{"id":13306,"date":"2010-02-18T01:01:38","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T08:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=13306"},"modified":"2010-02-18T08:12:40","modified_gmt":"2010-02-18T15:12:40","slug":"domenici-jr-says-martinez-should-take-leave-from-da-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/02\/domenici-jr-says-martinez-should-take-leave-from-da-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Domenici Jr. says Martinez should take leave from DA job"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Pete Domenici Jr.<\/p><\/div>\n

Republican gubernatorial candidate compares Martinez\u2019s staying on job to Richardson\u2019s campaigning for president \u2018on the New Mexico taxpayers\u2019 dollars\u2019<\/h4>\n

Pete Domenici Jr.<\/a> on Wednesday said opponent Susana Martinez<\/a> isn\u2019t doing enough to set herself apart from the \u201ccorrupt\u201d Richardson\/Denish administration because she\u2019s campaigning for governor while continuing to draw a salary as Dona Ana County\u2019s district attorney.<\/p>\n

Domenici first criticized Martinez during a radio interview on 770 KKOB-AM<\/a> in Albuquerque, then highlighted it in a news release.<\/p>\n

In the release, he compared Martinez\u2019s actions to what Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> did in 2007 \u2013 running for president while also continuing in his job as the head of the state\u2019s executive branch. Domenici characterized what Richardson did as campaigning \u201con the New Mexico taxpayers\u2019 dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

By contrast, Domenici, an attorney, said he has \u201cdrastically cut back on his own law practice\u201d while he campaigns for governor. He said taking a leave of absence is \u201cthe appropriate way to avoid any appearance of or potential for impropriety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Martinez should take a leave of absence without taxpayers\u2019 compensation, repay Do\u00f1a Ana taxpayers for the compensation she has received while maintaining a full-time campaign for governor, or explain her decision to have the taxpayers pay her while she is running a full-time campaign for governor,\u201d Domenici said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans need to set the example rather than be part of the problems we are trying to clean up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Martinez spokesman Danny Diaz responded by calling it \u201cunfortunate\u201d that Domenici \u201chas chosen to launch a negative, personal and baseless attack.\u201d He said Martinez\u2019s record as a prosecutor \u201cis very well-established and not something a drive-by smear can change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others have kept their jobs while campaigning<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Susana Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n

Martinez said recently on the same radio program that she\u2019s often away from the office five or six days a week to campaign for governor.<\/p>\n

But she\u2019s not the first to do that.<\/p>\n

In fact, the Republican Party\u2019s current candidate for attorney general, Matt Chandler, is doing the same thing right now. He\u2019s also a district attorney \u2013 and staying on that job while he campaigns for AG. In addition, then-Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White<\/a>, a Republican, stayed on that job while he was running for Congress in 2008.<\/p>\n

And Domenici\u2019s own father \u2013 like most other full-time elected officials \u2013 ran for re-election several times while also keeping his full-time job as a U.S. senator.<\/p>\n

Diaz\u2019s statement pointed to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cDomenici\u2019s ill-advised actions only benefit Diane Denish<\/a>, as his misguided attack will now be aimed at previous and current Republican candidates by the Democrats,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cSusana Martinez will continue to run an issue-oriented campaign focusing on how best to bring real change to New Mexico after eight years of the failed Richardson\/Denish Administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

But can Democrats really direct such an attack at Republicans without pointing the finger back at themselves? Denish, the Democratic Party\u2019s gubernatorial candidate, is also keeping her job as the state\u2019s lieutenant governor while she runs for governor.<\/p>\n

And, as another example, Public Regulation Commission Chairman Sandy Jones<\/a>, a Democrat, is campaigning for state land commissioner while staying on the job at the PRC.<\/p>\n

Update, 8:10 a.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been pointed out to me that Republican Land Commissioner candidate Jim Jackson<\/a> has taken a leave of absence from his job at the land office to campaign for land commissioner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: Pete Domenici Jr. on Wednesday said opponent Susana Martinez isn\u2019t doing enough to set herself apart from the \u201ccorrupt\u201d Richardson\/Denish administration because she\u2019s campaigning for governor while continuing to draw a salary as Dona Ana County\u2019s district attorney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[108,107],"class_list":["post-13306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}