Jerry Ortiz y Pino

Democratic Lt. Gov. candidate Jerry Ortiz y Pino says he’s staying in the race even though he didn’t get 20 percent at the party’s preprimary nominating convention on Saturday.

“I am not at all discouraged by this hurdle,” Ortiz y Pino wrote in an e-mail to supporters.

Ortiz y Pino wrote that a “race this close in the mainstream Democratic Party convention…. is simply reinforcing the basic idea that we began this campaign with.”

“That thought was that this year provides a great opportunity to mobilize progressive voters and to recapture the Democratic Party for its base: the working families of this state,” the e-mail states.

Brian Colón finished first at the convention with the votes of 34.54 percent of delegates. Lawrence Rael finished second at 22.15 percent, while Joe Campos finished with 19.69 percent, Ortiz y Pino finished with 18.87 percent, and Linda Lopez finished with 4.73 percent.

By law, those who fail to get 20 percent at the convention have to collect twice as many signatures as those who do get 20 percent if they want to appear on the ballot. And no candidate who has failed the organizational test of getting 20 percent at the convention has gone on to win the primary.

Campos and Lopez haven’t yet responded to e-mails asking whether they are staying in the race.

Harry Montoya

Democratic Land Commissioner candidate Harry Montoya says he’s staying in the race even though he didn’t get 20 percent at the party’s preprimary nominating convention on Saturday.

“Yes Heath, I am going to collect the signatures, already started yesterday!” Montoya wrote in an e-mail.

Ray Powell easily won the land commissioner vote at the convention, winning the support of 44.43 percent of delegates. Montoya came in second at 19.32 percent, while Sandy Jones finished third at 18.64 percent and Mike Anaya came in fourth at 17.61 percent.

Jones says he’s also staying in the race. Anaya hasn’t made a public announcement about his plans.

By law, those who fail to get 20 percent at the convention have to collect twice as many signatures as those who do get 20 percent if they want to appear on the ballot. And no candidate who has failed the organizational test of getting 20 percent at the convention has gone on to win the primary.

Sandy Jones

Democratic Land Commissioner candidate Sandy Jones says he’s staying in the race even though he didn’t get 20 percent at the party’s preprimary nominating convention on Saturday.

“Literally two minutes after the results came in we were getting phone calls,” Jones said. “We’re in. We got inundated with people calling and telling us to make sure we stayed in.”

Jones said he’ll have the necessary signatures to stay in the race “in the next couple of days.”

Ray Powell easily won the land commissioner vote at the convention, winning the support of 44.43 percent of delegates. Harry Montoya came in second at 19.32 percent, while Jones finished third at 18.64 percent and Mike Anaya came in fourth at 17.61 percent.

By law, those who fail to get 20 percent at the convention have to collect twice as many signatures as those who do get 20 percent if they want to appear on the ballot. And no candidate who has failed the organizational test of getting 20 percent at the convention has gone on to win the primary.

Jones doesn’t sound intimidated by that fact, pointing out that Powell won the Democratic Party’s convention in 2006 and went on to lose the land commissioner primary to Jim Baca.

“A lot of the calls that we got last night, not many people thought Ray could win this thing,” Jones said. “There are people who weren’t really actively supporting us (before) who climbed on board last night.”

Montoya and Anaya haven’t yet announced their plans.

Susana Martinez

Gubernatorial candidate and district attorney says her office has worked hard to provide documents in response to the Democratic Party’s records requests

The Democratic Party of New Mexico is accusing Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez, Doña Ana County’s district attorney, of “hiding” public records.

Martinez, on the other hand, maintains that the district attorney office she runs has worked hard to comply with two massive records requests the party filed in January.

There may not be a violation of the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act, but Martinez’s office should have standard polices for dealing with requests, Sarah Welsh, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, said of the situation.

“We want to see a consistent policy and good communication. (In general, that) would solve maybe 80 percent of the problems that arise,” Welsh said. “The burden is on both parties to keep those lines of communication open.”

Since the party has already been allowed to inspect the records, Welsh said it’s difficult to accuse Martinez’s office of hiding documents, even if the party has yet to receive copies.

As things stand now, the party is trying to decide whether it wants copies of some or all of the more than 2,000 pages it flagged when it inspected the records. Once the party decides, Chief Deputy District Attorney Susan Riedel, Martinez’s records custodian, will send an invoice.

Once payment is received, Martinez said, her office will make the copies and mail them.

Dems: ‘Hurdles’ have hampered process

The situation began Jan. 4 when the party filed two records requests (click here and here) with the Third Judicial District Attorney’s Office seeking to inspect tens of thousands of pages of documents including budgets, contracts, invoices, travel and expense reports and information about cases from the time Martinez took office in 1997 to present.

That’s a pretty standard request from the opposing political party when a public official is seeking higher office. It’s commonly called “opposition research.”

Riedel responded in a Jan. 11 letter that the request was “excessively burdensome” and included “documents kept in approximately 48,000 separate files.”

State Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Forrester claims that, during a series of phone calls over the next few weeks, Riedel said she would allow only two hours to inspect the records, then revised the time to four, then six hours, with a “possible extension” if that wasn’t enough time.

In the end the party was provided 6.5 hours to inspect the records on Feb. 17, and another 6.5 hours last Monday. Though that was enough time to inspect all the records the party had requested, Forrester complained about several issues:

• Riedel didn’t allow the party to bring a scanner or camera to make its own copies.

• He claims Riedel hasn’t been courteous. As an example, he said she told the party’s representative who inspected the records the he was “a pain in the ass” because Martinez had Riedel sit with him while he looked through the documents.

• After the party’s representative inspected the first half of the records on Feb. 17 and marked pages for copying, Forrester claims Riedel told the party she would copy and mail the documents to the party along with an invoice – but that hasn’t yet happened. Martinez told this reporter the intent all along has been to invoice the party after all documents were inspected and only make copies after payment was received.

“It’s a totally different story now that you’re asking questions,” Forrester said. “They’re stalling.”

Forrester said he believes the party will eventually obtain the documents, but Martinez’s office is going out of its way to make the process difficult by placing “hurdles” in front of inspection and copying.

“It personally sounds to me like they’re hiding something,” he said.

Martinez says her office is working to comply

Martinez, on the other hand, says her office is working to comply with the request – the second massive records request her office has received during her tenure as district attorney. She said her office had just completed its annual audit when the request came in, and many documents had not yet been replaced in their normal files.

That, coupled with recent budget cuts, meant gathering the documents the party requested took longer than normal.

Martinez said her office didn’t allow the party to bring its own scanner or camera because she wanted to ensure the documents were in their entire and true form when they left her office.

And she says her office didn’t make copies after the first round of inspection on Feb. 17 because the party had, in its records requests, indicated a maximum budget of $200, but had flagged enough pages for the copying fee to go well over that. She said she wanted to be able to provide a full cost to the party and receive full payment before making any copies.

Riedel initially told the Democrats she didn’t know to whom they would have to make out the check. That’s because, Martinez said, her office has never received payment for documents during her tenure. When asked by journalists for copies of public case records, her office generally provides them without charge.

And the only other requests her office has received – other than the one for which payment was never received – involved case information that wasn’t public record at the time, so those requests were denied.

Because of that, Welsh said it is understandable that some issues would come up in this instance – such as Riedel’s not knowing whether the check should be made out to the district attorney’s office or their fiscal agent, the state Department of Finance and Administration in Santa Fe.

“If they don’t get a lot of requests then this is kind of new ground. It sounds like they’re aware of the law and they’re trying to work it out as best as they can,” Welsh said. “If this was a regular practice I’d be more concerned, but it sounds like it’s a special case.”

Riedel initially told the party the cost for documents would be $1 per page – the maximum the law allows – but later chopped the fee in half. Welsh said that’s indicative of the office’s lack of a standardized policy for the inspection and copying process. She said such a policy should be instituted, and it should include a uniform fee for copies of documents.

Martinez said she doesn’t believe a policy is necessary because the office is complying with the requirements in the public records law.

AG says requesters can bring cameras and scanners

Welsh said it sounds like the Democrats have “run into problems with attitude more than legal compliance” from the district attorney’s office, but she does take issue with Martinez’s not allowing the party to bring a scanner or camera to copy records.

Phil Sisneros, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said scanners and cameras should be allowed. The public records act, he said, “requires the custodian of public records for a public body to ‘provide reasonable facilities to make or furnish copies of public records during usual business hours.’”

“This office’s position is that this provision permits a requester to use his or her own equipment to make copies of public records,” Sisneros said.

Martinez said the AG’s office doesn’t make that clear in literature it provides to government agencies to help them comply with the public records act.

The AG’s opinion is not legally binding. No court has ever ruled on whether the act requires that requesters be allowed to bring their own copying equipment.

Photo by dbking/flickr.com

With recounting of the ballots out of the way, here are the final numbers from the Democratic Party’s preprimary convention held Saturday:

Lieutenant governor

• Brian Colón: 34.54 percent

• Lawrence Rael: 22.15 percent

• Joe Campos: 19.69 percent

• Jerry Ortiz y Pino: 18.87 percent

• Linda Lopez: 4.73 percent

Land commissioner

• Ray Powell: 44.43 percent

• Harry Montoya: 19.32 percent

• Sandy Jones: 18.64 percent

• Mike Anaya: 17.61 percent

Appellate judge

• Linda Vanzi: 72.32 percent

• Dennis Montoya: 27.68 percent

And here are a couple of quotes from news releases sent out following the contention that didn’t make it into my original post on Saturday:

“Momentum is clearly on our side. After eight years of controversies and distractions, it’s time to restore trust in the State Land Office,” Powell said. “I love the land office and I have the experience, energy, passion and vision to make the New Mexico State Land Office one of the top land management agencies in the country.”

“I’m pleased that New Mexicans are responding to the many things we have accomplished together during my 25 years of public service,” Rael said. “My experiences, coupled with Diane Denish’s leadership, are key to moving our state forward.”

Update, March 15, 12:55 p.m.

Just to be clear, these numbers are unofficial until the secretary of state certifies them on Tuesday.

Martin Heinrich

The majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site said they approve of the job Martin Heinrich is doing as U.S. representative for the 1st Congressional District.

Of 1,252 voters, 835, or 67 percent, said they approve of the job Heinrich is doing, while 399, or 32 percent, said they do not, and 18, or 1 percent, said they don’t know.

Of course, many more votes were cast in this poll than usual. Maybe that’s because someone organized Heinrich supporters (and, to a lesser degree, Heinrich opponents) to get out the vote. Maybe it’s because someone manipulated the poll. That’s a big part of the reason these polls are non-scientific. Fun only. Don’t read too much into them.

And don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the left column on the home page.

Susana Martinez

One analyst says the race is down to Martinez and Weh; another calls Domenici a ‘wild card’ because of his lead in polls

Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez gained in stature at today’s Republican Party preprimary nominating convention. Allen Weh did what he needed to do. And Pete Domenici Jr. is down but not necessarily out.

That’s how Albuquerque pollster Brian Sanderoff analyzed the results following today’s vote.

Martinez won the support of 46.65 percent of delegates at the Republican convention. Weh finished second with 26.32 percent, followed by Janice Arnold-Jones at 13.16 percent and Doug Turner at 9.23 percent. Domenici finished last, with 4.61 percent of the vote.

“The big surprise here is the margin of Susana Martinez’s victory,” Sanderoff said. “The second thing that stands out, besides her superb performance, is Pete Domenici’s weak performance.”

If they want to stay on the ballot, candidates who don’t pass the organizational test of winning the support of 20 percent of convention delegates are required by law to collect twice as many signatures as those who do win 20 percent. No candidate who failed to win 20 percent at the convention has ever come back to win the primary.

Regardless, Arnold-Jones, Turner and Domenici all say they plan to stay in the race, which will require about 1,200 more signatures from each.

Staying in the race may make more sense for Domenici than the other two, Sanderoff said. In one recent poll, Domenici led the other candidates with 29.3 percent of the vote, while Martinez came in a distant second at 11.5 percent. Another poll tested each of the GOP gubernatorial hopefuls against the Democrats’ candidate, Diane Denish, and found that only Domenici is anywhere near Denish in terms of support.

“If ever there were a time that someone with 4 percent of the delegates could reasonably consider staying in the race, it would be now, but the Republican delegates have sent a very clear message that he is not their candidate,” Sanderoff said.

Garcia calls it a two-person race between Martinez and Weh

Political analyst Jose Garcia, whose NMSU government class conducted the poll that showed Domenici ahead of the other GOP candidates, disagreed. He said this is now a two-person race between Martinez and Weh.

“I think people are going to be listening very carefully to Susana’s message, and I think they’re going to be comparing it very carefully to Weh’s message,” Garcia said. “Those two candidates have the ear of people.”

Asked if there was any scenario in which one of the other three could win the primary, Garcia said “anything is possible in politics,” but he doesn’t see Domenici, Arnold-Jones or Turner winning.

“If it’s a resounding victory for Susana to get nearly 50 percent, it was also a resounding defeat for Domenici,” Garcia said.

Martinez said in an interview that communication and meetings with small groups were the keys to winning the preprimary, and she plans to continue utilizing both.

“This says that we have to keep working hard, and that the folks who were at the convention are very much wanting to unite,” Martinez said. “We’ll continue to work as though we’re going to be the ones coming out of the primary and heading into the general.”

In a statement released by her campaign, Martinez also said convention delegates share her “values of reform and accountability.”

“Together, we can bring real change to New Mexico after eight years of the failed Richardson/Denish Administration,” the statement read.

The target remains on Domenici’s back

Sanderoff said Republicans who are supporting Martinez like her conservative credentials and believe she is the most electable in November. But he said Domenici will remain the one with a target on his back as long as he’s leading in the polls.

That is already apparent. In a prepared statement following today’s vote, Weh mentioned Domenici but not Martinez.

“With three candidates failing to make the cut, including Pete Domenici Jr., we are pleased to be on the ballot and moving toward Election Day,” Weh said. “This campaign is the people’s campaign, and we can’t wait to get out of the convention hall and get back on the road.”

And the Democratic Party of New Mexico, in a prepared statement, hammered Domenici, the “self-described GOP frontrunner,” for finishing last.

“Following today’s last place finish, the question isn’t whether Pete Domenici Jr. is still the GOP frontrunner – the question is whether he’ll even remain in the race,” said James Hallinan, Democratic Party spokesman. “This vote was a humbling reality check for Pete Domenici Jr. and a clear signal that New Mexico Republicans are now more fractured than ever.”

Nothing more than an ‘informal straw vote’

Domenici Campaign Director Doug Antoon played down the results of the convention vote, calling it an “informal straw vote” and writing in an e-mail that Domenici passed the $300,000 mark in fundraising this week – his seventh in the race.

“For the Domenici campaign, the election is really just beginning,” Antoon said. “We strongly suggest the Democrats take no solace from an informal straw vote.  All scientific polls to date show Domenici virtually even with the Democrat nominee.”

Sanderoff said if the primary election were held today, Domenici would probably win, but “that would be solely due to his family’s name.” Domenici’s father is former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici.

Because the younger Domenici’s support in polls is largely due to his father’s name recognition, it might not be solid, Sanderoff said.

“He might have the highest but not the widest support,” Sanderoff said.

A news release from Arnold-Jones’ campaign characterized her 13.16 percent as “a strong third place showing,” and Arnold-Jones said she already has more than enough signatures to stay in the race.

“It was a more solid third than I expected. I am delighted,” she said. “Every place I turn, we’re making progress. People are listening to the message. They just may not have been the delegates.”

“I have a message. That’s why I’m running, and I’m going to keep running,” Arnold-Jones said.

Turner said he also has already gathered the necessary signatures to stay in the race.

“As an outsider, the expectation is that you’re not going to have the support from all insiders,” Turner said. “You would like to have support of people in your own party and support of the party machine, but I’m not sure this convention is representative of New Mexico voters or New Mexico Republicans.”

“I’m feeling pretty good,” he added.

Martinez gets ‘instant credibility’

The fact that Martinez won the convention, Sanderoff said, “demonstrates that she’s well organized. You don’t get half the delegates at the convention unless you work it.”

That doesn’t always translate into a primary victory. Former Gov. Gary Johnson finished third in the GOP preprimary in 1994, and he went on to win in June and November.

But in many cases, a preprimary victory sparked momentum that carried a candidate to a primary win. Sanderoff and Garcia said Martinez will now have an easier time raising money, which will help her spread her message.

“This will give her the opportunity to at least promote her victory and gain some instant credibility,” Sanderoff said.

While he’s already counting out Domenici, Arnold-Jones and Turner, Garcia said it’s impossible at this point to predict whether Weh or Martinez will win.

“I don’t think this is over by any stretch of the imagination,” he said.

Sanderoff said it’s too early to call it a two-person race.

“Susana impressed today. Allen Weh did what he had to do. And Pete Jr. will be the wild card,” he said.

Brian Colón finished first today at the party's preprimary nominating convention. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

Update, 7:05 p.m.

The party is recounting the numbers in both the lieutenant governor and land commissioner races because so many candidates are close to 20 percent, the party’s spokesman says.

Update, 7 p.m.

Colón has this to say:

“I’m honored by this nomination and humbled that so many Democrats from all corners of New Mexico are supporting our campaign because they share my belief that government should be in the business of helping people. Democratic values are much more than cheap campaign rhetoric. They make a difference in people’s lives. I know, because I’ve lived those values.”

And Diane Denish, the party’s uncontested nominee for governor, said this in a release:

“People ask me why I would want to be governor when times are so tough. I tell them because now is when it matters most. Times are tough, no doubt about it – but New Mexicans are tougher. We can’t rely on Wall Street bailouts. We have to pull together like a family and kick-start the economic recovery ourselves. We must help small businesses expand by cutting red tape and invest in our workforce so that we can compete for the high-wage jobs of the future.”

Original post

In the Democratic lieutenant governor’s race, only Brian Colón and Lawrence Rael qualified today to appear on the ballot, and in the land commissioner race only one candidate – Ray Powell – topped the 20 percent threshold.

Here are the full results:

Lieutenant governor

• Brian Colón: 34.3 percent

• Lawrence Rael: 21.9 percent

• Joe Campos: 19.9 percent

• Jerry Ortiz y Pino: 18.6 percent

• Linda Lopez: 5 percent

Land commissioner

• Ray Powell: 44.4 percent

• Harry Montoya: 19.32 percent

• Sandy Jones: 18.6 percent

• Mike Anaya: 17.6 percent

As is the case with Republicans, Democratic candidates who didn’t get 20 percent and want to stay on the ballot can do so by collecting more signatures – but because there are so many more Democrats than Republicans in the state, it’s a much more difficult task for Democrats.

The number a candidate has to turn in is based on the number of people who voted in their party’s last primary for governor. I don’t have the exact number for Democrats right now, but it’s about 1,200 additional signatures for Republicans.

Susana Martinez

Update, March 14, 10:25 p.m.

Mullins said this about his big win:

“I am both humbled and honored by the people’s vote today. It is clear that change is needed in New Mexico, starting with the United States congressional representatives from New Mexico on down to the state’s elected positions,” he said. “I am pleased with the support I received from so many Republicans. I look forward to defeating Ben Ray Lujan Jr. and representing the people in the 3rd district.”

Update, 7 p.m.

Kokesh didn’t qualify for the ballot today but plans to stay in the race.

“Our campaign is energized, and we’re committed to winning the primary election,” Kokesh said in a news release. “We are a grassroots campaign, and over the next two and half months we will be calling on our many supporters to help us win this important election, and do our part to unseat the Luján-Pelosi-Reid Congress and stop the Obama agenda.”

Cravens had this to say in a news release:

“I’m humbled by the support of my fellow republicans at the Republican preprimary convention. The faith they have showed in me to be their choice as New Mexico’s next lieutenant governor is an honor,” he said. “… Despite being outspent, and a late start to the campaign, it was heart-warming that our message resonated so strongly with the republican delegates.”

Update, 2:55 p.m.

Lieutenant governor

• Brian Moore: 41.24 percent

• Kent Cravens: 27.64 percent

• John Sanchez: 22.81 percent

• J.R. Damron: 8.29 percent

Land Commissioner

• Matt Rush: 64.87 percent

• James Jackson: 18.03 percent

•Spiro Vassilopoulos: 13.34 percent

• Bob Cornelius: 3.74 percent

Update, 2:10 p.m.

Governor

• Susana Martinez – 46.65 percent

• Allen Weh – 26.32 percent

• Janice Arnold-Jones – 13.16 percent

• Doug Turner – 9.23 percent

• Pete Domenici Jr. – 4.61 percent

Earlier post:

There’s already been some voting at the state Republican Party’s preprimary convention today. Check out the results now, and keep checking back. I’ll keep this blog updated as new results come in.

2nd Congressional District

• Steve Pearce – 92 percent

• Cliff Pirtle – 8 percent

A candidate has to get 20 percent to appear on the ballot, or collect a number of extra signatures before Tuesday if they fail in that task, so Pirtle will have to collect more signatures if he wants to stay in the race.

3rd Congressional District

• Tom Mullins – 80.5 percent

• Adam Kokesh – 19.5 percent

It’s not clear at this point if Kokesh has earned his way on the ballot. There’s some sort of recount going on and there’s also a question about whether numbers should be rounded up. Stay tuned.

1st Congressional District

• Jon Barela – Unopposed and selected by a voice vote

Rick Wellborn

A Las Cruces resident has filed a federal Hatch Act complaint alleging that Republican Rick Wellborn’s candidacy for district judge violates the ban on partisan political activity by public employees whose jobs involve federal funds.

Wellborn is a prosecutor in the 3rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office. He and his boss, Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez, say though the office receives federal funds, Wellborn’s job isn’t funded with those dollars and none of his duties have anything to do with the federal grants.

Federal law prohibits federal employees, and other government employees whose jobs involve federal funds, from running in partisan political races.

Las Crucen Ernie Bean wrote in his complaint that the district attorney’s office receives federal funding through several programs and includes southwest border funds, crime victim funds and funds to combat drug trafficking.

“I am not aware of any mechanism by which the district attorney is able to fully segregate Mr. Wellborn’s salary and other office resources from federal grant money,” Bean wrote in his complaint. “As such, Mr. Wellborn is violating the Hatch Act by running for partisan office.”

Martinez said the funds are separated. Each source of funding that comes into the office – such as state general fund money and the various federal grants – is assigned its own accounting code. The state’s SHARE system, which handles accounting, employment, payroll and purchasing information for Martinez’s office, keeps track of how each position is funded.

Martinez said Wellborn’s job is paid “absolutely 100 percent” by state general fund money.

Bean pointed to previous Hatch Act opinions that state that “Employees are subject to the Act if, as a normal and foreseeable incident of their principal employment, they perform duties in connection with the federally financed activities.” The opinions state that coverage “is not dependent on the source of an employee’s salary, nor is it dependent upon whether the employee actually administers the funds or has policy duties with respect to them.”

Martinez said none of Wellborn’s duties involve federal funds either – because, in her office, duties are based on where the funding for an employee’s job comes from.

It’s not clear when the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which oversees compliance with the Hatch Act, will respond to Bean’s complaint.