Allen Weh
Most Republican candidates for three statewide offices will attend a forum Tuesday evening in Elephant Butte, but gubernatorial hopefuls Allen Weh and Susana Martinez will be absent, event organizer Earl Greer said.
It will be the third gubernatorial candidate forum in Southern New Mexico that Weh has missed in recent weeks. He skipped a gubernatorial candidate forum in Las Cruces earlier this month that the other four candidates attended. Weh and Pete Domenici Jr. missed a GOP gubernatorial candidate forum in Alamogordo a week before that.
Weh campaign spokesman Christopher Sanchez said Weh, as of June 1, “will have participated in one dozen forums. Those he has missed were due to scheduling conflicts.”
Susana Martinez
Weh did attend an event in Las Cruces last weekend hosted by the Las Cruces TEA Party, and stated in a news release that he was “the only gubernatorial candidate to attend the forum.” But he didn’t mention in that release that he was the only gubernatorial candidate invited to the event. Each gubernatorial candidate is being invited to a different meeting of the group.
Martinez’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail asking why she won’t be at Tuesday’s forum in Elephant Butte.
Greer said all candidates for governor other than Martinez and Weh have confirmed attendance, as have all GOP candidates for lieutenant governor and land commissioner, and two of four Public Regulation Commission candidates.
The forum will be held at 6 p.m. at the Elephant Butte Community Center, 103 Rio Grand Street in Elephant Butte.
Update, 10:35 a.m.
Martinez’s campaign manager said she cannot attend the Elephant Butte forum “due to a scheduling conflict.”
A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that the forum was tonight instead of Tuesday.