{"id":82190,"date":"2015-09-09T07:10:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-09T13:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=82190"},"modified":"2015-09-09T07:10:23","modified_gmt":"2015-09-09T13:10:23","slug":"speaker-appoints-lawmakers-to-investigate-charges-against-duran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/09\/speaker-appoints-lawmakers-to-investigate-charges-against-duran\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker appoints lawmakers to investigate charges against Duran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>House Speaker Don Tripp announced Wednesday the members of the committee that\u00a0will investigate charges against Secretary of State Dianna Duran and consider possible impeachment.<\/p>\n<p>The 10\u00a0state representatives appointed to\u00a0the committee are:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_55834\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-55834\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Duran-Dianna-336x232.jpg\" alt=\"Dianna Duran\" width=\"336\" height=\"232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Duran-Dianna-336x232.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Duran-Dianna.jpg 518w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dianna Duran<\/p><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Sarah Maestas Barnes, R-Albuquerque<\/li>\n<li>Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque<\/li>\n<li>Zach Cook, R-Ruidoso<\/li>\n<li>Jim Dines, R-Albuquerque<\/li>\n<li>Kelly Fajardo, R-Belen<\/li>\n<li>Javier Mart\u00ednez, D-Albuquerque<\/li>\n<li>Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque<\/li>\n<li>Patricio Ruiloba, D-Albuquerque<\/li>\n<li>Tom\u00e1s Salazar, D-Las Vegas<\/li>\n<li>Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Chasey and Cook will serve as co-chairs, according to a news release.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One of the heaviest burdens the House of Representatives carries is determining whether to overturn the results of an election,&#8221; Tripp said in the release. &#8220;As we begin to conduct an independent analysis of the evidence against Secretary of State Duran, it is critical that the special committee I have appointed approaches this difficult task with the solemnity it deserves.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My expectation is that these members will put partisan politics aside as they follow a process that is fair and unbiased,&#8221; Tripp said.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Duran faces charges including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/08\/nm-secretary-of-state-charged-with-fraud-embezzlement-money-laundering\/\" target=\"_blank\">fraud, embezzlement and money laundering<\/a> related to abusing the state&#8217;s campaign finance system. She allegedly used campaign funds to keep her personal bank account in the black while gambling\u00a0at New Mexico casinos.<\/p>\n<p>As was the case with\u00a0the House investigations of then-State Treasurer Robert Vigil in 2005 and Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr. in 2011, the committee\u00a0will investigate and make recommendations on whether the House should consider the impeachment of the secretary of state for alleged crimes, misdemeanors, or malfeasance in office. The committee will be charged with determining\u00a0whether the alleged incidents should\u00a0be the subject of an impeachment investigation and whether any of them are supported by evidence that warrants impeachment.<\/p>\n<p>Vigil and Block both resigned during investigations by House committees.<\/p>\n<p>Tripp made the\u00a0decision about who would\u00a0serve on this committee after discussing which Democrats would serve with\u00a0House Minority Leader Brian Egolf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House Speaker Don Tripp announced Wednesday the members of the committee that will investigate charges against Secretary of State Dianna Duran and consider possible impeachment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[142,1191,705,107],"class_list":["post-82190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-crime","tag-dianna-duran","tag-money-in-politics","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82190","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=82190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}