Noel withdraws acceptance of elections director job

Jim Noel, the son-in-law of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall, withdrew his acceptance of the position of state elections director today following a firestorm of criticism from the GOP.

“I cannot in good conscience allow my appointment to distract from the real issues facing all of us this fall,” Noel wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Mary Herrera informing her of his decision. “There is too much at stake — energy, health care, home ownership, jobs, the economy, just to name a few.”

Noel released the letter today. It was dated Sunday.

In addition to Noel being Udall’s son-in-law, Noel’s wife — Udall’s daughter — also manages Udall’s campaign.

Noel wrote in his letter that he cannot “in good conscience allow certain individuals to use my appointment to cast any sort of doubt over the integrity of the electoral process.” He said he has “devoted my adult life to accountability in government, and to fair and accurate elections.”

A news release from Herrera’s office states that an acting elections director will be appointed. Herrera said she is “extremely disappointed with Jim’s decision.”

“He was truly the most qualified candidate for the position. His extensive experience in election law and formal education would have been a valuable asset to the taxpayers of New Mexico,” she said. “… For everyone’s knowledge, my highly qualified leadership team also includes three Republicans and one independent. When I hire individuals, it is based on their credentials and not on partisan politics.”

Sharp criticism

Last week, the state GOP requested an extensive list of documents related to Noel’s hiring. That followed sharp criticism from GOP leaders including state Rep. Justine Fox-Young, R-Albuquerque, and Sen. Dianna Duran, R-Tularosa. Duran, a former Otero County clerk, pointed out that state law “forbids a family member of a person on the ballot to be a poll worker because of the appearance of impropriety. How in the world does it look to voters to allow the son of the candidate at the top of New Mexico’s ballot to oversee the entire election process?”

She called Noel’s hiring “the worst impropriety to date” in a state that “time and time again” faces questions of impropriety in its elections.

In his letter, Noel accused Fox-Young and Duran, who he has worked with on elections issues in the past, of placing “politics about substance and above results.”

“Their cries of conflict-of-interest have truly hit new heights in hypocrisy, and ring particularly hollow when one considers that as a two term county clerk for Otero County, Senator Duran did in fact count her own votes, as well as those of her opponent,” Noel wrote.

Noel also pointed out that clerks, not the state elections director, counts votes, and wrote that, “if a conflict of interest exists, that is where it resides.”

“As I had anticipated, Noel’s baseless partisan attacks prove that he has no business administering elections,” Fox-Young said in response.

Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, who penned a guest column on Noel’s hiring earlier today, said in a statement released by his office that Noel did the right thing.

“It is important for the honor of our voters that our elections are run without any doubt whatsoever in the process,” he said. “The decision to step down was the right one, and a very necessary one for the integrity of our election. Close family members of any candidate running for office — Democrat, Republican or independent — should never be in charge of an election here in New Mexico.”

Time for an independent commission?

Noel, who has advocated for a change so that state elections are overseen by an independent elections commission instead of the secretary of state, wrote in his letter that, until such a change takes place, “we will forever hear the bellowing of partisanship in functions that ought to be above that.”

“The citizens of New Mexico deserve more, and are entitled to nothing less than fair and accurate elections,” Noel wrote, adding that he is confident that, though he won’t be running the election, he has “every confidence that this fall’s general election will be smooth, accurate, and timely.”

Ingle, in his guest column, also suggested that it might be time “to put our state’s election process under the guidance and supervision of a nonpartisan commission instead of the elected office of secretary of state.”