{"id":20529,"date":"2010-08-16T12:14:31","date_gmt":"2010-08-16T18:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=20529"},"modified":"2010-08-17T08:02:12","modified_gmt":"2010-08-17T14:02:12","slug":"employee-alleges-%e2%80%98criminal-activity%e2%80%99-in-herrera%e2%80%99s-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/08\/employee-alleges-%e2%80%98criminal-activity%e2%80%99-in-herrera%e2%80%99s-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Employee alleges \u2018criminal activity\u2019 in Herrera\u2019s office"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Secretary of State Mary Herrera<\/p><\/div>\n

Secretary of State Mary Herrera<\/a> is under fire once again, this time from Office Administrator Manny Vildasol, who secretly recorded video in Herrera\u2019s office and says he has turned it over to the FBI because it shows \u201cissues of criminal activity and unethical behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vildasol made that comment to KOB-TV reporter Gadi Schwartz, who included the allegations in a report about Herrera\u2019s laptop computer being infected with viruses<\/a>. KOB had a difficult time getting \u201ca straight answer\u201d on what exactly was found on Herrera\u2019s computer, according to the report.<\/p>\n

But Vildasol provided secret video he recorded of IT staff trying to get rid of viruses on the computer, including a program that disguises itself as anti-virus software and then puts pornographic icons on the desktop.<\/p>\n

Vildasol was quoted by KOB as saying he took the video \u201cbecause he was tired of working in a place where anything that could be seen as negative was brushed under the rug.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a cover up. Again, not to provide (anything) controversial, make sure there is nothing controversial that would possibly make it to the media and impact her re-election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And then this about why he was recording:<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t give over those particulars because that information has been given over to the FBI and they are currently investigating, but there are issues of criminal activity and unethical behavior and it violates not only policy and procedure but also the law.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He didn\u2019t provide additional details.<\/p>\n

The FBI doesn\u2019t confirm or deny investigations. Herrera, asked by Schwartz about Vildasol\u2019s allegations, said they were politically motivated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what his intentions are. You need to ask him. I don\u2019t know why he\u2019s doing it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the full KOB report:<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

A growing chorus<\/h3>\n

Vildasol isn\u2019t the only employee to publicly criticize Herrera. When he quit in March, then-Elections Supervisor A.J. Salazar authored a scathing resignation letter<\/a> in which he wrote that Herrera runs \u201ca crooked organization.\u201d He said at the time that he turned his allegations over to the attorney general.<\/p>\n

A number of former employees have backed up some of the allegations<\/a> made by Salazar.<\/p>\n

Herrera, a Democrat, is facing Republican Dianna Duran<\/a> in November. Concerns about the way Herrera runs the office have prompted one prominent Democratic county clerk, Valerie Espinoza of Santa Fe, to support Duran<\/a>. And Do\u00f1a Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins, another Democrat, has expressed concern about whether Herrera can win re-election<\/a> because of the allegations against her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secretary of State Mary Herrera is under fire once again, this time from Office Administrator Manny Vildasol, who secretly recorded video in Herrera\u2019s office and says he has turned it over to the FBI because it shows \u201cissues of criminal activity and unethical behavior.\u201d<\/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":[108,142,107],"class_list":["post-20529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-crime","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20529","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=20529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}