The county’s buddy system

December 27, 2008

If you’ve paid any attention to the county commission over the last four years, you know exactly which commissioners are allies and which aren’t. There are five county commissioners serving Valencia County, and until Jan. 1, when the new commission convenes, they are: Chairman Pedro Rael, Vice Chair Georgia Otero-Kirkham, and commissioners Ron Gentry, David Medina and Lynette Pinkston.

Much like any government body, there’s some fluidity to the alliances, but typically Rael and Otero-Kirkham are allied, while Gentry and Pinkston form an opposition on select issues. Medina hasn’t fallen in line with either faction, playing the role of a swing voter.

The most striking example of these alliances at work is during the ongoing saga of the county hospital. For those who aren’t familiar with it, for maybe a decade or more the county commission has tried to determine the location and funding sources for a county hospital. The commission has gotten so far now as to have determined the location — in Rio Communities near Highway 47 and the Manzano Expressway — and some of the funding — a county tax. The hospital is now in litigation.

Gentry and Pinkston, who serve districts on the eastside of the Rio Grande, where the hospital would be located, push hard in favor of the hospital. Rael and Otero-Kirkham, who largely represent Los Lunas, an area benefited least by the location of the hospital, often speak and vote in opposition to it. Medina has voted in favor of the hospital when it mattered most, representing primarily Belen and southern Valencia County. Belen’s government has been outspoken in support of the hospital.

As of Jan. 1, however, one alliance will disappear. In the June primary, Pinkston was defeated. Her replacement is the energetic Don Holliday. Even having seen Holliday at election events and forums, it’s not clear which alliance he might join, if any. Usually alliances form out of necessity, during crucial decisions, because constituents muscle a commissioner into supporting issues identified with a particular alliance, or because of personality conflicts, not because a commissioner spends long hours weighing which clique he’ll join.

Whatever becomes of the commissioners’ alliances, let’s ask for one thing for the new year: that our commissioners start fresh and work together on the important issues affecting Valencia County.

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