals,” said King in a statement. “We are asking the Court for a writ of mandamus and an emergency stay that prohibits further exchanges of state trust lands by the land commissioner that violate the New Mexico Constitution.”
King alleges that the proposed deal would violate the Enabling Act of 1910 by not putting the land out for a public auction.
In the his petition to the court, King wrote:
The Enabling Act deliberately established rigid procedural safeguards—including the public auction requirement—to prevent the exploitation of State Trust Lands by private parties. By the design of Congress, a public auction ensures that the trust obtains the maximum market price for its assets and all but eliminates the possibility of improper dealing between the Commissioner and private parties.
The deal has gained attention during the 2010 legislative session, first for a protest against the proposed land swap, then when State Land Commissioner Pat Lyons said the deal would be better in the end.
