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As scandal grows, Herrera isn’t answering questions
Secretary of State Mary Herrera
As of this morning, three current and former employees in Secretary of State Mary Herrera’s office have confirmed that they have taken allegations of potential criminal wrongdoing to law enforcement agencies.
Faced with the reality of a growing election-year scandal, the woman ultimately responsible for the integrity of the November election bolted from her own news conference earlier today rather than answer any questions.
Five months ago, then-Elections Supervisor A.J. Salazar said Herrera runs ‘a crooked organization’ and submitted his resignation. He also said he had turned over his allegations to the attorney general for investigation.
Earlier this month, Office Administrator Manny Vildasol, who secretly recorded video in Herrera’s office, said he had turned the video over to the FBI because it shows “issues of criminal activity and unethical behavior.” He has since been placed on administrative leave.
Last week, office spokesman James Flores was placed on leave. The attorney representing Flores and Vildasol was quoted by the Santa Fe New Mexican and KOB-TV as saying that Flores, like Vildasol, has been interviewed by the FBI.
Salazar’s resignation came in a scathing letter in which he accused Herrera of violating the Governmental Conduct Act and election laws. Among his allegations is that Herrera ordered exempt employees to collect signatures for her re-election bid at a meeting held during work hours, that she was improperly soliciting donations from contractors doing business with the office to help fund a training, and that she retaliated against him after he tried to stop those potentially illegal actions.
We don’t know much about the allegations being made by the others.
The scandal comes in the context of the pending trial in the case against Herrera’s predecessor, Rebecca Vigil-Giron, who’s facing felony charges including money laundering, fraud, soliciting or receiving kickbacks and tax evasion in the alleged theft of millions of dollars.
In an election year, voters might already confuse Herrera and Vigil-Giron when they see headlines about the case against Vigil-Giron. With all the headlines about Herrera, her political problem grows exponentially worse.
No comment
So, according to The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Steve Terrell, Herrera called a news conference earlier today to talk about voter information that was being mailed out in advance of the election. But he wrote that she “bolted” before reporters could ask questions. Just before leaving, she called the allegations of wrongdoing “blatantly false and ridiculous… Thrown at the press like red meat in an election year.”
“Reading a statement, Herrera said the state is investigating the two employees – Vildasol and Flores. She emphasized that she is not involved with the investigation,” Terrell wrote.
He added that as reporters began asking questions, Herrera “turned and walked briskly to the safety of her own office.”
I sent Herrera several questions related to the scandal by e-mail on Wednesday, to both her government and personal e-mail addresses. She hasn’t responded.
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Herrera is no different than anyone else … we all serve as an example. In this case – a bad example of how a public official handles bad press. The bad example is amplified by the fact that she is the chief election offical of the state, and should be setting the standard of openness and transparency. I decided long ago to vote for Duran … this is only confirmation of the wisdom of that decision.
Go Diana! Hererra is making it easy for you to win this.
Do not miss the remarkable photograph taken at yesterday’s ‘press conference’ that is posted at http://roundhouseroundup.blogspot.com/
Oh, but have no fear since the FBI is investigating. We are so lucky King and the incompetent and partisan AG’s office is not the sole investigation agency. They would just sweep it under the rug and say “move along, nothing to see here, just La Politica at work”. King is another one to cut loose in November.
As scandal grows, the Attorney General remains quiet. Protecting your own party is listed no where on the job description of the Attorney General. King and Herrera need to be voted out and let’s get some new blood in these state offices!
For now, Ms. Mary Herrara should totally avoid the topic of how the Secretary of State office is operating. Maybe instead of “no comment” about the scandal she can say to the press that she still cooks great “red chile enchiladas from scratch” as she did in 2008. Then she can say: “The lesson I have learned is to forgive individuals and enjoy life”.
If that doesn’t work, then she will have to bite the bullet and explain this outrageous scandal to New Mexicans.
I certainly hope the media got some good pictures of Herrera at the press conference, because it may be the only chance to actually see her at work. I’m sure she was gone as soon as the media left. There IS fundraising to do you know.
I truly believe the whistleblowers will be vindicated and that all of Herrera’s wrongdoings will come to light. You can only screw the taxpayers so long before people start to catch on. I hope this site and others continue to expose Herrera for the fraud that she is, and I hope the FBI does their job.
This is not good for Denish or the rest of the democrats.
Funny, she was very friendly and all smiles last week when she was in LC at various receptions at NMSU, shaking hands and asking for votes. But I find it amazing that she can put both these whistleblowers on leave and throw them out of her office just because they went to authorities about these allegations. It is their duty to report things like this. In private business, we could never do such things that look like retaliation to whistleblowers. In fact, most companies have confidential whistleblower hotlines that protect employees from retaliation and exposure for this. Why can government do this? Why would government do this? Once again, Ms. Herrera doesn’t look like the brightest bulb in the room.
Wait, I’m confused. Is Herrera is running the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico, or Mary’s Hair, Nails and Septic Tank Cleaners out of a trailer on Highway 70?