{"id":15517,"date":"2010-04-08T22:48:16","date_gmt":"2010-04-09T04:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=15517"},"modified":"2010-04-09T13:20:16","modified_gmt":"2010-04-09T19:20:16","slug":"dem-party-won%e2%80%99t-share-voter-database-with-lujan-challenger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/04\/dem-party-won%e2%80%99t-share-voter-database-with-lujan-challenger\/","title":{"rendered":"Dem Party won\u2019t share voter database with Luj\u00e1n challenger"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Carl Trujillo<\/p><\/div>\n

The Democratic Party of New Mexico<\/a> is denying a request from House Speaker Ben Luj\u00e1n\u2019s<\/a> primary challenger to access the party\u2019s voter information database, but it claims that isn\u2019t tantamount to endorsing Luj\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

Carl Trujillo<\/a>, Luj\u00e1n\u2019s first primary challenger in 20 years, thinks otherwise.<\/p>\n

The state party allows access to its database for all Democratic incumbents who want to pay for it. It has also provided the database to at least some Democratic primary challengers in the past, state Democratic Party spokesman James Hallinan confirmed.<\/p>\n

But when Trujillo tried to buy access to the database last month, his request was denied.<\/p>\n

The database, called Vote Builder, is owned by the national Democratic Party. In addition to publicly accessible voter registration information, the database includes information such as voters\u2019 positions on issues and who they\u2019ve supported in past elections, when that information is available from past phone banking or other contact.<\/p>\n

Many campaigns consider it an important tool in developing and carrying out their strategy.<\/p>\n

In response to an e-mail about the situation, Hallinan pointed to a portion of the agreement between the state and national parties that says the New Mexico party \u201cshall not be obligated to provide such information to candidates in a Democratic primary in which there is a Democratic incumbent running for office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ben Luj\u00e1n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe Democratic Party of New Mexico is therefore not obligated to grant access to Mr. Trujillo,\u201d Hallinan wrote in an e-mail. \u201cVote Builder is an important tool provided to state parties to raise money and support incumbent Democrats.\u00a0The state party is given discretion on who it wants to sell this tool to and, as such, will sell it to incumbent Democrats who have a track record of supporting our party platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not an endorsement, but still an advantage<\/h3>\n

Refusing to sell the file to Trujillo isn\u2019t the same as endorsing Luj\u00e1n, the second most powerful official in state government behind the governor, Hallinan claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither the chairman or the Democratic Party will endorse a candidate in this race or any other Democratic primary,\u201d Hallinan wrote in an e-mail. \u201cWe wish all Democrats including Mr. Trujillo good luck during this campaign season and look forward to keeping New Mexico blue in November.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it may not be an official endorsement of Luj\u00e1n, I wrote back, isn\u2019t this at least a willingness to provide some advantage, however slight, to \u201cincumbent democrats who have a track record of supporting our party platform\u201d by giving them access to the database?<\/p>\n

\u201cCorrect, the party, nor the chairman, endorse any candidate in a\u00a0primary election,\u201d Hallinan responded. \u201cThe party provides tools to incumbent Democratic officials that they may use in their efforts for a successful re-election campaign. The vast majority of the information in Vote Builder is available from the Secretary of State\u2019s Office.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked Hallinan how the party decides which challengers can have access to Vote Builder and which can\u2019t. He hasn\u2019t answered that question.<\/p>\n

\u2018Please reconsider\u2019<\/h3>\n

Trujillo, in a letter<\/a> sent to Democratic Party Chairman Javier Gonzales protesting the decision to deny him access, cited the fact that the party has provided access to Vote Builder to Democratic primary challengers in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore precedent exists, and we are asking that the party comply with its previous past practices and allow us access to Vote Builder,\u201d Trujillo wrote. \u201cWe understand this is an important tool in running an effective campaign. Please reconsider your stance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Democratic Party of New Mexico is denying a request from House Speaker Ben Luj\u00e1n\u2019s primary challenger to access the party\u2019s voter information database, but it claims that isn\u2019t tantamount to endorsing Luj\u00e1n.<\/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-15517","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\/15517","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=15517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}