State Land Commissioner Pat Lyons is the latest official to prove that pay-to-play politics – or at least the appearance of such – is a systemic problem in New Mexico that plagues both parties.

Before last year’s election, developer Philip Philippou gave $20,500 to a political action committee run by lobbyists he employs. The PAC gave most of it to Lyons’ re-election campaign, and the lobbyists gave another $3,600. Then Lyons bypassed his own bidding process and leased thousands of acres of land in Las Cruces to Philippou before the announced deadline for developers to submit proposals.

Since then, Philippou has given another $6,000 to Lyons, who also flew at Philippou’s expense in March to a New Mexico State Aggies’ basketball game in Washington state.

Lyons says he didn’t know until afterward that Philippou paid for the flight and contributed the money the PAC gave him. That may be true, but such after-the-fact excuses for taking massive contributions from those who want to influence public policy further jade a skeptical electorate.

Lyons, a Republican, isn’t alone in perpetuating such cynicism. Some actions of Gov. Bill Richardson and former Attorney General Patricia Madrid, both Democrats, have had the same smell.

Madrid admitted last year that she gave access beyond that enjoyed by average citizens to Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino owner Stan Fulton because he gave money to her political action committee.

Fulton told me in 2004, when I was a reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News, that he was handing out large donations in an attempt to buy opposition to the proposal by Gerald Peters and the Jemez Pueblo to build a casino in Anthony.

In 2005, Madrid was asked to consider the legality of a services agreement between Doña Ana County and the Jemez. Weeks after a $25,000 contribution from Fulton, she said it was illegal. Then Fulton gave her PAC another $100,000.

Richardson’s actions have repeatedly created the appearance of pay-to-play politics. For example, the health-care industry gave him $131,000 in 2002, Common Cause recently reported. When Richardson formed a council the next year to recommend improvements to the health-care system, it was so stacked with industry executives that legislators on the council said its recommendations had to be pro-industry.

All three politicians say contributions don’t affect their decisions. Lyons said last week that he’s “not for sale.” Madrid said last year that large contributions are “only to give them access… not to have you vote or rule in any certain way or obligate you in any way.”

Richardson and his staffers have said repeatedly that he isn’t influenced by massive campaign contributions, but he argues – now that he’s run in his last state race – that New Mexico needs reforms that include contribution limits.

Richardson’s assertion that he’s above the influence of contributions is disingenuous. He and other officials from both parties have proven the need for additional checks on their power.

The governor’s reconvened ethics task force began work Tuesday. It will try to overcome resistance in the Legislature that stalled many reform proposals earlier this year. Citizens need to help by demanding limits on contributions to candidates and PACs and additional reforms that will help restore the system’s integrity.

A version of this article was published today in the Albuquerque Tribune. I write a column for the newspaper that runs on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month.