Some Republicans are hitting Dems hard over the charges against Vigil-Giron and others, but at least one potential GOP guv candidate says corruption isn’t a partisan issue
With the 2010 election cycle already in full swing, some Republicans are hitting Democrats hard over this week’s news that a former Democratic secretary of state and others were indicted in another massive corruption scandal.
“The pattern of corrupt behavior and inept management exhibited by prominent Democrat public servants, while becoming routine, has got to stop,” state GOP Chairman Harvey Yates said in a news release. “I congratulate the attorney general for joining the fight against corruption; it is not easy to take on one’s own party.”
The AG is Gary King, a Democrat.
Potential Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen Weh had equally strong words for the Democratic Party’s leaders.
“(Gov.) Bill Richardson and (Lt. Gov.) Diane Denish chose to turn their heads in the face of corruption,” Weh said in a statement released by his campaign. “When I’m governor, I will not turn my head; I will take on corruption head on. People can take that to the bank.”
Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, a Democrat, and others indicted by the attorney general — lobbyists Joseph Kupfer and Elizabeth Kupfer and contractor Armando Gutierrez — each face 50 counts including money laundering, fraud, soliciting or receiving kickbacks and tax evasion. They’re accused of bilking taxpayers out of millions of dollars between 2004 and 2006 by falsifying invoices to the secretary of state’s office.
The scandal involving the secretary of state’s office is the latest in a long line of corruption cases that been brought forth by prosecutors in the last four years. Many have involved the theft of millions of dollars in taxpayer money. Most have involved high-ranking Democrats, including the two previous state treasurers, the former Senate president, the former deputy insurance superintendent, a current and a former member of the Public Regulation Commission, and a former lawmaker who found himself in trouble while running a state affordable housing program.
While some of those cases are pending, others have led to felony convictions, steep fines and prison sentences.
Adding fuel to the fire
But how will the corruption scandals affect the 2010 election? Republicans were not able to capitalize on the scandal in the treasurer’s office during the 2006 election. They gained no ground in state government, which has been largely controlled by Democrats for decades.
And in 2008, the GOP actually lost ground in the state Legislature — and lost every seat it held in the state’s congressional delegation.
In an interview, Yates said corruption hasn’t been one of the top issues for voters in recent election cycles, but new polling done by Republicans suggests that is changing. The top three issues cited in a recent poll, listed in order of importance voters placed on them, were the economy, education and public corruption, he said.
Focusing on corruption has already been the GOP’s line of attack to this point in the 2010 election cycle. This week’s indictments only add fuel to that fire.
Susana Martinez, another GOP gubernatorial candidate and Doña Ana County’s district attorney, said the indictments are “a sad reminder that for too long public officials in New Mexico have used elected office to serve themselves as opposed to serving the public who entrusted them to lead our state.”
“As we move forward in examining the records of candidates seeking our state’s highest-elected office, it is critically important voters match rhetoric with action, and support someone who has a track record of identifying fraud and corruption and rooting it out,” she said in a news release.
Corruption is ‘not a partisan issue’
The state Democratic Party’s vice chair, Annadelle Sanchez, declined to talk about the potential political fallout from the corruption scandals, but released this statement:
“The people of New Mexico deserve a government that is open, honest and transparent. Good government is not a partisan issue, so instead of pointing fingers, Democrats and Republicans should work together to bring about the type of reform our system needs. I’m proud of Democrats like Diane Denish and (state Auditor) Hector Balderas that are leading that fight.”
Richardson has not released a statement about the indictments. Denish on Wednesday renewed calls for ethics reform, but her office said the Democrats’ likely 2010 gubernatorial nominee was not available for comment Thursday on the political aspect of the indictments.
Doug Turner, another likely Republican gubernatorial candidate, said he doesn’t see corruption “as a Republican or Democrat issue.”
“I think Republicans are certainly not without mud on them over the years, but the fact that you have these kinds of activities that are coming to light… ought to tell people that they really need to pay attention to the folks they put in office,” he said.
“No one wants a corrupt government except those people who are in government and are corrupt,” he said. “… I hope the beneficiaries (of corruption being brought to light) are all voters of the state, who really pay attention in the next cycle to the candidates who are running and vote for the individual that they think is best suited to lead a clean state government.”