[Deathwatch] Joe Skeen, Ex-Congressman, 76

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

N.M. Ex-Congressman Joe Skeen Dies at 76
Mon Dec 8

ROSWELL, N.M. - Joe Skeen, the blunt-talking former lawmaker who
championed causes of New Mexico's ranchers and farmers during his 22
years in Congress, died Sunday night after a long battle with
Parkinson's disease. He was 76.

"He was in his sleep, and he went peacefully," said Jerry McKinney, a
longtime Skeen spokesman. A hospital nursing supervisor confirmed Skeen
died Sunday evening. McKinney said Skeen's wife, Mary, was with her
husband at the time.

"The state and the nation just lost a great statesman," McKinney said.

Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat who had served in Congress with Skeen
? and often against Republican Skeen ? called him "a vintage New
Mexican."

"He loved the land and represented New Mexico's rural lifestyle with
great skill. As a congressman he defended the state's border interests
with incredible effectiveness. He was truly a giant in New Mexico's
political history."

Skeen was a sheep rancher in the Hondo River valley in southern New
Mexico, and often disagreed with environmentalists.

"He told you what he thought. There was no question what he meant. When
he walked into a room, he just took over the room," said Suzanne
Eisold, Skeen's chief of staff and his campaign manager during his 11
terms.

At 6-foot-2 and about 200 pounds, "Joe just commanded that kind of
presence. He was a big man and had a booming voice," she said.

Skeen initially strode the halls of Congress wearing his cowboy boots,
but later switched to soft-soled shoes because of the long walks on
hard surfaces, she said.

Skeen first went to Congress in 1980, winning the race as a write-in
candidate after a judge denied him a place on the ballot. He served 11
terms, more than any other congressman from New Mexico.

Before that, he served two terms in the New Mexico Senate and
unsuccessfully ran for governor twice.

Throughout his career, Skeen defended private property rights, opposed
increases in grazing fees and fought against the reintroduction of
endangered Mexican gray wolves into New Mexico.

Skeen played a key role in the opening of the federal underground
nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad, the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant. WIPP, in the planning for more than two decades, began accepting
radioactive waste in March 1999.

Skeen often called it one of his greatest accomplishments. The day it
opened, Skeen ? wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with "WIPP" ? popped
the cork on a bottle of champagne in his Washington office.

"God Almighty, why did it take so long?" he asked as the first shipment
rolled.

As Parkinson's disease progressed, Skeen made fewer public speeches,
and his announcement in 2002 that he wouldn't seek re-election had been
widely anticipated.

He retired to his home on the Buckhorn Ranch where he had spent years
as a rancher, rounding up herds on horseback.

"He was there for roundups in time for sheep to shear," Eisold said.
"He rode that ranch for years before he came to Congress. He had one
hired hand and that was it. And he loved it."