Torres running again, says health isn’t a concern

Despite lingering concerns about her health, Doña Ana County Clerk Rita Torres plans to run for re-election this year.

“I am going to run,” the democrat confirmed in a recent interview.

A number of politicos and other sources have expressed concerns about that to me, but none have been willing to speak for the record. Concerns include whether Torres is fit to serve another four-year term and whether her health will become the focus of a brutal campaign this year.

Torres said, when asked about health problems, that “there are none.” She also said no one has shared concerns about her health with her. But more than one credible source told me concerns have been shared with Torres, who is 76.

During our interview at Torres’ office, Chief Deputy Clerk Margaret Sanchez entered the room while I was telling Torres that others have expressed concerns.

“Have you heard that, or what?” Sanchez asked me.

“Oh yeah, I’m dying,” Torres said with a chuckle.

Jokes aside, concerns about Torres’ health have been widespread among politicos in Doña Ana County since at least 2006. Problems with the June primary that year prompted members of the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners to get involved by pressuring Torres to replace former elections Supervisor Mari Langford with current Supervisor Lynn Ellins. The commission also formed a task force to examine problems with county elections and recommend improvements. There was even talk among Democrats about asking Torres to step down, but that never happened.

At the time, the county’s Democratic Party chair, Melinda Whitley, said Torres’ health problems “may have adversely impacted her performance during her current term.” Ellins addressed concerns about Torres’ health by saying he hoped he could help her stay in office until she was ready to leave.

Both political parties have praised Ellins since then for running good elections.

Torres is at work most days, usually arriving between 8 and 9 a.m. She stays until mid-afternoon. But she misses many commission meetings. She has appeared to fall asleep at some that she has attended, and when speaking at the meetings she has often been difficult to understand – sometimes because her voice wasn’t audible and other times because her sentences didn’t make sense.

For years, she has referred most questions from commissioners, reporters and others to staffers in her office.

But not on the day of our recent interview. Torres said she has been working in the clerk’s office for more than 30 years and she believes she has more to give. She was clerk from 1992 to 2000, and was reappointed in 2004 when Ruben Ceballos resigned after being convicted of five felonies for mismanaging the 2002 primary election.

Torres showed me some campaign buttons she plans to hand out to potential supporters. She showed me another politician’s campaign business card, and said she is going to have similar cards made. And she praised her staff.

“I think Lynn is doing a great job,” she said of Ellins. “… I do have a staff – the best that I’ve ever had, really – where I can come and go.”

Many who have spoken with me say Torres is forgetful, and there were some signs of that during our interview. When speaking about her staff, she said she thought the office had 26 employees. Then she said she wasn’t sure. She asked Sanchez, who told her she was right. She also had problems remembering who former Chief Deputy Clerk Cecilia Madrid was and, when I reminded Torres, she told me she couldn’t remember when or why Madrid left her job.

And, as I expected after watching her at commission meetings, I had difficulty understanding Torres at times during the interview.

Torres only has one declared opponent at this point – Democrat Yolanda Lucero – but several others are considering running. Torres said she expects to have seven or eight opponents in the primary.

“If that’s the way it’s going to be, fine,” Torres said, “but I think I can do a better job.”