I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
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.
Secretary of State Mary Herrera declined to respond to allegations made by three of her former staff members in an interview with The Independent on Friday, saying she hadn’t seen “the exact allegations.”
“I haven’t seen what they’re claiming. I would be interested to see it,” Herrera told me during a minutes-long phone interview. ”I know it’s not true.”
By now, the allegations made by Herrera’s former elections director A.J. Salazar, former office manager Manny Vildasol and former communications director James Flores are well known to those following the Secretary of State’s office and this year’s election race.
Salazar, Flores and Vildasol, who all have gone to the FBI to allege wrongdoing in her office, have alleged that employees were forced to solicit “sponsorships or donations” from businesses that contract with the state to possible kickbacks on contracts and having office employees campaign for Herrera on state time.
Meanwhile the Rio Grande Sun recently wrote a story based on 189 pages of documents, including Secretary of State office e-mail, obtained by the paper. The Sun noted in its Sept. 2 story that none of the “documents indicate a pay-to-play scheme or overt violations of federal election law, although they do call into question the integrity of the Office’s election-related investigations.”
Herrera referred to the Sun story at least twice during Friday’s interview, saying it backed up her contention that nothing untoward was happening in her office, which isn’t exactly what I took away from the Sun article.
Herrera’s references to the Sun story appear to undermine the statement that she doesn’t know what’s being alleged and indicate that she’s very aware of not only what the accusations are, but also what’s being written about them.
Herrera has repeatedly dismissed the allegations as politically motivated, a position she’s not detouring from, at least in her interview with me.
Herrera also declined to discuss why Vildasol and Flores were fired last week. Both men were terminated after being placed on paid administrative leave and are threatening to sue Herrera under the state’s whistle-blower act.
