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Herrera runs ‘a crooked organization,’ former elections head claims
Secretary of State Mary Herrera
The state’s former elections director accused Secretary of State Mary Herrera in his resignation letter of violating the Governmental Conduct Act and election laws. And A.J. Salazar says he’s turned his allegations over to the attorney general, the Albuquerque Journal is reporting.
Salazar accuses Herrera of “soliciting money from firms that contract with her office and ordering ‘exempt’ employees to obtain petition signatures for her re-election campaign,” according to the Journal.
Salazar, a former deputy district attorney, was quoted by the Journal as saying he “has never worked in such a crooked organization.” Herrera was quoted as saying she has “done nothing wrong” and Salazar’s “unfounded allegations” are based on “twisted information.”
Salazar resigned Friday after 11 months on the job. Earlier this week, James Flores, spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office, confirmed Salazar’s resignation, but when asked by NMPolitics.net if he could provide any additional information about the situation, Flores said the office had “no other information to offer at this time.”
The Journal article quotes extensively from Salazar’s resignation letter, which the news organization obtained. NMPolitics.net requested a copy of the letter – which is a public record – from the secretary of state’s office two days ago but has not yet heard back from Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo, that office’s records custodian.
Trujillo has until Friday to respond.
The letter, according to the Journal, states that, during Salazar’s time as elections director, “it has become abundantly clear to me as to why my predecessors have left the office.”
The position has been a revolving door in the Secretary of State’s Office. When he was hired, Salazar was the third person in eight months to take the job.
The allegations
Salazar wrote in his resignation letter, the Journal article states, that the secretary of state “insisted that we obtain ‘sponsorships’ or donations through targeted communications with firms or businesses with whom we contract” to help fund training events for county clerks.
Trujillo was quoted by the Journal as saying that, on Salazar’s advice, the office consulted a lawyer who advised against doing that.
Salazar also wrote in his letter that Herrera ordered exempts to each gather 1,000 signatures for her re-election campaign.
“Your administration engages in political activity in the office, during work hours,” the Journal quoted Salazar’s letter as stating. “This is completely inappropriate coming from any elected official – especially from the Chief Elections Officer of the State.”
Herrera was quoted by the Journal as saying a meeting was held “during the lunch hour” and some people volunteered to gather signatures, but Salazar told the Journal “nothing was ever voluntary. … We were ordered.”
“It happened with government resources, in a government office, regardless of time,” the Journal quoted him as saying.
Salazar was quoted by the Journal as saying that the Attorney General’s Office “has been made aware of these particular issues” and he will “cooperate with any subsequent investigation.” A spokesman for the AG would not comment except to say that, “If, in fact, allegations like that were to have come to our office, we certainly would look into that.”
Herrera, a Democrat, is being challenged in November by Republican and state Sen. Dianna Duran of Tularosa.
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gm,
Corruption knows no political affiliation. We would have and have had the same problems with Republicans. The remedy does not involve mere changing of political party. The voters need to become more discerning and campaigns require reform such that the voters are better informed.
More problems in the Land of Enchantment. How many feel enchanted with crooked politicians in office? Do you feel more secure? Remember these things when the polls open for this year and 2012 elections.
As Joe Ruiz reportedly told an insurance representative, “that’s the way we do business in New Mexico”. But I”ll say it over and over again, the blame for one-party domination in NM is on the voters. Human nature is the same across the spectrum and if we let Rs dominate forever, results would eventually be the same. Kick them out folks. Vigil-Giron, Manny Aragon, Robert Vigil, Michael Montoya…..Bill Richardson????? Is there no end?
All of which begs a question; what are we going to do about it?
This is supposed to be a surprise? This is NM, the heart of La Politica to be exact. Just ask the poor folks in Bernalillo Co. how she operated before.
No real surprise here. Don Francisco is the real power and Mary is simply his sponsor – the symptom of the hostile and employee-unfriendly working environment in the SoS is presented in the resignations of three election directors, and the culture within the organization is best represented by AJs comment about the crooked working environment. Herrera was a good county clerk – she is absolutely lost in Santa Fe and has been one of the worst SoS’s in recent memory – and to be worse than Gonzales and Giron is quite an acheivement. I can’t wait for vote for Diana Duran in November.