{"id":453,"date":"2006-08-10T14:28:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-10T20:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/08\/in-congressional-race-ag-madrid-having-a-hard-time-defending-herself-against-attacks\/"},"modified":"2006-08-10T14:28:00","modified_gmt":"2006-08-10T20:28:00","slug":"in-congressional-race-ag-madrid-having-a-hard-time-defending-herself-against-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/08\/in-congressional-race-ag-madrid-having-a-hard-time-defending-herself-against-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"In congressional race, AG Madrid having a hard time defending herself against attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s been a rough week for Patricia Madrid. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> attorney general is working hard in her bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M. this year. It\u2019s one of the most hotly contested races in the nation, so it\u2019s inevitably a nasty contest. Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, a Democrat, has been plagued during the campaign by allegations that she failed to investigate the state treasurer\u2019s office and stop the corruption there several years ago.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Wilson<\/st1:city> unveiled the inevitable television commercial last week accusing Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> of doing nothing to stop the problems in the treasurer\u2019s office that eventually led to the federal indictments of the past two state treasurers and others.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

One issue has been whether a draft letter prepared by the Johnson administration in 2002 asking Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to investigate the treasurer\u2019s office was actually sent. Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> says her office never received the letter, and the finance department can\u2019t prove it was ever signed or mailed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But former Gov. Gary Johnson, in a letter released over the weekend by the Wilson campaign, said it was \u201can irrefutable fact that representatives from Patricia Madrid\u2019s office were involved in multiple meetings where clear questions about impropriety in the state Treasurer\u2019s Office were raised,\u201d according to the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>. Johnson says concerns were discussed at three meetings of the state Board of Finance at which he and a representative of the attorney general\u2019s office were present.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> struck back on Wednesday. In a statement released by the attorney general\u2019s office, she said she \u201ccooperated with the FBI in 2000 to allow the federal investigation into corruption in the New Mexico Treasurer\u2019s Office to move forward. \u2026 Later, the FBI asked my office to allow them to pursue the case alone. At that time, I had full confidence in the FBI\u2019s ability to handle the investigation and returned to my work keeping child sexual predators off the Internet and putting murderers on death row.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We should be asking why this statement wasn\u2019t released sooner, but we should be asking the same about Johnson\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> answered that question: \u201cWith a new Republican partisan coming forward every day trying to cast doubt on my history of being tough on crime and corruption, I knew it was time to speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But her defense didn\u2019t have the impact she intended.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Instead of focusing on Madrid<\/st1:state>\u2019s statement, the Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> focused on why the state office, instead of Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>\u2019s campaign, issued a politically defensive news release. State law prohibits state employees from engaging in \u201cpartisan political activity while on duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Paul Nixon, the employee who issued the news release, defended his actions by saying his office, rather than the campaign, \u201cknows all the facts (and) is also the subject matter of the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But this had to hurt most: Madrid<\/st1:state>\u2019s statement came out the same day State Auditor Domingo Martinez became the first Democrat to publicly criticize Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> for doing nothing about the treasurer\u2019s office. He said she should have done something following a 2000 audit that revealed problems.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI think she should have looked into it,\u201d Martinez<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> told the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Martinez<\/st1:city> cited a letter from a Republican state House leader to Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> in 2000, telling her that some findings in the audit \u201cwere disturbing to say the least,\u201d according to the Journal.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The newspaper also pointed out that the federal investigation that led to the indictments last year did not involve the attorney general\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Though some Democrats will spin it as such, it was not a political attack by Martinez<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>. He has expressed frustration throughout his time as auditor that prosecutors \u2013 both Democrat and Republican \u2013 did little to seriously investigate issues raised by his office\u2019s audits.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Madrid<\/st1:state> did, however, prosecute members of the Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> school board several years ago after an audit revealed multiple violations of the state\u2019s open meetings act. The school board gave almost $1 million in incentives to the superintendent in secret to try to convince him to stay in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But that won\u2019t likely be remembered during her campaign. That central-New Mexico<\/st1:country-region> congressional district does not include Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a rough week for Patricia Madrid. The New Mexico attorney general is working hard in her bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M. this year. It\u2019s one of the most hotly contested races in the nation, so it\u2019s inevitably a nasty contest. Madrid, a Democrat, has been plagued during the campaign by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453","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=453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}