Any suggestion that local law enforcement agencies encourage investigations into Democrats and suppress investigations into Republicans is false, Doña Ana County Republican Party Chair Sid Goddard said today.
Melinda Whitley, the county’s Democratic Party chair, recently made such a suggestion in an e-mail to fellow party members.
“At this moment, Republicans control the district attorney’s office and the sheriff’s department, which means that they can reveal or suppress, investigate or not investigate, any type of incident they choose – which obviously is why we read these constant attacks against Democratic elected officials in our Republican-controlled newspapers,” Whitley wrote in an e-mail encouraging Democrats to attend a meeting of the county’s elections task force.
You can read a prior posting that includes the full text of Whitley’s e-mail by clicking here.
Speaking on The Morning Show with Michael Swickard, Goddard said, “there is no conspiracy whatsoever.”
“That is one of the most egregious and disingenuous comments I’ve ever heard in my life,” Goddard said.
Goddard was on the program to speak about the elections task force, of which he and Whitley are both members. It held its final of four public hearings last night, and now begins deliberations and preparation of a report to the commission, which will be presented next month.
Goddard said he has learned much during the public hearings, but was disappointed that there wasn’t greater turnout. And, after interviewing many of its workers in recent weeks, Goddard complimented the staff of the county’s bureau of elections.
“I’d have to say you got a great group of people down there trying to do a good job under adverse conditions,” Goddard said. “They want to do a good job. … They work hard at what they do, and they’re proud of it.”