Longtime N.M. resident selected as new director of Legislative Finance Committee

Aug. 17—New Mexico lawmakers on the influential Legislative Finance Committee unanimously selected interim director Charles Sallee as the agency's new director Thursday.

"I'm truly honored," Sallee told committee members after the vote. "I promise I'll do a good job."

Sallee, a longtime New Mexican, was tapped to serve as the committee's interim director after David Abbey retired in May. He has worked with the LFC since 2005, beginning as a program evaluator and manager before being promoted to deputy director in 2010.

He previously worked as a social worker in Las Cruces and as a policy analyst in the Texas Legislature.

"I'm really just humbled by the opportunity to continue working with the committee in this capacity to help improve the state that I love so much," Sallee said in an interview.

The committee — a critical and sometimes-criticized player in crafting the state budget — is the fiscal and evaluation arm of the Legislature. The LFC employs a team of economists and fiscal analysts who work on budget recommendations and analyze financial and other impacts of policy and practices. It also houses evaluators who conduct research projects focused on the efficiency and effectiveness of state services and programs.

Sallee received a standing ovation and applause from committee staffers after he was selected for the high-profile job.

Although Sallee accepted the offer, it's hasn't been formalized.

Committee Chairman Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, said Sallee's proposed salary has yet to be determined.

"We'll set the pay and then make him a formal offer," he said. "It'll be up to him to accept it or not."

As deputy director, Sallee earned about $155,000 a year. When he took on the additional responsibility of interim director, his pay was bumped up to about $198,000.

Abbey, his predecessor, was paid about $202,000 annually, but Muñoz said it's unlikely the new director would receive the same amount because the directors of the Legislative Council Service and Legislative Education Study Committee earn less — about $189,000 and $166,000, respectively.

"That one was way above everybody else," Muñoz said, referring to Abbey's annual pay.

After the committee vote, Sallee said whether lawmakers want to "make adjustments to the salary that I'm already making remains to be seen."

Sallee's selection came after the committee interviewed four of 13 applicants for the job in closed executive session last week. The committee used a scoring rubric to determine whether a candidate would qualify for a final public interview, and only Sallee met the threshold.

During Thursday's hour-plus public interview at the Roundhouse, Sallee answered about two dozen questions, some submitted by the public. All the questions were vetted by the committee's legal counsel.

The three other finalists were Max Baca, executive vice president for finance, administration and government relations for New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas; Kelly O'Donnell, chief research and policy officer for Santa Fe-based Homewise; and Carlos Rey Romero, associate vice president for research at New Mexico Tech in Socorro.

Sallee, whose wife and parents were in the audience, faced at least three questions dealing with transparency and how to make information about the budget process more accessible to the public.

"I'm noticing a theme here," he said, generating laughter.

Sallee moved to Las Cruces with his family when he was a baby. He has a bachelor's degree in social work from New Mexico State University and a master's in social work administration from Texas State University.

He said the LFC has worked to increase transparency.

"Our website is almost information overload," he said. "There's more information on the budget process available today than there was when I started 18 years ago on the finances of the state of New Mexico, and I believe there's still opportunities to provide more. I'm very interested in using technology to help make the budget demystified, if you will, and allow people to do easier searches of where the money is going."

Asked where he saw New Mexico's economy going in five years, Sallee said he envisioned a "bright future" and that lawmakers had implemented policies that had insulated the state from some of the revenue volatility from the oil and gas industry, which generates a large share of the state's revenue.

"You've got the strongest balance sheet that the state's ever had probably, certainly over the last 40 years, so you're in a position to be able to weather a national recession, as an example, without needing to make painful budget cuts," he said.

Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe, thanked Sallee for his willingness to take on what she called a "difficult position."

"Working with 112 legislators, at a minimum, is not going to be easy," she said. "But you already know. You've seen it, and you've managed it well."

Muñoz gave Sallee the same advice he said his wife gives him when he walks out the door in the morning.

"It's not just us that are counting on you," he said. "It's the entire state that's counting on you. ... Remember that every night when you go to bed and when you wake up in the morning. There's 2 million people in this state that are looking to what policies can make their lives better and make their education better and make everything better in New Mexico."

Asked whether he felt additional pressure to do a good job as a New Mexico native, Sallee said residents' best interests are always at heart.

"Sometimes people think that as we're preparing the budget that it's all just spreadsheets and numbers," he said. "But it's really about the people of our state, and that's really what I look to every day that I'm advising the Legislature on what decisions to make."

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.