Krahling’s ‘intimate relationship’ with employee hurt clerk’s office, investigation concludes

An “intimate relationship” between Doña Ana County Clerk Scott Krahling and an employee in his office had a “negative impact” on other clerk’s office employees, an internal county investigation has determined.

“It was the source of gossip and distraction from performing the work of the Clerk’s office and created the perception among some employees of favoritism and preferential treatment,” states a county report about the situation. That perception of favoritism extended both to Rose Ann Vasquez, the now-former employee with whom Krahling had the relationship, “and those who were believed to be friends of hers,” it states.

In addition, the relationship was “a clear violation” of human resources and ethics policies, the determination memo to County Manager Fernando Macias states. The memo is from Deborah Weir, the county’s human resources director.

Weir sent the memo on Aug. 29, the same day Krahling, a Democrat, submitted his resignation, which is effective Friday, Sept. 7. The document, which NMPolitics.net obtained through a records request, is the first indication to the public of the reason Krahling quit.

Last week, Krahling and other officials weren’t commenting on the reasons for his resignation, even after an NMPolitics.net investigation revealed that the county attorney’s office had been looking into a complaint involving Krahling and Vasquez for months. At the time, officials said a report on that investigation was being finalized.

Whether Weir’s memo is that report, or whether there’s yet another, larger report on the situation being finalized, isn’t clear. County officials wouldn’t comment.

A complaint filed by Cindy Padilla, an administrative assistant in the clerk’s office, sparked the human resources investigation. Padilla made a number of allegations that amounted to Krahling and Vasquez creating a hostile work environment.

Weir’s memo characterizes the relationship between Krahling and Vasquez as an open secret in the clerk’s office. The two spent a lot of time together behind closed doors, witnesses told investigators. They were seen in a vehicle together after business hours once and, on another occasion, “embracing and dancing in the hallway by themselves” during an event at Hotel Encanto in Las Cruces. And an employee saw Vasquez leaving Krahling’s hotel room early one morning during a work trip to Santa Fe.

Both admitted to the relationship when asked by investigators, saying it began during Krahling’s campaign for county clerk in 2016 — while both were already working in the clerk’s office — and ended just before Krahling promoted Vasquez to chief deputy clerk in early 2018.

Vasquez started working in the clerk’s office on Jan. 1, 2016 as a document technician. She was promoted to communications coordinator on Jan. 22, 2017 and became chief deputy clerk on Jan. 22 of this year.

The investigation into Krahling and Vasquez began around the same time. Padilla filed her complaint on Jan. 4 of this year. A contract investigator interviewed several county employees, including Krahling and Vasquez, between Feb. 13 and 15, an invoice states. The investigator submitted his report to the county attorney’s office for review on March 2. Vasquez resigned on March 13.

It’s not clear why it took so long after that for the investigation to be completed. But Weir’s memo states that an internal county investigator conducted additional interviews between Aug. 8 and 15 before the memo was finalized two weeks later.

Weir’s office deemed some of Padilla’s allegations unsubstantiated — for example, a claim that Vasquez was giving jobs in the office to friends. And overall, the report states, “the information contained in the investigation does not support the allegation of a hostile work environment as defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.”

Still, in some instances the investigation drew concerning conclusions about the impact of the relationship between Krahling and Vasquez on other employees.

For example, Krahling advocated for Vasquez to be paid a higher salary when she was promoted to communications coordinator, and he removed duties from the position when Vasquez left it to become chief deputy clerk, knowing that would lower the classification and salary, Weir’s memo states. Krahling’s action “supports the perception their personal relationship benefited Vasquez financially and in terms of advancement within the Clerk’s Office,” the memo states.

Vasquez started at $15.86 per hour as a document technician, county personnel records indicate. She made $19.50 per hour as communications coordinator and $34.40 per hour as chief deputy clerk.

And the investigation found that Krahling and Vasquez went on six work trips together between August 2016 and January 2018 — five of them with other employees. Two of those trips, including an election training, took place while Vasquez was a document technician. No other document technicians attended the trips. All others were leads or supervisors, the memo states.

“It is not apparent how the training related to Vasquez document technician duties and creates the appearance of preferential treatment and impropriety,” the memo states.

After the county released the report to NMPolitics.net, Krahling’s attorney, C.J. McElhinney of Las Cruces, said Krahling “submitted his resignation because it was the right and honorable thing to do.”

“He is committed to making things right with his family, friends, his supporters, and to the citizens of Doña Ana County,” McElhinney said. “The last thing Scott wants is for this situation to be a distraction to the selection of his replacement and to the upcoming election.”

McElhinney had no additional comments. Vasquez had no immediate comment.

Doña Ana County Commission Chairman Ben Rawson said the report “speaks for itself.” Krahling’s resignation means the commission doesn’t need to consider any potential action, such as a censure, he said.

“It’s clear why Scott chose to resign instead of forcing the commission to take action,” Rawson said.

The commission is scheduled to meet on Sept. 11 to consider appointing someone to serve out the remainder of Krahling’s term, which ends on Dec. 31, 2020. Fourteen people submitted applications by Wednesday’s deadline.

This article has been updated with McElhinney’s comments.