The special audit of Doña Ana County isn’t going away.
Two commissioners who have often been at odds are both targets in this election year.
The audit, released two weeks ago, found widespread problems in county government as recently as 2004, but State Auditor Domingo Martinez said it appears most of the identified problems have been fixed.
That infuriated many Republicans, who have been waiting more than a year for the audit results. The delayed release of the audit gave county officials time to fix many problems before it came out, since most audit findings had already been reported publicly by the Las Cruces Sun-News.
The audit, initiated in May 2004, was delayed because prosecutors have taken their time looking into three items referred to them by Martinez, including one procurement code violation auditors said may have been intentional.
County Republican Party Chair Sid Goddard stood before the county commission Tuesday and berated Chairwoman Dolores Saldaña-Caviness for saying the audit was in the past and the county has changed.
“If there is a single note that resonates with citizens who have taken the time to read the auditor’s report, it has been, this is one issue that will not disappear,” Goddard said. “People who have talked to me over the past week are beyond upset. They are furious. Believe me when I tell you this matter is not in the past, Ms. Chairwoman. It is not over and done with.”
He went on to say those who have spoken to him won’t rest unless there are reprimands, terminations, or prosecutions of those responsible for the violations found by the auditor’s office.
If that doesn’t happen, Goddard said, the commission remains “as before, arrogant, unrepentant and insular.”
But who is responsible, and whether those responsible are still part of county government, is nebulous, and whether there was criminal activity has yet to be determined by investigators.
The political targets appear to be County Commissioners Kent Evans and Oscar Vasquez Butler. Evans is running for the Public Regulation Commission this year, and Butler is seeking re-election to the county commission.
Evans, a Republican, was the commissioner who first voiced publicly the allegations that led to the special audit. He did so during a failed attempt to have the commission suspend County Manager Brian Haines and investigate more than two years ago. But Evans now joins Martinez in saying there have been many changes, and says he is now working well with Haines.
That has irked some Republicans. One of Evans’ opponents in this year’s Republican primary, Doyle Pruitt of Las Cruces, told me Evans was just as guilty as other commissioners in many of the audit findings.
Evans admitted that when he first called for an investigation. He said he was fooled into improper actions by then-Commissioner Gilbert Apodaca, who was a master at taking new commissioners under his wings and making them his allies. Almost all of them, including Evans, later became Apodaca’s adversaries.
Apodaca has denied any wrongdoing.
Butler remained an Apodaca defender until the end, when Apodaca was forced out by term limits in 2004. Butler and Evans were often at odds because of Evans’ finger pointing at Apodaca and his allies.
Democrat Butler is facing a tough road to re-election this year. He has a primary opponent who is a state lobbyist with connections, Chris Jaramillo. The Republican running in November for the commission seat is John Zimmerman, whose party is making a big push because its members believe this is one of the few seats they can take from the Democrats.
How will the audit allegations play out in this election year? Will prosecutors conclude their investigation before November? Goddard’s comments indicate that angry Republicans aren’t going away, regardless.
***
But don’t think all this necessarily means Butler is going to lose his seat. His district includes most of the county’s colonias, and he has spent four years fighting for money for communities that have gone without for decades. Many have told me they understand for the first time why government should matter to them, because of the involvement in their communities of Butler and county staffers.
Jaramillo has obstacles of his own to overcome. He just resigned from his job as an investigator at the district attorney’s office to avoid a federal Hatch Act violation, but the fact remains that he worked for District Attorney Susana Martinez, a Republican many Democrats have viewed as a traitor ever since she switched parties a decade ago and beat her former boss – a Democrat – for the office.
That automatically means many Democrats are suspicious of Jaramillo. He’ll have to overcome that if he wants support.
Jaramillo is also a lobbyist for the cockfighting industry in New Mexico, which has made him a target of Animal Protection Voters of New Mexico.
The commission district he seeks to represent overlaps the state senate district of Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, who has led for years the unsuccessful effort to outlaw cockfighting in the state. How would Jaramillo and Garcia work together if he was elected?
Butler opposes cockfighting. But many rural residents in the county’s colonias support what some call a sport and others call heartless slaughter.
Both Butler and Jaramillo are vulnerable in the eyes of Republicans, and that’s why they smell blood and are excited about Zimmerman’s candidacy. But can a Republican really win a seat that represents so many rural, Hispanic Democrats?
Butler was in a tight race four years ago, so I guess it’s possible.
Stay tuned.
***
Las Cruces City Councilor Ken Miyagishima wrote in after yesterday’s posting about the land commissioner race to tell me he is supporting candidate Ray Powell. You can read his comments by clicking on the comment link (the little envelope icon) at the end of that posting.
Which reminds me – you all should be commenting! This is a dialogue!
What’s stopping you from doing it now? Tell us what you think about the special audit, Butler, Jaramillo, Evans, whatever. As long as you comply with the comments policy, I’ll post your comments. You can read the policy by clicking here.
Come back tomorrow. I’ll have some interesting links for you to check out.