{"id":757,"date":"2006-10-23T16:49:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-23T22:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/10\/allegations-against-herrera-starting-to-stick\/"},"modified":"2006-10-23T16:49:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-23T22:49:00","slug":"allegations-against-herrera-starting-to-stick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/10\/allegations-against-herrera-starting-to-stick\/","title":{"rendered":"Allegations against Herrera starting to stick"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I had been ignoring the mud Vickie Perea was slinging at Mary Herrera in the secretary of state\u2019s race, but it\u2019s starting to stick. <\/p>\n

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

Perea, the Republican candidate, started attacking Democrat Herrera several weeks ago after Herrera, the Bernalillo<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> clerk, allegedly sent a campaign e-mail from her government e-mail address.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s true, that is an ethical lapse and a technical violation of state policy, but it was just one e-mail, so I let it go.<\/p>\n

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

Then Perea sent a records request for a wide range of documents that would show whether Herrera has used the office\u2019s resources for any other campaigning. The request is vast and the office is trying to run an election, so it\u2019s not entirely unreasonable that, 39 days later, Herrera hasn\u2019t yet been able to comply.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Still, the journalist in me says she should have provided the records by now.<\/p>\n

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

Perea has also attacked the fact that many employees of Herrera\u2019s office also work for her campaign. How could they be trusted to run a fair election when they have a stake in one of the races, Perea asked?<\/p>\n

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

That was a valid point, so I began paying more attention to this issue. If Herrera wants voters to trust her to run elections, she should have the sense to go out of her way to avoid the appearance of impropriety.<\/p>\n

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

Today, Perea made an allegation that could be damning. She claims to have in her hands a document that shows that Herrera had the government phone numbers of those in her office who also work for her campaign \u2013 including herself \u2013 blocked or altered for outgoing calls.<\/p>\n

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

According to Perea\u2019s campaign, they include Herrera\u2019s deputy clerk, who is also her campaign treasurer, and her second deputy clerk, who lives at and helps operate Herrera\u2019s campaign headquarters.<\/p>\n

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

Perea\u2019s campaign said in a news release that the document was leaked by \u201csomeone who expressed great concern for the procedure from within the Bernalillo County Clerk\u2019s office.\u201d <\/p>\n

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

Perea said at a news conference today in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> that there is no legal reason to shield such phone numbers. If it\u2019s really happening, she\u2019s right \u2013 there is reason to suspect that there\u2019s something shady going on. The public should have full access to government phone records.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIn a conversation I had just this week with another county clerk, neither the county clerk nor I could understand why the activities of a government agency would ever be shielded, blocked, or manipulated by a public official,\u201d Perea said. \u201cIt appears to me that things are happening on Mary Herrera\u2019s watch that should really concern taxpayers in Bernalillo<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype> and voters in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

I agree. It\u2019s time for Herrera to answer to all these allegations. I left a phone message for Herrera. If she talks with me about this, you\u2019ll know about it.<\/p>\n

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

She should not be using Bernalillo<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>\u2019s resources to help her get elected secretary of state.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

Click here<\/a> to read the e-mail exchange that, if the document is real, shows the clerk\u2019s office had phone numbers blocked and changed. Click here<\/a> to read the Perea campaign\u2019s take on it.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had been ignoring the mud Vickie Perea was slinging at Mary Herrera in the secretary of state\u2019s race, but it\u2019s starting to stick. Perea, the Republican candidate, started attacking Democrat Herrera several weeks ago after Herrera, the Bernalillo County clerk, allegedly sent a campaign e-mail from her government e-mail address. If it\u2019s true, that […]<\/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-757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757","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=757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}