Whether it’s busting rocks or kicking tails, Marty Chávez is back

infrastructure advisers, Mike Hamman and Matt Schmit — likely will have to pore through the myriad rules and regulations that come with procurement codes and grant rules and a variety of other codicils that govern (and often slow) the flow of money in government.

The challenge is immense. It’s federal money, with its own regulations, flowing through New Mexico state government. What could go wrong?

“We’ll be working with local governments on their procurement processes, looking at what we can do at the state, so we can get the money out the door,” Chávez says, undaunted. “And I think that’s one of the things I’m totally aligned with with the governor; she’s got a great vision for this. But I think I also have a bit of a reputation for getting things done. And so I’ll be riding herd. I’m the boss of no one, but I give good advice.”

When Chávez was the boss of many, he was demanding on staff.

In that way, he is not so different from Lujan Grisham. They’ve known each other for decades, working together — or fighting with one another — when Chávez was with the Workers Compensation Administration and Lujan Grisham was a Cabinet secretary for Gary Johnson, the governor who would defeat Chávez’s challenge in 1998.

And then, of course, came the congressional primary of 2012 — the beginning of Lujan Grisham’s rise; the coda on Chávez’s political descent.

“Nothing helps a relationship like being vanquished, right?” he jokes.

Wit aside, he knows nothing helps a political relationship like checking off boxes. In this case, making sure red tape gets cut and steam shovels dig. It’s what he knows best.

“This is an opportunity to do things that are important,” Chávez says. “And it’s a nice way to finish a public career.”