Rebecca Dow aims to unseat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, get government 'out of the way'

Rebecca Dow, a member of New Mexico’s House of Representatives from Truth or Consequences, said her experience in government gave her an advantage in the crowded field vying for the Republican Party’s nomination for governor in the 2022 election.

Unlike her opponents – meteorologist Mark Ronchetti, Sandoval County Commissioner Jay Block and businessman Greg Zanetti – Dow said she held years of experience in New Mexico’s state government negotiating across party lines and finding connections in Santa Fe.

Before taking office in 2017, Dow founded and was chief executive officer of Apple Tree Educational Center, which provided a variety of educational service to the local community in Sierra County along with a technology company that consults for for-profit early education providers throughout the American West.

Dow said she was the right GOP candidate to unseat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and was critical of the governor’s work since she took office in 2019, accusing Lujan Grisham of “getting in the way” of business through regulatory burdens and failing to truly meet the needs of New Mexicans in rural communities such as the southeast corner.

She said her role as state representative gave Dow a front-row seat to the workings of Santa Fe and along with her business acumen, would provide her the experience needed to lead the state.

On Tuesday, Dow joined the New Mexico Legislature in a special session to address capital spending after Lujan Grisham vetoed legislation known as the “junior bill” that was intended to provide capital outlay funding for construction and infrastructure projects in local communities.

Dow met with the Current-Argus amid her campaign for the nomination to talk about the current state of New Mexico’s government and how she thinks she can improve it.

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Why should you replace Lujan Grisham as New Mexico’s top elected official?

“We just have to get bad government out of the way. I grew up in New Mexico. I’ve spent two decades creating jobs from nothing since I was 26. The barrier to that, I know firsthand, has been the bureaucratic red tape, the regulatory environment, and how much we incentivize people to stay on assistance.

“I have a working knowledge of the regulatory environment, as well as firsthand experience working with families trying to move out of dependency and into self-sufficiency. I’m equipped to govern from day one. I’m better than MLG because I believe in the everyday New Mexicans and the citizen’s ability to make informed decisions for themselves. We have a governor that doesn’t believe in our bill of rights and the American dream and our right to self-government. She thinks she has to make decisions for us. I simply disagree with her.”

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How is your legislative experience an advantage for you as governor?

“I’ve been there (Santa Fe) for six years, which is long enough to understand how the sausage is made, but not long enough to be content with it. I’ve watched some folks get up there, you’ve got a high learning curve. To think there is not a learning curve is another expression of how naïve it is to think you can go up there without knowing who the players are. There are players up there and there’s a lot to maneuver.

“What I have learned is there are some things that happen through the legislative process, that you’ve got to pay a lot of attention to the budget, to the language of the budget. Governors come and go, and some of these bureaucrats have been in their positions for decades. They don’t leave when the governor leaves. You’ve got to build relationships. The hard work, the biggest reforms will need to go to the voters.”

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What is your reaction to new regulations on oil and gas?

“We have a self-imposed energy crisis in a state that is rich in extracted minerals. It’s absolutely absurd. This governor is allowing unelected bureaucrats, people who have been appointed to boards and commissions, to slow-walk permits, licensing and making it harder to do business. There are nuances to that that is anti-oil and gas. They need to be replaced with people who understand and embrace that we are an energy-producing state and recognize that are producers are producing more than ever, there’s less emissions that ever and it’s only getting safer all the time.”

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What is New Mexico’s role in the national energy discussion?

“If I was the governor, I would be calling (President Joe) Biden right now and saying ‘End your moratoriums on federal leasing. We have the solution for America’s energy crisis, and how can we help you with this international crisis.’

“There’s so much hypocrisy in so many ways, because oil and gas production and petroleum are needed to promote their own green energy agenda. We need to set New Mexico’s potential free. It’s more than oil and gas, but we have so many rare minerals. We have the opportunity to celebrate nuclear as a clean fuel. New Mexico should be one of the wealthiest states in the nation, and bad government is in the way.”

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How can you ensure southeast New Mexico gets a fair share of state funds?

“The roads are heavily used in southeast New Mexico because you are producing, but yet you’re not seeing the weight and distance tax or the fair share, appropriate share, come back to maintain those roads. Right now, the process of prioritizing how roads are maintained and replaced in New Mexico is not data driven. But there are best practices in other states where roads are maintained and replaced based on need. I’d like to look at those states. They know which road projects are happening six years out.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: New Mexico Rep. Rebecca Dow aims to unseat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham