Mayor named to transition team on public education

Tucumcari Mayor Ruth Ann Litchfield on Friday was named to the governor-elect’s transition team on public education issues.

Litchfield, a schoolteacher in Tucumcari for 31 years before retiring and entering city politics, was named to the public education department transition team for governor-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham along with nearly 30 other people.

“The Transition team will engage with key stakeholders and current government agency personnel and provide detailed strategic recommendations on improvement state government operations to Governor-elect Lujan Grisham,” a news release from Lujan Grisham’s office stated Friday.

Litchfield said Saturday she hasn’t been told what to expect with two upcoming meetings with Lujan Grisham’s team in Santa Fe, but she assumes it will be about matters pertaining to elementary education.

“I was very honored to be asked,” Litchfield said. “I’m not sure what’s going to be expected of me.”

The mayor said she had “no idea” why her name came up as a member of the future governor’s transition team.

Litchfield said she will continue with her Tucumcari City Commission duties in the brief interim. She said if being on the transition team takes up too much of her time, she will bow out of it.

“Tucumcari comes first,” she said.

Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, assumes the office of governor on Jan. 1, succeeding two-term Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican.