County ends membership in lobbying group that has been plagued by scandal

Doña Ana County is pulling out of the South Central Council of Governments, the second major blow to the organization in the past few weeks.

In June, the Workforce Investment Act board voted to move a lucrative contract from the organization to New Mexico State University.

The council of governments, based in Elephant Butte, has been struggling to recover since last summer, when its director and deputy director were indicted on drug charges stemming from a Las Cruces incident. Both agreed to plea bargains, but lost their jobs.

At Tuesday’s county commission meeting, commissioners asked representatives from the Elephant Butte organization and the Rio Grande Council of Governments to tell the county what benefits it received from membership. The county belonged to both organizations before Tuesday.

The Rio Grande organization, based in Texas, was able to provide specific examples of sending sheriff’s deputies to out-of-state trainings and other benefits. The Elephant Butte organization provided nothing tangible.

It’s basically operated for years as a political lobbying organization. The county was paying $15,000 per year to be a member of the group.

No commissioner was willing to make a motion to continue membership, so the issue died and the county withdrew.

In June, the organization lost a $415,000 Workforce Investment Act contract to NMSU after that group’s board, which includes county commissioners Oscar Vasquez Butler and Kent Evans, voted to award the contract the university. The Elephant Butte organization had administered the contract for years.

The two incidents could lead to layoffs in Elephant Butte, though NMSU offered jobs to the Elephant Butte organization’s employees who were paid through the Workforce Investment Act contract, if they are willing to come to Las Cruces.