I wrote last week that Doña Ana County Clerk candidate Lynn Ellins’ voluntary disclosure of a 2006 drunken driving arrest was an example others should follow.
Apparently, former county Treasurer David Gutierrez thought such a disclosure would also be a good idea.
Gutierrez revealed to the Las Cruces Sun-News, in an article published today, his August 2005 arrest for drunken driving. He told the newspaper he “had a few beers” with friends at his house before driving to the restaurant he owns in
He pleaded guilty and, like Ellins, had to pay a fine and have an ignition interlock device installed in his vehicle for a year. Gutierrez told the newspaper the DWI was his “first and last.”
And Gutierrez echoed Ellins’ statement about transparency, telling the newspaper that, like Ellins said, “you want to be transparent in your candidacy.”
Gutierrez, a Democrat who was treasurer from 1996 to 2004, is running for the office again this year. He’ll face Jill Johnson in the primary, and the winner will face Republican incumbent Jim Schoonover in November.
Gutierrez should be praised for disclosing this situation before it was revealed to the public by an opponent or the media. It takes humility to admit your mistakes, and even more to do it publicly.
As I said in the case of Ellins’ disclosure, that’s not an endorsement of Gutierrez. It’s simply a statement that he has done the right thing in this instance and deserves to be recognized for that.