Duran hires Adair to oversee elections

Secretary of State Dianna Duran hired former state Senator Rod Adair to oversee elections in New Mexico.

The Albuquerque Journal first reported the news.

Adair will not be replacing Director of Elections Bobbi Shearer.

Instead, Adair will run a newly created division within the office of the Secretary of State, the Journal reports.

He could start the job, which will pay about $80,000, as early as next week, Duran told the Journal on Friday.

Adair will be the administrator of a division that includes human resources, public policy, and elections and related matters, such as campaign finance reporting and ethics, Duran said.

Adair is a very conservative Republican known for speaking his mind and getting into high profile tussles with his Democratic colleagues at the Legislature.

The Roswell Republican decided not to run for reelection in 2012, saying that he could have more impact on creating a Republican majority from outside the legislature.

“Just as was the case in the redistricting negotiations, it’s clear to me that I can have a greater impact trying to help create a Republican majority rather than trying to be a part of it,” Adair said at the time, according to NMPolitics.net. “It’s an easy choice to make.”

Adair ran Duran’s 2010 Secretary of State campaign.