Concern about clerk’s office arrests, but not a loss of trust

The Doña Ana County Clerk’s Office has built a reputation in recent years for competence and fairness, many from across the political spectrum say.

That’s been quite a shift. Before Democrat Lynn Ellins became elections director in 2006 and clerk in 2008, problems plagued the office. A counting error led New Mexico to initially wrongly declare George W. Bush the winner of the state’s five electoral votes in 2000. A former county clerk was convicted in 2003 on five felony violations of the state elections code.

Recent events raise new questions about the clerk’s office:

• A document technician in the office, Maria Ceniceros, is facing charges for allegedly coordinating a binational scam to cash fraudulently obtained federal tax refund checks. Ceniceros allegedly stole personal information from the county’s voter database including Social Security numbers. Three other clerk’s office employees are facing charges for allegedly notarizing documents needed to cash the checks. All four are on paid administrative leave.
• The county fired the whistleblower who reported the check-cashing scheme to police, R.J. Hernandez, days after the arrests. Hernandez alleges retaliation, which county officials deny. Ellins told NMPolitics.net the county was “gathering what we needed to have a termination conversation” before learning about the allegations Hernandez reported. Personnel laws prevent him from commenting further.
• Separately, former elections supervisor Lorrie Muñoz allegedly changed her own payroll records in 2013 to show a lower salary that allowed her to qualify for food stamps. Muñoz was charged with a felony count of falsifying records on June 5, a day after she resigned from the county’s top elections job.

Those situations don’t directly affect the integrity of elections, as some past scandals did. The alleged crimes involve the protection of voters’ personal information and internal controls in the clerk’s office and county government.

The clerk’s office is reviewing protocols to improve data security. Ellins said he’s not changing the way the office runs elections.

“There would be no reason for us to change what we’re doing because what we’re doing works,” he said.

‘I’m not calling for their heads’

Law enforcement officials have praised Ellins and Chief Deputy Clerk Scott Krahling for aiding their investigation. Meanwhile, Hernandez, the whistleblower, has called on the two to resign.

“I think the county clerk’s office has lost its integrity completely,” the Las Cruces Sun-News quoted Hernandez as saying. “They say they are not involved, and that’s true, but they are responsible” for the office.

Ellins is term-limited from running for re-election next year. Krahling, a Democrat, has announced his candidacy. Hernandez, a Republican, says he’s also running for clerk.

In phone interviews and discussions NMPolitics.net facilitated on Facebook, many said they are troubled by the alleged crimes. They’re watching how Ellins, Krahling and county management address the problems.

But several said they haven’t lost trust in Ellins and Krahling or the integrity of elections in Doña Ana County.

“I don’t think you will find anyone that is not concerned with a breach in the security of sensitive, confidential information,” Pattie Gipson, who has worked on voter protection for the county Democratic Party, wrote on Facebook. “That being said, I have no doubt that Lynn, Scott and the county will work to secure this information and restore people’s confidence in this office.”

As a former chair of the county GOP and a 2012 candidate for a state Senate seat, Russell Allen has interacted with the staff at the clerk’s office regularly. Allen says he has philosophical disagreements with Ellins and his team. He supports requiring voters to show photo identification cards.

But Allen noted that the protection of information contained in the county’s voter file is a separate issue and voter ID wouldn’t have prevented its theft. He spoke respectfully of Ellins and his staff.

“I’ve always been treated fair by those guys. They’ve always opened the door for me,” said Allen, who currently chairs the board of the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce. “I’m not calling for their heads. We’ll get that opportunity next year. I’m a believer in the election.”

‘How do we fix it?’

Ellins and Krahling have asked Allen and others to examine the office’s internal procedures related to the protection of information. That’s one of several steps the clerk’s office is taking to try to improve its practices going forward. Allen commended Ellins and Krahling for seeking input from the private sector.

Not all Republicans expressed the same respect for Ellins and Krahling. Bev Courtney of Las Cruces, who has been a poll watcher for 20 years, takes issue with Ellins’ issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2013, which led to the legalization of such marriages in New Mexico. Courtney says that reflects negatively on everything else Ellins has done. And like Allen, Courtney is at odds with Ellins on voter ID.

Still, Courtney said, “I’m not going to say that I feel like Lynn has not done this job professionally. I have not seen that.”

Allen said he believes “both Scott and Lynn are concerned about the integrity of elections and the integrity of people’s personal information.” While he’s waiting to see if law enforcement finds additional problems in the clerk’s office, “My first reaction, at this point in time, is there’s really not a lot of stuff they could have done to stop this.”

“The question is how do we fix it?” Allen asked.

Ellins said he has “strong reasons to believe that there are no more suspects.” He declined to elaborate.

Las Cruces Democrat Barbara Alvarez trusts Ellins and Krahling but is worried about others, she wrote on Facebook. She noted that Ceniceros allegedly convinced other employees to aid her crimes. In addition to jobs held by Ellins and Krahling, the clerk’s office has 24 full-time positions.

“Will they safeguard our personal information? Or will they use it to commit more criminal acts?” Alvarez asked. “… If someone is under financial stress, they may be more likely to consider joining someone who is committing crimes while on duty.”

Ellins said Ceniceros’ alleged theft of voters’ personal information is “every county clerk’s nightmare.”

“I’ve thought about this in the past — what if? — but I can’t sit in everybody’s cubicle eight hours a day,” Ellins said. He is renewing a push for New Mexico to join 46 other states that don’t require a full Social Security number to register to vote.

Allen said guaranteeing the safety of people’s private information is nearly impossible in the private sector and government. But he said perfection should be the goal nonetheless.

“It just scares the crap out of you when you don’t think you can trust your staff. And clearly Scott and Lynn are in that position right now, and the whole community, and my guess is the whole state is thinking that as well,” Allen said. “So this is a very serious situation. I hope we can tighten it up. That’s all we can do. We need to find some good methods and best practices and let’s tighten it up.”

Allen said he has mixed feelings about requiring Social Security numbers from people who register to vote. He said he is concerned about privacy, but Social Security numbers allow the cross-referencing of the voter file with other databases.

Krahling, a former Doña Ana County commissioner, said the clerk’s office can — and will — learn from this situation, with help from people like Allen.

“We’ve come a long way. … This office is not the same as it was when there were questions regarding the integrity of the election. You can trust the results that come out of this office,” Krahling said. “We are working really hard so you can trust your information with this office. That’s what we have to do now.”

‘We’re not playing political games’

Both Ellins and Krahling spoke about the importance of transparency. Ellins said he’s frustrated that personnel laws prevent him from revealing why he fired Hernandez, especially since Hernandez can make any claims he wants.

Others are similarly frustrated. Democrat Mark Benson wrote on Facebook that the appearance of firing a whistleblower is “terrible.” The Las Crucen said Hernandez “is riding high in public opinion with people on both sides of the political aisle.”

Jeffory Parsons of Las Cruces said he understands that the employees facing charges are innocent until proven guilty. But the self-identified independent, who is registered as a Democrat so he can vote in primaries, questioned firing the whistleblower while placing those accused of crimes on paid leave.

“Were they paying (Hernandez) until he found a new job I’d at least say the treatment was fair,” Parsons wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile Jeff Milligan-Lujan, a Las Cruces Democrat, wrote on Facebook that he has confidence in the clerk.

“The termination (of Hernandez) is a personnel matter and should be handled as such,” he wrote. “We should not be asked to form opinions based merely on what the paper publishes. Wait for all the facts.”

Ellins and Krahling said the timing of Hernandez’s firing is evidence that they’re working to do what’s right rather than what’s politically expedient. Ellins reiterated his assertion that he didn’t fire Hernandez for reporting crimes to law enforcement.

“I ain’t that dumb. There had to be other reasons, serious reasons. Because I could have stayed out of political hot water if I kept him,” Ellins said. “That’s not the way I operate. I did the right thing.”

“This office is transparent,” he added. “We’re not trying to shove stuff in the drawer.”

“And we’re not playing games,” Krahling said.