Susana Martinez
An anonymously created video that accuses Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez’s family of being involved in a Texas irrigation district that’s been in legal battles with New Mexico over water is circulating widely in advance of a Sunday rally for Democrat Diane Denish in Taos.
The Martinez campaign says the claims in the video are “patently false.” And though a newspaper ad that promotes the video states that it was “approved by the committee to elect Diane Denish,” the Denish campaign says it did not authorize the promotion of the video in the ad and is not pushing the video in any way.
The video’s anonymous, male narrator claims that Martinez’s grandfather helped found the El Paso Irrigation District in Texas and states that Martinez and her father were stakeholders in the district. He then goes on to ask, because the El Paso district has been in lawsuits with New Mexico “for decades” over water, “Can we really trust a Texan to protect New Mexico’s water?”
No evidence has been presented publicly to back up the video’s allegations that Martinez and her family have been involved in the water district. The woman who paid for the newspaper ad promoting the video says she has no proof to back up its claims and doesn’t know whether they are true.
But the allegations are being talked about and may be causing some who might have supported Martinez to think twice. NMPolitics.net confirmed with a handful of sources throughout North-Central New Mexico that they were aware of the video. A couple said they believe it’s causing doubt among some who were leaning toward voting for Martinez.
The video comes in the context of recent polling that shows Martinez leading in the governor’s race and having significant support among Hispanics. Many Hispanic Democrats from around the state – and particularly in North-Central New Mexico – are openly supporting Martinez.
How the video spread
The video was put on YouTube by an anonymous user named “NMWaterGuardian.” It was sent by e-mail to Trudy Healy, a Denish supporter in Taos who, along with her husband Ed, is organizing Sunday’s rally for Denish.
In an interview, Trudy Healy said she supports Denish because the lieutenant governor helped get her appointed to the New Mexico Water Trust Board and she knows, through interactions with Denish, that Denish will protect New Mexico’s water. Healy’s ad in last week’s print edition of the Taos News states that Sunday’s rally is a “statewide movement” of “people who love the land and the water” and support Denish.
Healy comes from a land grant family, and she and her husband have donated to a number of water programs around the state.
Healy said she knew about the massive donations Martinez has received from a Texas developer, and she wondered what the developer wanted in return. And Healy was having difficulty getting people to sign up to be co-hosts of Sunday’s event.
She said she was wondering “how to get the Spanish away from the name Martinez” and “convince my people in the north” that Martinez “is not one of them.”
Then Healy saw the YouTube video and was struck by its claim about Martinez’s grandfather. Her own familial ties to the land and water made her believe that, if it’s true that Martinez’s grandfather helped found the Texas water district, Martinez is “going to do everything she can to uphold that stake.”
Healy shared the video with another Denish supporter who has family members in Taos supporting Martinez. Soon thereafter, she said, she started getting lots of calls from people wanting to co-host the Denish event. Then Healy put a link to the video in the newspaper ad promoting the event – the ad the Healys paid for that said it was authorized by the Denish campaign.
Since that ad ran, the list of co-hosts of the event has grown from about 600 to almost 1,000, and they’re from all over the state.
The anonymous video was even promoted on the popular left-leaning blog Democracy for New Mexico.
‘A disgusting and malicious falsehood’
Martinez Campaign Manager Ryan Cangiolosi said the claims made in the video are false.
“As we draw closer to Election Day, no one doubts desperation will set in, but it is appalling that Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish’s campaign stooped so low by approving a newspaper ad that promotes a video containing patently false claims about Susana’s deceased grandfather and her elderly father, who cannot defend himself,” Cangiolosi said.
“We call on Diane Denish to repudiate the extremist video, admit that the statements are false, and immediately apologize to the Martinez family for authorizing the circulation of such a disgusting and malicious falsehood,” he said.
Denish campaign spokesman Chris Cervini was quick to distance the campaign from the video when asked to back up its claims.
“We did not see or authorize the ad before it appeared,” he said. “It was something that was put out by a strong Denish supporter who was acting on her own. Our campaign had no role in the production of the video and has not been actively circulating it.”
“We are not promoting the video at all,” Cervini said.
Healy confirmed she had her son, who designed the ad, include a statement about it being authorized by the Denish campaign without getting the campaign’s permission to link to the video. She and her husband paid for the newspaper ad.
Healy can’t back up claims in video
Healy said she doesn’t know whether the claims in the video are true and has no evidence to back it up, even though she made the decision to promote the video in a newspaper ad.
Healy said she has a suspicion about who might have created the video, but she hasn’t confirmed it and doesn’t want to name the man unless she is certain she’s right.
Martinez was born and raised in El Paso. She went to law school in Oklahoma before moving to Las Cruces in 1986, and she has lived in Las Cruces ever since. Martinez said in a statement provided to NMPolitics.net that her parents grew up in El Paso. She said that, “as far as I know,” her father’s parents grew up in El Paso, and said her mother’s parents also grew up in Texas.
But that doesn’t prove they were involved in the water district. Martinez’s campaign said it’s simple: They were not involved.
Healy said her bottom line is that Martinez hasn’t been talking about water issues. She said she and others are concerned about the donations from Texas and the allegations in the video, and they want to hear directly from Martinez about the video and water policy issues. She said people from all over the state have called her to say they’re supporting Denish after seeing the video on the Internet.
“This is our way to bring (Martinez) out,” Healy said. “We want her to say that she is not going to give one more acre foot to Texas. We want her to go on record.”
But Healy conceded that, even if Martinez says that, “we are not going to believe her.”
“A vote for Susana is an acre foot for Texas, and that’s how I feel,” Healy said.