Susan Morée:
Tell us about how your background has prepared you to serve in this office.
Lonnie Alexander Sandoval:
So I've been in law enforcement for 37 years and I've been a public servant here in Grant County for 34 years. And I believe that as my position as a supervisor in the New Mexico State Police for the last 12 years of my career and being the chief of police in the village of Santa Clara for the last 15 years, I've dealt with budgets and having to allocate money or grants and things of that nature that I believe are a big [unintelligible] to being the Grant County Commissioner. I was [unintelligible] over the budgets and they deal with grants and, of course, personnel.
Susan Morée:
Why are you running for this office?
Lonnie Alexander Sandoval:
I am running for the office because I believe that my experience dealing with people and the knowledge that I've gained through life experiences and understanding the problems of our county that I have the background to lead and be the voice of the people of Grant County. I think my life experiences and being able to listen and learn and get things done would be a great asset to the job. And I work well with others and I'm a good listener. I can listen to the people and carry their voice to the commission.
Susan Morée:
What are the top issues in your district for this office?
Lonnie Alexander Sandoval:
I believe the top issues are going to be the hospital, dealing with behavioral health issues and dealing with our, wow, I can't even remember now, our city citizens and our roads and our public safety. These are all, I think, the top issues that we're dealing with right now in Grant County. And I believe that we're doing a good job so far as far as getting these things done. But the new issues that are coming up, like with the hospital, we're going to have to revamp the hospital.
Susan Morée:
Next question. How would you successfully address those issues?
Lonnie Alexander Sandoval:
So with the hospital, working with the CEO who is doing a great job so far and he's really good at getting grants and getting money brought in and he has a good game plan. He works really good with the commissioners now. I believe that myself, being a commissioner and working with the other commissioners, we can address these issues and move forward. The mental health issues, I believe that working together, we could bring in better providers, more providers. That would help with the mental issues and their families. You have to get them all into this way of being helped. You can't just concentrate on the person himself, but the family as well. They're going to need the help. The other part, dealing with our roads, all those need to be addressed. We need to allocate more money.
Susan Morée:
Last question, what else do you think is important for voters to know about your campaign?
Lonnie Alexander Sandoval:
I believe it's important that the voters know that I am a person who likes to get things done. I'm all about the people. I have roots here and I believe that it's important that their voice is heard. I've worked with other commissioners. I'm just one vote of five, so I need to be able to be in there with them, you know, and collaborate to get the job done. You know, I'd also like to say that, you know, in my campaign, I did not get any endorsements from any special interest groups. I owe no favors. I've worked on my own merits and my own skills to get this to be in this position and I'd be honored to get the vote from the people.
