Goddard announces run for county clerk

Former Doña Ana County Republican Party Chair Sid Goddard filed on Tuesday to run for county clerk.

He’s the only Republican in the race. Four Democrats, including incumbent Rita Torres, will battle in June for the right to face Goddard in November.

Goddard, whose suggestion led to the 2006 election reform task force created by the county commission, said that group, of which he was a part, did good work and has helped improve elections, but many issues remain unaddressed. For example, he said, there are 20,000 or more people on the county’s list of registered voters who, for various reasons, should not be.

That has led to problems, Goddard said. He said he knows someone who had been registered to vote in Doña Ana County but spent the last few years in Alaska, and did not vote absentee or otherwise in New Mexico during that time. She returned recently to learn that someone voted in her name in the county in 2006.

“I’ve heard a lot of other stories like that, too,” Goddard said. “It seems to me like we still have the potential for mischief. And in an election year, this is critical. This is not a Republican or a Democrat issue. To me, clean elections are critical.”

Goddard said voters need to be represented by someone who will “make sure that every elector in the county is so by right and has their vote counted.”

“It’s my intention to run and run fully,” he said.

That is one of the reasons, Goddard said, that he stepped down from his position with the party in February.

Goddard, 66, and his wife retired in Las Cruces shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Before that, he spent 30 years working for Toyota Motor Sales USA, much of that time in top management positions in areas including sales and marketing, business management, human resources and distribution. In that capacity, he has also taught courses in college automotive programs.

Goddard said he and his wife retired in Las Cruces because they had visited friends here several times and loved the area. They have been married 41 years and have two adult children.

Goddard ran unsuccessfully in 2004 against state Rep. Joseph Cervantes. He secured just under 40 percent of the vote in his first attempt at running for public office. In addition to his volunteer service in the Republican Party, he has also been active in the community in stints as a volunteer firefighter and certified emergency medical technician. He recent left the advisory board of the Doña Ana Community College EMS program.

“I’ve tried to contribute back to the community,” Goddard said. “That’s one of the nice things about being retired.”

Goddard spent three years as the county Republican Party chair. During his tenure, the party became more visible and active in the community, becoming a member of the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce and Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces, updating its Web site and moving to a new office on Wyatt Drive. The party also increased the numbers of Hispanics and young people who are registered Republicans.