Rick Wellborn
A Las Cruces prosecutor at the center of controversy for forwarding an e-mail joke about killing a Mexican and an Arab has been removed from her position as campaign treasurer for a judicial candidate.
Lisa Kuykendall was treasurer for Republican Rick Wellborn’s campaign for a district judgeship in Doña Ana County, but Wellborn confirmed Thursday that he has replaced her with Ruben B. Barreras Jr.
“I stand for fairness and accountability,” Wellborn wrote in an e-mail. “Mrs. Kuykendall has been relieved of her responsibilities as my campaign treasurer.”
Asked to elaborate, he responded with this:
“When I say I stand for fairness, I mean that ALL people should be treated fairly – that email was definitely inappropriate. When I say I stand for accountability, I mean that there are consequences for poor decisions. In this instance, fairness and accountability meant replacing my campaign treasurer.”
Wellborn, like Kuykendall, is a prosecutor in the office of Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez, the GOP candidate for governor. He’s taking on District Judge Mannie Arrieta, a Democrat, in November.
Martinez reprimanded Kuykendall for forwarding the e-mail after being alerted about the situation earlier this week by The Associated Press. Martinez has been criticized by Democrats for not firing Kuykendall.
Earlier today, the AP reported in a new article that the employee of the Administrative Office of the District Attorneys who forwarded the e-mail to Kuykendall, Brandy Toward, has also been disciplined.
The e-mail starts with a Mexican man, an Arab man and a New Mexican girl in a bar drinking beer (nonalcoholic for the Arab because he’s a Muslim). Both men shoot their glasses with guns. The Mexican explains that glasses are cheap in Mexico and the Arab says there’s so much sand to make glass where he’s from that he, like the Mexican, never has to drink from the same glass twice.
Then the girl shoots the Mexican and Arab and says, “In New Mexico, we have so many illegal aliens we don’t have to drink with the same ones twice.” The e-mail ends with the line, “God bless New Mexico and that particular New Mexican girl.”