Lt. Gov.’s Approach Low-Key

John Sanchez is no Diane Denish. You can decide whether that’s good or bad.

The job of lieutenant governor is what you make it. Denish made a lot of it. Sanchez, not so much.

Denish was high profile and aggressive, both in terms of helping set public policy and seeking the public spotlight. Sanchez has been decidedly low profile in his first year on the job.

Go to the lieutenant governor’s official website and click on “public addresses.” There are none. As for “latest news” on the site, none of it even mentions Sanchez.

Denish had as many as nine employees. Sanchez had two as of Dec. 1, according to government personnel records. Heck, he had only one as of Nov. 1.

The Lieutenant Governor’s Office is at the Capitol, but most work days you won’t find Sanchez there. His staff says he’s often on the road or works from Albuquerque, where he lives.

Maybe he has been distracted. Maybe he never wanted the job. He is, after all, a restless soul.

In May — less than five months after he took office with Gov. Susana Martinez — Sanchez announced he was running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in next June’s primary election.

The only other time Sanchez was elected to public office — in 2000 in a stunning upset of longtime Democratic House Speaker Raymond Sanchez (no relation) — he was talking within months about running for governor. He did and took a licking from Democrat Bill Richardson in 2002.

Maybe the relationship between Martinez and Sanchez has had something to do with what the lieutenant governor has done with the job.

After he announced his Senate run, a Martinez spokesman said the governor had hoped Sanchez would play an active role on various issues but that never happened. Martinez said she wouldn’t give Sanchez any responsibilities “beyond the select few provided for in the state Constitution” because of his Senate bid. But even without duties assigned by the governor, Sanchez has had other ways to make something of his position.

The lieutenant governor is a member of several major boards and commissions, including the state Board of Finance, the Children’s Cabinet, the Spaceport Authority, the Border Authority and the Mortgage Finance Authority.

Also, under state law, the lieutenant governor is required to “facilitate and promote the cooperation and understanding between the people of this state and the agencies of state government.” That’s pretty much a blank check if you believe elective office should be about public service.

The lieutenant governor is president and presiding officer of the Senate, and Sanchez has shown up for that job when the Legislature has been in session.

State law sets the annual salary for the lieutenant governor at $85,000. Sanchez collects that but has decided to forgo the extra $250 for each day Martinez is out of state and he serves as acting governor.

Now, don’t get the impression Sanchez hasn’t done anything in his time as lieutenant governor.

In January, he sent Martinez a 30-page report on his “Getting New Mexico Back to Work: We’re Listening” tour around the state to gather thoughts from people on how to overcome our economic difficulties. But the report was a regurgitation of hundreds of public comments without any attempt by Sanchez to identify, explore or promote the best of the ideas. On the positive side, the report was well-organized.

Sanchez was on a second listening tour in early May when he had a gallbladder attack and later surgery. His office says he has traveled to 17 of the state’s 33 counties this year to conduct constituent meetings and state business.

In September, with Martinez out of town, Sanchez signed into law a bill that extended a supplemental food stamp program for more than 4,000 low income, elderly and disabled New Mexicans.

I asked the lieutenant governor’s chief of staff, Mark Van Dyke, if he wanted to provide a few paragraphs on Sanchez’s major accomplishments since taking office. He responded with what looked like a grade-school report card:

Senate attendance: Excellent.

Boards and commissions attendance: Excellent.

Ability to sign legislation when governor out of state: Excellent.

According to Van Dyke’s response, Sanchez’s major accomplishments seemed to be cutting the number and salaries of people working in the Lieutenant Governor’s Office and meeting with foreign dignitaries to promote economic development.

Hard to imagine much is going to change in the new year.

No homework

Last month, I quoted Van Dyke as saying that the lieutenant governor generally works out of his Albuquerque home.

Van Dyke said I misquoted him, although my written notes of our conversation support what I wrote. Here’s what he said in an email:

“I want to be clear that while the Lieutenant Governor is often on the road or working from Albuquerque, he does not do this work at his residence. He has a home in Albuquerque and he often works from Albuquerque but does not work from his home in Albuquerque.”

So, where does Sanchez work from?

Van Dyke said he conducts meetings at locations convenient to constituents, office space that he owns and an office provided for him at the Downtown building of the Mortgage Finance Authority.

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Thom Cole at tcole@abqjournal.com or 505-992-6280 in Santa Fe. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.