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Chandler questions King’s overseas travel
Attorney General Gary King (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Attorney General Gary King has traveled overseas on personal business at least nine times since taking office in January 2007. His opponent in the Nov. 2 election says that’s too much.
“When the cat’s away, the mice will play,” Republican Matt Chandler said during an AG candidate debate in Las Cruces on Sunday – a reference to the government corruption he contends King hasn’t pursued aggressively enough as attorney general.
King, a Democrat, countered at the debate that the state didn’t pay for any of his overseas trips except one – a trip to Geneva, Switzerland in May 2008. He said he traveled to Geneva at the request of federal officials to talk about New Mexico’s partnership with the state of Chihuahua, Mexico on combating human trafficking.
King was in Geneva on May 21 and 22 of that year, records obtained by NMPolitics.net show. The state paid almost $1,800 for lodging and airfare for that overnight trip.
King didn’t fly from New Mexico to Geneva. He flew from Bucharest, Romania, where he was with his wife, who was attending a meeting of a NATO panel she chaired. When King was finished with his business in Geneva, he flew back to Bucharest on the state’s dime.
Traveling with his wife, Yolanda Jones King, was the reason for the overseas trips, King said in a recent interview. His wife, who has a doctorate in physical chemistry, served until recently as the chair of NATO’s Research and Technology Organization’s Sensors and Electronic Technology Panel. She’s no longer on the panel.
When she did serve on the board, Yolanda Jones King had to travel twice a year to meetings. She said, during the recent interview with her husband, that there was a social aspect to the meetings and it was good to have her husband accompany her for reasons of protocol.
The countries King has visited
Because the state didn’t pay for most of Gary King’s overseas trips, the AG’s office doesn’t have records related to the costs of the trips. However, King’s government cell phone records reveal dates that he has been in a number of countries. He used his cell phone to check his voice mail, use the Internet or call numbers in Santa Fe and Albuquerque:
- From Poland and the Czech Republican between July 10 and 13, 2007.
- From the Netherlands on March 12, 2008.
- From Romania on May 22 and 23, 2008.
- From France on June 25, 2008.
- From France again between Oct. 27 and Nov. 1, 2008.
- From Slovenia between May 5 and 14, 2009.
- From Italy between June 22 and 24, 2009.
- From Taiwan between Oct. 9 and 11, 2009.
In addition, King submitted reimbursement to the AG’s office for use of an internationally capable Blackberry he rented while he was in Spain from April 30 to May 18, 2007. The cost to the state of that Blackberry rental was $343.47.
“The use of an international blackberry was necessary so that I could check e-mail related to important pending business matters for the Attorney General’s Office while out of the country,” King wrote in a June 13, 2007 letter to the state’s Department of Finance and Administration justifying the expense.
King didn’t use his government cell phone much during his other overseas trips. The cost of the international calls amounted to less than $300.
Matt Chandler
In touch with what’s happening in NM?
In an interview, Chandler said he’s not questioning the legality of King leaving the country so often during his tenure. He said everyone is entitled to a vacation, but he believes it’s inappropriate for King to be a “globetrotter” – spending so much time in other countries on personal business – when there’s important work to be done in New Mexico.
“We are dealing with an era of corruption,” Chandler said. “We need an attorney general that’s on the job and in tune with what’s happening in New Mexico.”
“We have to have someone that leads by example, and the lack of leadership in the Attorney General’s Office is indicated in the lack of results,” said Chandler, who has accused King of not being aggressive enough on corruption.
King said he has a Blackberry “that works all over the world,” and he has been able to stay in touch with his office from the places he’s visited. In fact, he said his Blackberry doesn’t work as well in Truth or Consequences as it has in many of the countries he has visited, so he’s sometimes more out of touch in parts of New Mexico than he was overseas.
“The way the world works now, you’re no more out of touch in Bucharest than you are in Washington, D.C.,” King said.
The AG said he likes traveling with his wife, and he noted that she often travels with him when he’s on the job as well. He said each pays their own way when they travel together while one is on business.
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I think the major difference is Susana Martinez and Matt Chandler is the fact that they are doing their jobs and and not pretending to get the job done… from overseas. Something about the D’s… they love their travel.
Southvalley, maybe you have not heard that most cases are assigned to ADAs and are prosecuted by them. Running for Governor and retaining her position as DA of Dona Ana County (which is allowed by state election laws) is not the same as taking vacations at taxpayer expense or leaving on a vacation when there are cases pending against corruption by the Attorney General of the state.
Most cases from the Attorney General’s office would and should be prosecuted by the Attorney General, with backup by attorneys for the cases, especially when they are government corruption cases.
I think you are mixing apples with oranges.
Jbaca16 stated “I think it is great that King and his wife can participate in such respected NATO work.”
The last time I checked Gary King is NM Atttorney General and is not the US Secretary of State. I am not paying taxes so that Gary can collect $95k a year, take 3 week vacations to Spain (It’s in public records), and let corruption run rampant in our state and take money out of my pocket!
It is important that we have someone who is interested in protecting New Mexicans rights and dealing with matters here in NM. I am not interested in what the mob is doing in Italy or if King’s wife needs her husband in France for social functions. I’m concerned about the $280 million dollars that is missing from the state investment funds of which my wife has money taken out of her paycheck every 2 weeks to go into this fund.
People can make all the excuses they want for Mr. King, but the choice in this election is clear in my opinion. Corruption is affecting all people in NM regardless of our political affiliation. If King wants to travel then I say we retire him and let him continue to see the world with no worries, but in the best interest of NM I say we vote Matt Chandler for Attorney General.
Hold on Mr. Chandler and source1, this same issue was raised with Susana decided to run for Governor and still maintain her position of District Attorney. There were calls for Susana to resign her office, if she was going to campaign for Governor. Susana replied that she could keep in contact with her office and fufill her duties as District Attorney using her computer, blackberry, etc.
I will be waiting for Mr. Chandler to question Susana’s decision to leave her office in order to run for Governor. I can even offer a little assistance using your own words:
“We are dealing with an era of serious crime, child abuse, DWI, Domestic Violence” Chander said. “We need a district attorney that’s on the job and in tune with what’s happening in Dona Ana County.”
Don’t be a hypocrite Mr. Chandler, issue the statement criticizing Ms. Martinez. If not we know you are only making these statements because it’s against your opponent, and not truly what you believe.
I think it is great that King and his wife can participate in such respected NATO work. Only in New Mexico would someone think that is bad? Chandler has been stuck in Clovis for a long time. A little international experience would earn him some respect.
If this is all the GOP can come up with then it is laughable.
As a former Commerce official who knows a thing or two about bilateral and multilateral meetings with government officials around the globe (and the ethics involved with the role), I laughed outloud at this ridiculous assertion. Not once did I ever feel compeled to bring my spouse to socialize on the margins of official meetings “for reasons of protocol.” In fact, no other senior official I know ever did it, and if they also didn’t need to, why should she? Perhaps she was trying to impress somoene by bringing along her AG husband, as if anyone overseas would care. I think we all can see through this…Gary King took lots of time off overseas and his globetrotting had absolutely nothing to do with getting work done for the people of New Mexico.
It’s clear that Matt Chandler is much more interested in cleaning up New Mexico.
Nine overseas trips in 3 years? His passport must look like my daughter’s stamp collection.
King is enjoying his latte in Italy. Perhaps running with the bulls in Spain – for three weeks. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, corrupt politicians are running New Mexico in the ground.
I will be the first to say I agree, there’s nothing wrong with a vacation every year, maybe even two with any luck. But all of these trips, in addition to the trips one must take as attorney general around the United States – how much is King really in the office? It would be nice to see his calendar.
My question, who runs the office when he’s gone? Or, was that King’s point, he can run the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office with a BlackBerry?
Any help with who takes over when King is gone, Heath?