Former Gov. Bruce King dies

STANLEY, N.M. (KRQE) - With his family by his side, former New Mexico Gov. Bruce King died Friday morning at his Stanley ranch. He was 85.

King served five consecutive terms in the New Mexico House of Representatives and was the Speaker of the House for three of those terms.

He served three separate terms as governor, from 1971 to 1975, 1979 to 1983 and 1991 to 1995. Before his third term, governors were not allowed to run for re-election.

During his most recent term, King established the Children, Youth and Families Department and helped develop education finance reform, ensuring school districts were treated more fairly when it came to financing.

Former Gov. Dave Cargo, whom King succeeded in 1971, said King was a good man, plain and simple.

"Bruce King was honest and he was straightforward, and you could always depend on Bruce. You knew that he was a straight guy," he said.

Former Gov. Gary Johnson, who succeeded King in 1995, said King was a natural resource.

"He, along with Alice, I just think lived and breathed making New Mexico a better place to live."

Gov. Bill Richardson on Friday ordered flags lowered to half staff until further notice.

"Bruce King's death leaves a huge void in our state," Richardson said in a news release. "Bruce King was an innovative, far-sighted Governor who knew the state better than any living New Mexican. He was as genuine and colorful as his cowboy boots. I can just hear him say, 'Mighty fine,' as he shook another hand."

King's son, Attorney General Gary King, said, "Bruce King would be the first one to tell us that death is just another phase in the cycle of life and that we must go on with our lives trying to do the best we can while helping others make their way too."

King was known for the sharp political mind behind his country-boy manner. He was famous for entering restaurants and greeting people table-by-table with a vigorous handshake and a down-home, "How y'all doing? Fine. Fine."

He also was known for his malapropisms, once telling a lawmaker that the lawmaker's proposal could "open up a whole box of Pandoras."

King told The Associated Press in 2005 at a Moriarty restaurant, where he and family members met for morning coffee for decades, that he was happy to be known for working with New Mexico's diverse groups and political parties.

He retained programs he liked from governors who preceded him, occasionally keeping key personnel, whether from a Democratic or Republican regime.

King said he was proudest of his economic development accomplishments, particularly an Intel Corp. computer chip plant in Rio Rancho. But he also was governor during one of the most horrific events in New Mexico history: a 1980 prison riot at the old main penitentiary near Santa Fe. Thirty-three inmates were butchered by other prisoners.

King said in 2005 that he resisted advice from around the country to storm the prison immediately. The slain inmates were killed in the early hours of the riot, and King said his concern was to keep alive a dozen prison workers taken hostage. None of the employees was killed.

The situation at the penitentiary before the riot was "kind of like the guy who was going to control the tea kettle by just putting Scotch tape and taping over the spout and lid," King said. "And as he heated it up, well, it just has to give. That's kind of where we were."

In 1997, King suffered a heart attack and earlier this year underwent heart surgery to work on his pacemaker.

For the past several months, King has been in home hospice care.

The King family is still making funeral arrangements, but has asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the New Mexico Children's Foundation.

King's wife, Alice, died of a stroke last December.

---

Associated Press writer Deborah Baker contributed to this report.