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Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
RIO RANCHO — Jim Noel, the son-in-law of U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall, has sent a letter to Secretary of State Mary Herrera saying he will not take the job as the state’s election director.
Noel confirmed his decision Tuesday afternoon in a telephone interview with the Independent.
Noel’s appointment as the state’s elections director created a furor, especially among Republicans who said that this appointment would undermine the integrity of the elections process.
Noel explained his decision in his letter, writing:
I cannot in good conscience allow my appointment to distract from the real issues facing all of us this fall. There is too much at stake — energy health care, home ownership, jobs, the economy, just to name a few. These, Madam Secretary, are the issues that must be front and center when voters go to the polls this fall — not my appointment to your office.
Nor can I in good conscience allow certain individuals to use my appointment to cast any sort of doubt over the intregrity of the electoral process.
Noel’s decision to withdraw his name leaves the Secretary of State without a state elections director with about 60 days to go before the state’s biggest election in decades, if not its history.
"It’s kind of scary that we are 62 days away from the election and the process is starting again," state Sen. Dianna Duran, R-Tularosa, said of the process needed to hire a state elections director. Duran was a fierce critic of Secretary of State Mary Herrera’s decision to hire Udall’s son-in-law. "I think the Secretary of State will move quickly on this."
Duran said her criticism was never about Noel as a person, but how his appointment looked to regular voters who might question the integrity of the system as a result.
State Sen. Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, also applauded Noel’s decision to withdraw.
"It is important for the honor of our voters that our elections are run without any doubt whatsoever in the process," Ingle said. "The decision to step down was the right one, and a very necessary one for the integrity of our election. Close family members of any candidate running for office, Democrat, Republican or Independent should never be in charge of an election here in New Mexico."
James Flores, Herrera’s spokesman, said Tuesday that the next step for the office is "looking into hiring a temporary elections director" to take the office through this year’s election.
He said the office had not gotten to the state of who that will be.
Noel beat out one competitor for the job – Bob Perls, a former two-term Democratic state legislator and a member of the Obama for President finance committee in New Mexico.
The two men were the only ones interviewed for what is arguably the top elections staff member in an agency charged with overseeing the state’s biggest election in decades.
The dearth of people interviewed for the position throws into question how extensive an effort the agency made to fill a vitally important position in the months leading up to this year’s elections.
Other people made inquiries about the position, Herrera’s spokesman said last week, but only Noel and Perls were asked in for interviews.
