One of the questions the GOP has raised in requesting documents related to the secretary of state’s decision to hire the son-in-law of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall to be the state’s elections director is whether the governor was involved in the choice.
Jim Noel is leaving a job in the administration of Gov. Bill Richardson as head of the New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission, and Noel’s wife, Amanda Cooper, who is currently running her father’s Senate campaign, has also worked for and is close to the governor.
“The secretary of state met with the governor’s chief of staff to discuss several issues, and during that conversation (Secretary of State) Mary Herrera asked James Jimenez his opinion of Jim Noel,” Gallegos said. “James worked with Jim in the past in his capacity as executive director of the Judicial Standards Commission.”
I asked a follow-up question via e-mail: So there was no pressure from the governor’s office to hire Noel? Gallegos didn’t respond.
One more point that is worth making on this subject: Rep. Dianna Duran, R-Tularosa and a former
Duran, like every other person in the state who has served as a county clerk, herself appeared on the ballot while she oversaw the election. How does it look to voters to have a candidate on the ballot overseeing the county’s election process?