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Assessor’s association with state senator under FBI scrutiny
The FBI is apparently asking questions “about Bernalillo County Assessor Karen Montoya and her association with state Sen. Tim Eichenberg, a consultant whose work includes helping people protest tax assessments set by Montoya’s office,” the Albuquerque Journal is reporting.
From the newspaper:
“Montoya herself said an FBI agent visited her office this week hoping to talk to her, but she was unavailable. The agent left his card, with a request for Montoya to call him after Tuesday’s primary election, in which Montoya is a candidate for the Public Regulation Commission.”
Montoya was quoted by the Journal as saying there is “nothing that could be investigated” because she’s done nothing wrong. Eichenberg was quoted as saying he doesn’t get preferential treatment from Montoya’s office and hadn’t heard from the FBI.
Eichenberg is up for re-election this year but has no contested primary on Tuesday. Montoya is in a hotly contested three-way primary race for the District 1 PRC seat.
Read the full Journal article here.
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http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Primary-election-Coss-takes-aim-at-gov–s-PAC
Does anyone know if Coss is a Democrat? If so expect quick action by Attorney General Gary King on the investigation. Any word on the second half of the FBI investigation into former Secretary of State Mary Herrera (a Democrat) that began years ago?
Ms. Wedum:
I don’t think you’re incorrect about the timing, and certainly our nation’s history is riddled with instances of people using public offices to damage political opponents (the 2006 U.S. Attorney’s scandal comes to mind of course, or the Secretary of State withholding public funds until it was too late for candidates in the opposition party to actually use them). However, I think that even legitimate investigations are more likely to crop up during election season because of public scrutiny. Allegations that would generally find themselves on the back burner in an off year frequently find themselves receiving due attention in an election year because public pressure and media attention force the hand of law enforcement or auditory agencies – sometimes to the detriment of the investigation itself, which may be forced to move forward at a rate that is too rapid for thoroughness.
Does it seem that these investigations all happen right around election time? Is it possible that they are a ploy by the opposition’s political operatives to smear the candidate at this crucial time? I remember the false accusations about VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro’s husband, that were found to be completely baseless when the case finally got to court– two years after the election was over.