The fact that Lujan is still the state’s most powerful lawmaker despite the appearance of impropriety that surrounds him taints House Democrats

Does the value of property increase when a highway interchange is built near it?

Of course it does. So the fact that the state Department of Transportation abruptly moved the site of a proposed interchange to four-tenths of a mile from land owned by House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Nambe, in 2007 should raise eyebrows.

Of course, Lujan has been doing things for years that should raise the eyebrows of anyone who cares about honest and ethical government, so perhaps the revelations contained in Sunday’s Albuquerque Journal article about the DOT project shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Nonetheless, in the context of the cloud of scandal that has descended upon state government in recent years, it’s simply embarrassing that House Democrats continue to make Lujan the most powerful lawmaker in New Mexico despite the appearance of impropriety that surrounds him.

Consider the most eye-popping situations involving Lujan in recent years:

• Housing scandal: In 2006 we learned that a top aide to Lujan was living rent-free in a home owned by the scandal-plagued Region III Housing Authority, even though she was earning more than $71,000 per year. The agency was supposed to be providing housing for low-income New Mexicans.

Lujan was a close friend of then-Region III Director Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos, a former legislator who, after he left that job and became a lobbyist, spent a lot of time in Lujan’s office during legislative sessions. The aide, Lujan’s office manager, says that’s how she and Gallegos came to work out a deal for the house, and claims she and her boyfriend were “defrauded and victimized” by the housing authority.

During the 2007 legislative session, Lujan was accused by many of trying to kill reform to help his friend, an allegation Lujan has always denied. The reform was approved anyway. Gallegos and others were recently indicted in the case.

• The tirade: Then there was a situation earlier this year that ended with Lujan losing his cool and publicly accusing Senate Finance Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, in front of journalists, of being “full of shit” and “a racist S.O.B.”

Prior to that, the House twice voted down a Lujan proposal to help pay for a project at the Santa Fe Railyard that a developer wanted. Lujan responded by slipping the proposal into a completely unrelated bill during a committee meeting. After twice failing the test of public scrutiny, the proposal quietly sailed through the House on the third try.

It was after Smith opened a conference committee on the bill to the public and thwarted Lujan’s final attempt to help the developer that Lujan went on his public tirade against the senator.

• The secret $75 million appropriation: Lujan has done such things before. Three years ago, the Legislature shot down a proposal to appropriate $75 million for water lawsuit settlements. Lujan responded by secretly slipping it by them in another bill. That act was so egregious that his best friend at the Capitol — Gov. Bill Richardson — used his authority to line-item veto the provision out of the bill.

Reason for interchange move is unclear

But back to the road project. According to the Journal, officials plan to build the $7.8 million interchange “just up the hill” from the property owned by Lujan and his wife, even though “there’s no intersection, stoplight or even a side street at the proposed interchange site, which is on Pojoaque Pueblo’s northern boundary. The scene is just rolling hills, gullies, and acres and acres of undeveloped land.”

The original plan was to build the interchange at the intersection of U.S. 84/285 and La Puebla Road — a site selected, according to the Journal, “because of its congestion and concerns about safety.”

“But the DOT in late 2007 abruptly relocated the proposed interchange to about four-tenths of a mile from Lujan’s property — a move the powerful Santa Fe Democrat insists he had nothing to do with and says won’t benefit him,” the Journal article states.

Why that was done is “unclear,” according to the Journal.

(Eyebrows raised, please.)

The state is in the process of condemning .41 acres of Lujan’s property for the project, ostensibly against his will, and he’ll be paid for it. That will leave Lujan with more than two acres, according to the Journal.

The state is also building a new frontage road that will connect Lujan’s property to the interchange.

Lujan told the newspaper that, because the state is condemning part of his property, it is “ridiculous” to think he would benefit from the interchange being located near his land. But Santa Fe County Assessor Domingo Martinez told the Journal that an interchange near property used for business (Lujan’s land is zoned for residential and commercial uses) does tend to increase its value because of increased traffic.

Integrity has not been restored

In 2006, in part because of concerns about the housing authority scandal and the $75 million secret appropriation, some House Democrats pushed for a challenge to Lujan’s leadership. Ultimately, Majority Leader Ken Martinez of Grants stepped up, but he wasn’t successful.

At the time, one of Lujan’s key supporters in the speaker battle, Luciano “Lucky” Varela of Santa Fe, said his support was conditional: He wanted the House Democratic caucus to display more integrity than it had in the past and to assert more independence from the governor.

“I told (Lujan) that I would be emphatic about restoring the integrity of the Legislature and emphatic about the separation of powers of government,” Varela said.

Integrity hasn’t been restored. The fact that House Democrats continue to keep Lujan as the speaker means they’re tainted along with him.

Many House Democrats stood up to Lujan this year on key votes, helping twice kill the Railyard proposal and also twice killing a controversial tax plan to fund an Albuquerque development. Clearly, there’s dissent.

And yet, Lujan remains the speaker. Why?