This is not Tim Eichenberg’s first rodeo.
After a short hiatus from state politics, 62-year-old Eichenberg is looking to make his return to the political arena. The Albuquerque native is the 2014 Democratic candidate for New Mexico State Treasurer.
Eichenberg, a former two-term Bernalillo County treasurer, is on the campaign trail promoting his experience. The state treasurer’s job is much like the work he did for the county: investing and managing taxpayer dollars, he said.
In 1994 Eichenberg was elected to the board of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority. The AMAFCA is responsible for handling flooding problems in the greater Albuquerque area. He has since been re-elected to the AMAFCA board three times. Eichenberg is currently the board’s assistant secretary and treasurer.
Jerry Lovato, the executive engineer of AMAFCA, said he thinks Eichenberg would do well as state treasurer.
“He’s very clear on where he wants to go,” Lovato said. “It’s not a dictatorship — he takes everyone’s opinions and moves forward.”
After his terms as county treasurer that began in 1974, Eichenberg entered state politics in 2004 when he was appointed to be the director of the Property Tax Division by then-Gov. Bill Richardson. In 2008 Eichenberg was elected to the state Senate for District 15 and served one term. Eichenberg didn’t run for re-election in 2012, choosing instead to focus on the health of close family members.
“One of my brothers told the family that he had been diagnosed with cancer in December 2011, and my brother Mike had a heart attack in March 2012,” he said. “It was a very difficult decision. I loved being in the Senate, I loved what I was doing and I loved the process of being a senator. But those two older brothers were the ones taking care of my mom. It was time for me to step up and spend the time with my mom.”
Eichenberg said his experience is an advantage for him, especially considering that his opponent, Republican Rick Lopez, has never held public office.
“I’ve run for office before and been successful, so I know that there’s a job after the campaign ... and integrity and the transparency that is so necessary in government,” Eichenberg said. “That’s a big difference between my role as an elected official and Rick’s (role) of a public employee working in a department or agency and following directives.”
Eichenberg has lived his entire life in Albuquerque, but he said he will be able to relate to rural New Mexicans.
“My four years as a state senator got me to all four corners of the state,” Eichenberg said. “And in my four years as the state’s property tax director I traveled to all 33 counties because I supervised all the county assessors. In that supervisory capacity, I had to go see what their county looked like, what their tax roll looked like and what their community looked like.”
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Eichenberg said his goals range from taking measures to ensure the growth of businesses with five or fewer employees to approving “seeders” that would allow small local banks to more safely accept large deposits. One of his personal goals, however, is to pass his life experience on to the next generation in an attempt to make them more fiscally responsible.
“I would like to see the state treasurer actually go on a crusade around the state to all of the high schools, talking about how to open a checking account and how a checking account works,” he said.
Michael Warren is a journalism student in the Communication and Journalism Department. Warren is also the executive producer of the Daily Lobo’s “The Howl.” This story first appeared on the New Mexico News Port.
