News

Weh Running for Republican Nod for Governor

8/8/2009

Author: John Bear

Allen Weh is a business man and a veteran.

And now he wants to try his hand at politics. He’s running for governor of New Mexico.

“You get to a point where you want to do some good with the latter part of your life,” he said.

He is serious about the job, and said is not doing it for the novelty.

Weh, a Republican, is the chief executive officer of CSI Aviation Services, Inc., an international air charter and leasing services company based in Albuquerque that he founded in 1979. He said the company supplies flight services for people with strange needs, such as film makers who need to transport indigenous Colombians to Hawaii.

He started as a marine and worked his way up through the ranks, retiring as a colonel. He did two tours in Vietnam. He has been to Somalia, served in the first Persian gulf war and most recently traveled to Iraq to help reorganize the Iraqi Army in the middle of a war, something he considered a challenge.

He has been a chief of staff for Marine Forces Pacific and won Silver Star, the Bronze Star with “V,” three Purple Hearts and five air medals.

Weh said his business and military experience will be useful in Santa Fe. He said he has never spent more money than he brought in, and knows how to take care of troops.

“There’s too many politicians who have never done any of that,” he said, adding that he is not a career politician.

If elected, Weh wants to cleanse Santa Fe of corruption, something he thinks has been a terrible problem in the Richardson and Denish administration.

He said they have gotten a few things right, but have fumbled on big stuff such as education and the budget. He wants to fix both.

“People are going to get something positive from the government,” he said. “Make the government serve the people.”

Weh also wants to encourage business growth, contain health care costs and implement voter identification.

Though he is a Republican, Weh said he is independent minded. He wants to reach out to Democrats and independents alike. He said (he) is not worried about the current state of the Republican party because, as he puts it, 90 percent of being governor has nothing to do with one’s political party, but “running the railroad on time.”

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