My opponent in the State Land Commissioner race, Republican Pat Lyons, is using state land office money to pay for television ads for his political campaign. Read about it here.
If I were a school teacher or class room assistant I would be a little miffed that Lyons has used over $150,000 that would otherwise go to the schools and beneficiary institutions. Lyons is using this money on network and cable TV to show him self walking around being the land commissioner. He says that it is to educate people about the land office. Where has he been the last four years and why do it just before election time? Also, his campaign is already expending money on billboards in Albuquerque so he can't say this is not coinciding with his political effort. I would think the NEA might want to write Lyons a letter to explain himself.
What makes this abnormal is that Lyons is using state money for this ad campaign. Usually, elected officials are given free time by the stations for Public Service Announcements and those station will usually cut political candidates off in the year of their election. So, to get around that Lyons is just plain stealing money from the school fund to pay for his campaign ads.
I have called on Lyons to have his campaign reimburse the State Land Office for every penny it has spent on these political ads. I am not holding my breath at this point but I bet if a few school teachers show up and start complaining we might get somewhere. I also wonder if the Legislative Finance Committee might want to take a look at this.
A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.
Albert Camus
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