   Lawmaker travels the world from PAGE Cl legislative process. "Procedurally, you can get snookered a thousand different ways from Sunday," -he says. Payne, who sits on the Conservation Committee, is passionate about issues involving the environment, renewable energy and utility efficiency. "I take an interest in encouraging strategies and developments that provide incentives for people to do them, rather than mandates or penalties for not doing them," he says. Professional map Payne's interest in the environment was stoked from an early age. A native Albuquerquean, he graduated from Del None High School in 1969 and from the University of New Mexico in 1973 with a degree in geography. "I was interested in earth sciences and thought about a career working on federal lands, but I also wanted to be a pilot in' the Navy - I'm not sure where that came from." At the time he graduated, the Vietnam War was winding down and there was a surplus of pilots. So Payne stuck around UNM and got his master's degree in parks and recreation in 1974. He then entered a Ph.D. program in forestry-at Utah State, "but really I was just biding my time," he says. Having already taken and passed his flight physicals, Payne was awaiting word about a spot in Navy flight school. That came the following year, but the spot offered was as a flight officer. "Those are the back-seat guys who drop the bombs and do the navigation. I wasn't interested in that, so I went to Officer Candidate School, got commissioned and volunteered for SEAL training." His first assignment was at Enewetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, a former nuclear bomb test site where the Navy was doing reclamation work and building ramps. "Every time we set off explosives it would kill fish, which attracted sharks. So we had to develop methods to protect the divers." Payne and other Navy SEALs used what were called "bang sticks," poles with a .38-caliber charge attached. If the sharks got too close to the divers, the lookouts would tap the sharks with the poles, setting off the charge. "It could kill them, but mostly it scared them away, he says. In the early 1980s, Payne found himself in the cold Arctic waters off Alaska, testing extreme cold weather effects of Wet and dry suits weapons systems and human endurance. In the years since, assignments have taken him to Eurasia, Europe, the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. His work with the host countries mostly focused on security training and issues of "mutual interest," he says. Payne also served on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon in 1983-1984, and from 1990 through 1993, During his time in the nation's capital he attended Georgetown University and received a master's degree government, with a certificate in national -security. Because of his rank and active reserve status, Payne is careful not to reveal too much about his job or offer opinions about American foreign policy. He does, however, predict Iraq and - Afghanistan will, "like Vietnam, eventually find a better path through more open markets, less, xenophobia and better education and utilization of their people." Payne went from regular active duty status to reserve status in 1987. That same year, his wife, Deborah Payne, a naval officer he'd met in Washington in 1982, was assigned to the Defense Nuclear Agency at Kirtland -Air Force Base, where she was a computer systems specialist. With more time on his hands, Payne attended UNM law school and graduated in 1990. He and his wife have two children. Deborah Payne retired with the rank of commander in 1993. She is a manager at Sandia National Laboratories. "My world view is that we are much more integrated globally
in terms of economy, information and transportation," Payne says. "The ease of
travel and the Internet have shrunk the world and fostered better
understanding. I've generally found that wherever you go in the world, people
pretty much want the same things - to live productive lives, to raise loving
and intelligent kids, and to live in a peaceful society. We're not all that
different." |