{"id":37718,"date":"2012-03-07T07:07:08","date_gmt":"2012-03-07T14:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=37718"},"modified":"2012-03-08T06:52:40","modified_gmt":"2012-03-08T13:52:40","slug":"salinas-win-further-complicates-sunland-park-mess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/03\/salinas-win-further-complicates-sunland-park-mess\/","title":{"rendered":"Salinas\u2019 win further complicates Sunland Park mess"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sunland<\/a>

Sunland Park Mayor-elect Daniel Salinas<\/p><\/div>\n

Gerardo Hernandez plans to challenge Tuesday\u2019s results. The DA plans to oppose changes to Daniel Salinas\u2019 conditions of release that would allow him to do his job. Multiple investigations continue.<\/h4>\n

The election of a mayor in Sunland Park who faces extortion charges complicates an already messy situation in which seven city officials have been charged and at least four fraudulent votes by Texans have been disqualified.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, multiple investigations into alleged electoral fraud, other election-related crimes, and financial problems are ongoing.<\/p>\n

Daniel Salinas, who faces felony extortion charges<\/a> alleging he used a lap-dance video to try to force Gerardo Hernandez from the race, beat Hernandez by 84 votes<\/a> on Tuesday. Hernandez says he will challenge the election results based at least in part on a claim that the election was tainted by voter fraud.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew this was going to be a tough race, combating\u00a0voter fraud\u00a0and extortion. It\u2019s hard to believe that someone who has attempted to sway the vote by intimidation and supported by illegal voter fraud is elected,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cWhere the secretary of state and the district attorney were involved I was ahead 3 to 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if Salinas survives that challenge, whether he\u2019ll be able to do the job is up in the air.<\/p>\n

Conditions of Salinas\u2019 release<\/a> from jail require him to stay away from city hall and all city employees. If he can\u2019t step foot in the city\u2019s administrative building, how can he do the job? Will a district or magistrate judge from Las Cruces have to administer the oath of office on Friday?<\/p>\n

And with the city manager still jailed in the extortion case, who will be in charge as long as Salinas can\u2019t go near city hall?<\/p>\n

Salinas told two TV reporters he\u2019s not concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy attorney will have to change some of the bond restrictions that I have right now. We\u2019re thinking that in a couple of weeks we will be able to change them and I\u2019ll be able to attend city hall,\u201d KFOX-TV in El Paso quoted Salinas as saying<\/a>. He also told KFOX and KVIA-TV<\/a> that he\u2019s willing to work from home if necessary.<\/p>\n

But as KVIA pointed out, District Attorney Amy Orlando<\/a> will fight changes to Salinas\u2019 conditions of release. Ultimately, it will be up to a judge to decide.<\/p>\n

How widespread was alleged electoral fraud?<\/h3>\n

Orlando has alleged that people \u201cassociated with the electoral process in Sunland Park,\u201d Salinas\u2019 campaign, and Sunland Park city government \u201cattempted to illegally influence the vote and the campaign results for the Mar. 6 election.\u201d How widespread the problems were isn\u2019t clear. A judge approved the disqualification of at least four absentee ballots on Tuesday because they were cast by residents of El Paso, Texas.<\/p>\n

Orlando said 15-20 early in-person votes were also cast by El Pasoans, but those votes can\u2019t be separated out and disqualified.<\/p>\n

Were there more? Investigators have their eyes on the fact that Hernandez easily won the vote on Election Day \u2013 with state police and county and state elections officials watching \u2013 but Salinas won early and absentee voting by large enough margins to overcome his Election Day disadvantage.<\/p>\n

In addition to looking at absentee ballot outer envelopes to try to find more votes cast by people who don\u2019t live in Sunland Park, investigators are also considering this fact: According to the secretary of state\u2019s report<\/a>, When the first batch of 500 absentee ballots for the municipal election arrived at city hall, Salinas or City Manager Jaime Aguilera, who is also charged in the lap-dance video case, took them.<\/p>\n

The first day of absentee voting, before the other mayoral candidates had access to the ballots, about 300 were cast. By comparison, about 15 were cast in the larger city of Farmington on that day.<\/p>\n

As unofficial election results<\/a> show, Salinas had 261 absentee votes to Hernandez\u2019s 51.<\/p>\n

The police investigation is actively continuing. An hour before the polls closed on Tuesday, state police arrested another city employee<\/a> and charged her with false voting. They\u2019ve also been negotiating the surrender of a former city councilor who faces the same charges.<\/p>\n

Seven city officials, including Salinas, have been charged thus far with crimes related to attempting to helping Salinas get elected. Salinas has not been charged with electoral fraud.<\/p>\n

Orlando has offered amnesty to people who voted illegally after being pressured as long as they didn\u2019t know it was wrong and cooperate with investigators. She said Tuesday a number of individuals have come forward.<\/p>\n

Will \u2018administrative instability\u2019 lead to state takeover?<\/h3>\n

The secretary of state and state auditor also continue looking into the situation in the city of 14,000 people. State Auditor Hector Balderas\u2019<\/a> investigation is important because the state has the power to temporarily suspend city officials and take over operations, if he recommends it.<\/p>\n

Balderas has raised that possibility. After Salinas\u2019 victory Tuesday, the auditor said he\u2019s still troubled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remain concerned by the financial condition of Sunland Park. The administrative instability continues to place taxpayer dollars at significant risk, and my auditors are working aggressively to produce a timely recommendation to the governor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Can Salinas beat criminal charges?<\/h3>\n

Even if he survives the election challenge and the state doesn\u2019t step in to take over the city, Salinas has to deal with the pending extortion case. He\u2019s charged with four felonies. A conviction on any of them would result in his immediate removal from office.<\/p>\n

Salinas plans to fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could very easily take months, could take years for this to come to an end,\u201d KVIA quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Salinas, who called the case against him \u201cpersecution,\u201d said he\u2019s happy and excited by his victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thank God and my people from the campaign that helped me get here,\u201d he told KVIA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The election of a mayor in Sunland Park who faces extortion charges complicates an already messy situation in which seven city officials have been charged and at least four fraudulent votes by Texans have been disqualified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,114,167,225],"class_list":["post-37718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-public-corruption","tag-sunland-park","tag-voter-fraud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37718","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=37718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}