Gov. to decide next week on replacement for Leonard Tsosie

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

SANTA FE — Gov. Bill Richardson is expected to make a decision on a replacement for Sen. Leonard Tsosie's District 22 state senate seat by early next week, said Jon Goldstein, spokesman for the governor.

McKinley and Cibola counties' boards of commission named their nominees Thursday: Billy Moore, chair of the McKinley County board of commissioners and Everett Chavez, a former governor of the Pueblo of Santo Domingo, respectively.

On Friday, Goldstein said the other three counties in the senatorial district, Bernalillo, Rio Arriba and Sandoval, had forwarded their nominations to Richardson as well, with the governor's office receiving Bernalillo County's nominee at the last minute Friday afternoon.

Bernalillo nominated Lynda Lovejoy, a recent candidate for the presidency of the Navajo Nation, Goldstein said.

Rio Arriba's board of commissioners nominated Levi Pesata. Sandoval's board of commissioners nominated Joshua Madalena, brother of Rep. Roger Madalena, he said.

No additional information is available on Pesata.

Goldstein said Richardson wanted to make a decision as soon as possible so the new senator can start serving his or her constituents and present projects to the senate that are due within two weeks. Goldstein said he could not project what day next week the decision will be made.

Tsosie was elected to the Navajo Nation council in November and the nation's Supreme Court ruled that he could either be a council delegate or a state senator, not both.

Tsosie subsequently resigned from the state senate putting the replacement scenario into effect.

Each of the county's board of commissioners within a state senate or state representative's district are bound by state law to nominate one candidate for the governor to select to complete the outgoing individual's seat.

That individual, such as Cibola County Manager David Ulibarri, who was selected in December to replace retiring Sen. Joe Fidel, will serve out the remainder of the term and then decide whether to run for election or not.

Lovejoy was also nominated in the Cibola County board of commissioners meeting Thursday, but received no second.

Moore also was nominated but received no second as well. That is when Chavez was nominated, seconded and approved unanimously, 5-0 by the full board as the Cibola County nominee.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.