New Mexico Game Commission Chairwoman Deanna Archuleta
By ROBERT NOTT
The Santa Fe New Mexican
When the state Game Commission elected longtime energy lobbyist Deanna Archuleta to serve as its chairwoman late last month, there was some hope the panel, wrought with turnover, might stabilize.
It didn’t happen. Archuleta submitted a three-sentence resignation letter to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
“Unfortunately, with my personal and professional obligations I am no longer able to serve you or your administration in the manner to which I would like to be able,” she wrote.
In a brief phone interview Wednesday, Archuleta, who divides her time between New Mexico and Washington, D.C., said her decision to resign became clear during a recent busy day.
“The next day I thought, ‘What am I doing? It’s too much and I’m not doing what I need for New Mexicans.’
“It just sort of happened,” she added.
Her departure leaves the commission, which oversees wildlife conservation plus hunting and fishing regulations in the state, with just three commissioners — meaning the seven-member body cannot make a quorum and conduct official business.
Jesse Deubel, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, called Archuleta’s departure “extremely alarming” in terms of its impact on the commission’s ability to act.
Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett wrote in an email the governor plans to appoint a successor to Archuleta before the next scheduled game commission meeting in April.
“Even appointing somebody, bare minimum we have four commissioners, but what we really need is to appoint seven commissioners,” Deubel said. “It’s supposed to be a seven-member commission.”
The commission has seen its share of tumult in recent years. The exit of commissioners Joanna Prukop in 2019 and Jeremy Vesbach last year — both appointed by Lujan Grisham and respected by many in the state’s pro-conservation lobby — raised concerns.
Late last year, Roberta Salazar-Henry of Las Cruces resigned. Another commissioner, David Brian Soules, died in 2021.
Adding to environmentalists’ concern, the governor last year named former state Sen. Gregg Fulfer to the commission. During Fulfer’s term as a legislator from 2018-20, the Jal Republican — whose background is in oil and gas and ranching — voted against two bills supporting and protecting wildlife in the state.
State lawmakers from both major political parties familiar with the commission’s work expressed surprise and disappointment Wednesday at the news of Archuleta’s departure, and some offered pointed criticism of the governor.
“I think it’s very discouraging as we see more and more people leaving, resigning,” said Sen. Cliff Pirtle, R-Roswell, speaking in part of a rash of recent resignations from Lujan Grisham’s administration. “It just adds to more chaos and more instability within state government.”
Sen. Crystal Diamond, R-Elephant Butte, also expressed concern about both Archuleta’s departure and those of three Cabinet secretaries in recent weeks.
“The people of New Mexico who are served by this administration deserve better than whatever is driving these dozens of highly qualified individuals away,” she wrote in an email. “Ms. Archuleta served with a steady hand and lent a voice of reason to the commission. Her loss will be felt to the many she served under her tenure.”
Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, said, “It’s a continuation of the problems we’ve been seeing, right?”
McQueen recently introduced House Bill 184, which would change the way seats are allocated on the commission by getting rid of the current system of districts and instead creating seats for specific groups, such as conservation advocates and hunters. The bill has already made its way through one House committee and is scheduled to be considered by the House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee.
Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, called Archuleta’s departure “the latest disappointment of this administration’s consistent failure to prioritize modern wildlife management in New Mexico. For a state that is one of the most biologically rich in the nation, we deserve a commission and leadership that is second to none.”
Lujan Grisham appointed Archuleta to the commission last March following Soules’ death.
At that time, her appointment drew criticism from some environmental groups because she had served as director of government affairs for ExxonMobil.
Her resignation this week came just days after her sister, attorney Jacquelyn Archuleta-Staehlin, resigned from a deputy secretary position in the state Public Education Department after just a week on the job.
Special education advocates had criticized her presence at PED because she had represented public school districts in legal battles brought on by families seeking services for disabled children.
Archuleta said her resignation the same week had “nothing to do with Jackie, it was exactly what is in the resignation letter.”
Deubel said he is becoming more concerned no one will want to serve on the Game Commission.
“I don’t know a lot of highly qualified professionals who would be exceptional as game commissioners who would be eager to serve on this commission with this sort of instability,” he said.