General Services head announces retirement
The agency known as the “heart and soul of state government” has a new head.
Ed Burckle is retiring as secretary of the General Services Department, and Gov. Susana Martinez announced Thursday she has chosen Ned Fuller to take his place as the agency’s acting leader.
Burckle has been among the last members of the two-term Republican governor’s original Cabinet from when she first took office in 2011. He is the latest secretary to leave over the past year as the governor prepares to vacate the office at the end of 2018.
Burckle has been in charge of an agency that is relatively low-key but has a broad reach.
The General Services Department is responsible for managing state government buildings and providing a range of services for public agencies, from legal defense to insurance, printing and transportation.
Burckle has led the agency as state government faced financial shortfalls
and budget cuts. The department also has courted criticism at times during his tenure. The agency faces a lawsuit over its handling of public records requests. And it played a role in an unsuccessful piece of legislation that would have allowed for an exception to the state’s procurement code to extend the lease on an office building owned by a couple of donors to the governor’s campaign.
A spokeswoman for the governor said Monday will be Burckle’s last day.
In a statement, Martinez said: “I am grateful for Secretary Burckle’s hard work in service to the people of New Mexico. His dedication and leadership will be missed, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
Fuller will take over after leading the litigation bureau in the department’s Risk Management Division. He previously worked as a lawyer in private practice, as a state District Court judge and with the New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Administration (he later sued, contending he was fired as an administrative law judge for political reasons and was later reinstated).
A graduate of Arizona State University, he holds a law degree from Brigham Young University’s law school.