Scott Krahling has suspended his campaign and says he doesn’t know whether he’s still a candidate for Doña Ana County clerk.
Courtesy photo
Doña Ana County Chief Deputy Clerk Scott Krahling
Krahling, a Democrat who is currently the chief deputy clerk, announced in March his plans to seek the office next year. His boss, Democrat Lynn Ellins, is term-limited from seeking re-election.
Krahling’s focus shifted about two weeks ago when five employees of the clerk’s office were charged with various crimes:
- A former 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 former clerk’s office employees are facing charges for allegedly notarizing documents needed to cash the checks. The four no longer work for the county.
- 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.
Krahling told NMPolitics.net he’s suspending his campaign and focusing on working to restore trust in the clerk’s office. Among his current duties is coordinating work of a task force that will examine the office’s internal procedures related to the protection of information.
“I miss political events because I just can’t find myself thinking about that right now when there’s so much that needs to be done here to regain public trust,” Krahling said. “If I decide after the dust settles on all of this that I’m still the best candidate, then there may be more to say at that time.”
There’s one other declared candidate — the man who blew the whistle on the alleged crimes in the clerk’s office, Republican R.J. Hernandez.
The alleged crimes and Ellins’ firing of Hernandez days after the arrests have people concerned about what’s happening in the clerk’s office. Hernandez alleges he was fired in retaliation for going to law enforcement. Ellins denies that. Personnel laws prevent him from explaining why he fired Hernandez.
If Krahling runs for clerk next year, county policy requires him to take off the two weeks before the primary and general elections.
“I think that’s a good practice so that the public doesn’t have the perception that there’s something fishy going on,” Krahling said.
Ellins hired Krahling, a former county commissioner, to be the office’s elections supervisor in 2013. Krahling became chief deputy clerk last year when Mario Jimenez left that job.
This article has been updated to clarify that those facing charges are no longer employed by the county.