With Michelle Lujan Grisham being termed-limited, two candidates are vying to be the next governor of New Mexico. Republican Gregg Hull was mayor of Rio Rancho for 12 years. He tells KUNM that sets him up well to lead the state, especially since he focused on building up the city’s water infrastructure. Hull says he wants to use the state’s robust revenues to address water issues around New Mexico.
GREG HULL: We saw this year with the Rio Grande going dry the way it did, how many of our communities were woefully unprepared for this dry of a season. You actually had communities that had to declare water emergencies, and you had communities where their wells went dry. So, what I would like to do with some of that revenue is start to really invest in a sustainable water future for the state of New Mexico. We have plans and ideas, but we haven’t really moved forward with execution in the past. What I’d like to do is take that revenue now and start investing it and moving forward on actual water investment plans as you probably well know, Jeanette, we we were the first city in the state up in River Rancho to bring aquifer recharge online, and this is where we actually take our reused water, we clean it to potable quality, and bank it back into the aquifer. So that way, when the river runs dry, our aquifer is still healthy.
KUNM: How do you balance protecting oil and gas state revenues but also meeting the state’s climate and environmental goals?
HULL: Well, what you want to do is just make sure that you’re holding the oil and gas industry accountable and making sure that they are following the regulations. I believe that those two items can coexist. For a strong energy economy, we can do things in an environmentally responsible way, but also protect the revenues and royalties that come from that, and both of these things are critical. So moving forward, the environment is critical, but also the revenues because this is what primarily funds our education system, and so we want to make sure that we’re balancing our needs, but protecting not only our children’s future but our state’s future.
KUNM: With the wildfire-prevention how would you help rural communities prepare for these fires both post and pre with the recovery afterwards?
HULL: I’m going to say pre is something that I’m very pro on. We need to get out in front of these things, and if we take a stronger approach with the federal and state government over thinning some of these lands and allowing for levels of grazing to help clean some of this up, so that we don’t have such dense forests and such hot burning fires, we’re not going to do severe damage to the watershed. So, working to get where we can get in and actually thin and clean these areas, and be very specific about the areas that, especially that are closest to homes and closest to our communities, where you run the risk of burning down half a community, like what happened up in Los Alamos several years ago. We don’t want to see something like that happen in New Mexico ever again. Because as a former mayor, I know how important this is. That when you’re having a city emergency, getting supplies in, getting resources in as quickly as possible, and getting people’s lives back to normal. That’s what the citizens want. And my experience of being the mayor of Rio Rancho for 12 years has given me that hands-on experience, not just with Rio Rancho, but with communities across the state.
KUNM : So when it comes to New Mexico’s needs they often don’t align with the federal government’s priorities. So how far are you prepared to go to push against the Trump administration?
HULL: I’m always going to push to get the maximum amount that I can for the state of New Mexico. We have a lot of federal lands here. We have the Pueblos. There’s a lot of ties to federal government, and so I am always going to fight for what’s best for New Mexico. That’s what I did as mayor of Rio Rancho. It’s what I will do as the next governor. But I will point this out that should I be elected governor here on November 3rd, the current administration is only going to be in office for another two years. So it’s not just about working with this administration; it’s about working with the next administration as well. So I am committed to working with any federal administration, for or against, to make sure that we’re getting the things that we need in the state of New Mexico, because we are a beautiful state, we’ve got a lot of great resources. There’s a lot of opportunity here, and I just really feel that we need to build as many partnerships and as strong of partnerships as we possibly can.
KUNM: What’s the most important difference between you and your opponent?
HULL: I think the most important difference is the experience that we have. And yes, she’s had some federal government experience. I’ve had the experience of working with mayors across the state, understanding crime on a community level, infrastructure on a community level, what it takes to get a road repaved. What it takes to build a fire department, fortify a police department, stand up a 911 call center, making sure that you’re working with state agencies, making sure that you’re working with state reps and state senators as they’re drafting bills that could potentially affect your community, or drafting bills that you need to get done so that you can have a better way of life in your community. I’ve been on the working end of this side when it comes to working with the legislature and the statewide offices, and even working with the federal delegation. Because I can tell you right now, you can talk about federal experience all you want to. The federal government is a lot easier to navigate from the inside than it is from the outside, and I’ve had to navigate it from the outside and come away successful on several occasions. And that’s why I will point out that mayors from across the state, both Democrat and Republican, have endorsed my candidacy because they’ve seen how I work, community-to-community. And that I’m here to work with our communities, from the biggest ones to the smallest ones. We need somebody that’s had that on the ground in the municipality experience. So it really sets me apart from Secretary Haaland.
Find out more about him and his Democratic opponent, Deb Haaland, at KUNM.org. Early voting ends on Saturday. Election Day is November 3rd.
Support for this coverage comes from Thornburg Foundation.
