Attorney Rudy Martin said his client, A.J. Salazar, spoke to the FBI last week after turning over telephone numbers and potential witnesses to state Attorney General (AG) investigators five months ago, about the time he quit as Herrera’s state elections director and alleged wrongdoing in a resignation letter.

“The two (AG) investigators did their job,” Martin told The Independent. “Gary tried to play politics and swept everything under the rug” to help Herrera and other Democrats in an election year, Martin said. That lack of action ultimately led two of his other clients — Herrera’s office manager, Manny Vildasol, and her public information officer, James Flores – to also go to the FBI with allegations of wrongdoing, Martin added.

Vildasol and Flores are both on paid administrative leave and under investigation by the state, agency officials said Thursday.

“All three thought they had to meet with FBI because Gary King is playing politics,” Martin said of Salazar, Vildasol and Flores. King “has a responsibility to the state of New Mexico, and not necessarily to the Democratic Party. I am a Democrat myself.”

A spokesman for King disputed Martin’s charges and called them election-year mud-slinging .

“What Mr. Martin is saying is strictly a product of his own imagination,” Phil Sisneros said. “We have it on good authority that Mr. Martin and his client, Mr. Salazar, … are working for opponents of the secretary (Herrera) and Attorney General King. I suspect this is their way of stirring up trouble.”

Martin responded, “If by working for them they mean reporting criminal activity and reporting on an AG who is sitting on his butt, then I guess we are. … doing what is right and speaking out against what is wrong, when was that ever wrong in American society?”

Martin went on to deny that he and Salazar are working to elect Republicans Dianna Duran and Matt Chandler, Herrera’s and King’s GOP opponents, respectively.

“I’ve never met Mr. Chandler. I know his people have contacted my office,” Martin said.. “But I can’t go out campaigning. I am staying neutral on this one.” But, he said, “I am not supporting Mary Herrera with her character at all.”

Allegations are latest blow to Herrera in an ongoing saga

Thursday’s exchange between Martin and the Attorney General’s office represented the latest in a highly unusual turn-of-events revolving around the re-election effort of first-term New Mexico’s Secretary of State.

The agency has been in turmoil for months, but only as the November election nears have the steady drumbeat of allegations by current and former top aides at the agency started to test Herrera’s mettle as a political candidate.

Salazar, Vildasol and Flores all have alleged wrongdoing at the agency, ranging from forcing employees 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, Martin said.

Herrera on Thursday said the allegations were “blatantly false and ridiculous” and politically motivated, the Associated Press reported.

The news service went on to report that Herrera refused further comment after reading a brief statement and walked away Thursday as reporters asked questions at a news conference.

Current and former top aides report wrongdoing

Salazar quit as elections director under Herrera months ago, creating a a brief maelstrom of negative press for Herrera when he alleged wrongdoing in the agency in a lengthy resignation letter.

Vildasol and Flores, meanwhile, are currently on paid administrative leave while the state investigates them, Deputy Secretary of State Francisco Trujillo II said Thursday.

“There are two separate investigations respective to each employee,” Trujillo said. Asked the subject of the inquiries, Trujillo responded, “It’s a personnel issue.”

Martin claimed that the investigations are retaliation against Vildasol and Flores for going to Herrera with concerns about the alleged wrongdoing.

“These are top officials who advised Mary Herrera about the conduct they saw as unlawful and instead of doing something about it she decided to strip them of their duties,” Martin said of Vildasol and Flores. “She has decided to put greed and unethical conduct before her duties.”

While the allegations create bad press for the incumbent, it is difficult to gauge the impact, if any, of the accusations and the office turmoil on Herrera’s re-election chances. A few high-profile Democrats like Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza, have come out in support of Herrera’s GOP opponent, Duran.

That hasn’t shaken Herrera’s confidence, Trujillo said.

The secretary “is confident in her re-election campaign,” Trujillo said. “She is very proud of her record. She’s had three very efficient elections. And she has had many cost saving ideas that have taken effect and have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money.”

Duran, Herrera’s Republican opponent, said she has little time to pay attention to Herrera’s troubles while traveling the state to promote her own candidacy. But, she said, her supporters keep her up to date.

“I am aware of the things that are happening, at least most of them,” Duran said.

“My campaign will continue to focus on what the people of New Mexico want and what I can provide – integrity and honesty,” Duran said. “We need more transparency. We need a Secretary of State who is accountable to the people, someone who answers questions.”

Then Duran added, “I’m concerned like everyone else and not happy on what we are hearing.”

Sandia Labs has announced cuts to future retirees’ benefits, the Albuquerque Journal writes.

Two top officials at the Socorro Electric Cooperative were placed on administrative leave without pay last week while the cooperative conducts an investigation into “financial irregularities,” reports the El Defensor Chieftain.

The widower of a former business manager at Jemez Mountain School District pleaded not guilty to four counts of felony tax evasion and one felony count of receiving public funds for services, reports the Rio Grande Sun. Jerry Archuleta of Abiquiú, is the widower of Kathy Borrego  who pleaded guilty to embezzling just under $4 million from the school district. She committed suicide May 8, two days before she was scheduled to be sentenced, the paper reports.

The Green Party logo.

Green Party activists are suing Secretary of State Mary Herrera to win spots on this November’s election ballot after a would-be candidate was turned away from registering for a congressional race last month.

According to a complaint to be filed in the state’s 2nd Judicial District Court, the activists and the Green Party itself are suing after the state agency turned away the would-be candidate, Alan Woodruff, June 22, 2010, saying the Green Party is not a qualified party in New Mexico and doesn’t have a spot on the election ballot.

Woodruff told the Independent on Friday that the state never informed the Green Party that it had lost its status as a minor party after the 2008 elections, and thus had not satisfied the statutory threshold for disqualifying the party.

“She never informed us,” Woodruff said.

Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo II responded Friday, saying that he turned away Woodruff last month because the Green Party had not met the requirements to register as a minor party in New Mexico.

“The only party that submitted the proper paperwork according to statute, and that was verified by the Secretary of State and qualified to be a minor party (in 2010), is the Libertarian Party of New Mexico,” Trujillo said.

Candidates for the Green Party failed to win enough votes in 2008 election races to automatically keep the party on the ballot for 2010 and had not submitted signatures this spring to petition to win a spot on the ballot, Trujillo said.

“The Libertarian Party was the only party that did that,” Trujillo said.

Woodruff described as flawed the process by which the state requires a minor party to collect signatures to petition for a spot on the ballot.

Woodruff is part of an ongoing 2009 lawsuit in federal court that charges that the state unfairly restricts ballot access for minor parties like the Green Party.

Woodruff is seeking to run as a Green Party candidate for the District 1 U.S. Representative seat, currently held by Democrat Martin Heinrich.

But that could change if the system needs additional work. Under a state pricing agreement with Albuquerque-based RealTimeSites, the amount paid by the state covers all maintenance, service and web hosting for the first year of operation, State Elections Director Don Francisco Trujillo told The Independent.

But that price tag could jump dramatically if changes are needed.

“In the event we should need to enhance the system between now and the end of the first year, there would need to be a new contract to pay for those enhancements and maintenance and support,” Trujillo said.

It’s an issue that sounds innocuous but which has had many county clerks fighting mad since 2007. The resolution is found in this paragraph of HB 198: “The secretary of state may pay from the voting system revolving fund the costs of all hardware, software, firmware, maintenance and support for voting systems, whether state- or county-owned, certified for use in state elections.”

The key phrase is “whether state – or county-owned” and is on page five of the 23-page bill, which passed during this year’s 30-day legislative session.

Deciding who pays for upkeep has been a long time coming.

The Secretary of State and counties across New Mexico have jousted over ownership because of the potential cost of maintaining the 1,900 voting tabulators and other pieces of equipment a Nebraska-based company sold to New Mexico in 2006.

After selling the equipment for roughly $18 million in 2006, the company, ES&S, turned around in 2007 and charged counties more than $1 million to maintain the machines. The state and counties have negotiated with ES&S ever since while at the same time bickering among themselves about who owned the machines – each county or the state.

Ownership meant footing the bill for maintenance costs. And many counties refused to sign an agreement with the company that they said was way too expensive.

The money involved wasn’t chump change. At one point Bernalillo County, the state’s largest county, would have had to pay $287,000 a year for maintenance. The bill for Doña Ana County — home to Las Cruces, the state’s second largest county — would have cost $79,000 a year, slightly higher than Santa Fe County’s price of $69,000.

The closest the state came to resolving the issue was in 2008, when the governor, vetoed a bill that set aside roughly $1.3 million a year in costs to maintain the machines. Richardson said in his veto message at the time that the requirement for the state to assume maintenance costs was left unfunded by the Legislature.

Later, a spokesman for the governor said Secretary of State Mary Herrera had recommended the veto.

This year’s maintenance costs are covered, mostly by the federal Elections Assistance Commission, which is giving the state more than $600,000 in grant money to pay for upkeep. But in the future the state – and not the counties – will figure out how, and where to get the money, to pay for maintenance.

In a letter sent to legislators Herrera says as of now the state is $467,800 short for the primary and $784,450 short for the general election.

“I’m screaming,” said Herrera, “because they need to know to fund New Mexico elections.”

The Secretary of State’s office faced similar situation in 2008, so they went to the state board of finance for a loan. That loan is still outstanding at the board. The outstanding balance isn’t an obstacle when approaching the finance board again, Herrera told state lawmakers. But it’s that the board has only $1.5 million to cover disasters around the state and Herrera’s office would need the $1.2 million of that to put on the elections.

“We’ve made cuts where we can,” said Herrera, pointing out the dollars she is asking for are just enough to cover the elections after her office has already made cuts.

Herrera says the board of Finance has asked her office to go to the legislature before returning to them for a 2010 loan. So far, lawmakers have yet to respond. When asked what would happen if the state doesn’t come through with the needed money, Herrera says simply “I don’t know, I just don’t know.”

Of course that’s nothing new. Dan Boyd of the Journal notes that the study, conducted in June, found many of the same inadequacies as a report completed by the Legislative Finance Committee earlier this summer.

Here’s an excerpt of the story:

The LFC evaluation, presented to an interim legislative committee in July, found that the Secretary of State’s Office has outdated software and a dearth of technical capability among its information technology staff and lacks a disaster recovery plan for its most heavily used systems.

The security assessment Boyd writes about was conducted in June. It’s unclear if it’s the same security assessment that was recommended by an internal state technology commission run by the state’s Information Systems chief Marlin Mackey.

The recommendation came this spring as the commission was reviewing the secretary of state’s efforts to create a new campaign finance reporting system.

“As part of that review, we asked when was the last time you have had an external security assessment,” Mackey told the Independent last month. “It was more than a couple of years. We advised them it would be a good idea. If there were any holes… they could close those off before they go live.”

Boyd writes that the security assessment was ordered after the office’s Web site was shut down in June to conduct repairs.

The secretary of state’s Web site and computer systems went offline for several days in June because of still-undisclosed problems, creating problems for the public.

Prior to those problems, the Secretary of State’s Office placed the employee who was working on the new campaign finance reporting system on paid administrative leave. Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo II said in July that the employee, Brad Allen, was being investigated.

Allen has said he has done nothing wrong.

In addition to finding outdated software and a dearth of technical capability among its information technology staff, the June security assessment “found substandard network security and a great risk of “single-point” failure across the system, which includes political campaign reports, lobbyist donations and sensitive financial records,” Boyd writes.

The agency had used an in-house developer to construct a new campaign finance reporting system over the past year, but he was placed on administrative leave in June. That has left the system incomplete.

Agency officials have said it was unclear how much more work is required to complete the in-house campaign finance reporting system. And indications are the agency may opt to go another route.

The latest discussions by the agency, and other state officials, have included the Secretary of State’s Office purchasing source code for a campaign finance reporting program from the state of Washington. Even if that purchase occurs, however, the program will must be customized to New Mexico, which will take money and time, Herrera’s deputy, Don Francisco Trujillo II, told state lawmakers recently.

“We really didn’t want anyone to misread what was printed,” SOS spokesman James Flores said Wednesday. “We want to make sure that people are aware that we are still working” on a new campaign finance reporting system.

Flores didn’t know details of how the agency was working on a new campaign finance reporting system — if the agency were purchasing source code from Washington or choosing to finish the system in-house.

Herrera, meanwhile, has asked state lawmakers for more money for a new campaign finance reporting system, saying that what lawmakers have appropriated is not enough to build a first-rate one.

In a letter sent July 27 to a prominent state lawmaker, Herrera says the $176,500 the Legislature has appropriated to her office in the past for a new campaign finance reporting system is simply not enough.

“We … wish to inform you that $176,500 is not an adequate amount of money for such an enormous task for our agency which indeed affects all candidates for state office, the citizens of the state and the media,” Herrera wrote state Rep. Henry “Kiki” Saavedra, D-Albuquerque, the chairman of the House Administration & Finance Committee.

“By comparison, in 2008 the Wyoming State Legislature in House Bill 3 appropriated $2.5 million for the development of their new Campaign Finance reporting system. Wyoming’s 2000 population was approximately 493,782, while New Mexico’s population was over 1.8 million.”

“With this information we are providing, we certainly appreciate your consideration and any effort that you would be able to make on our behalf in considering these numbers and the task which we (are) currently facing with extremely limited funding.”

Herrera’s request for money comes as her office has struggled in recent months to build its own campaign finance reporting system with an in-house developer. That project appears to be on hold after Herrera placed the developer on administrative leave in late June.

Agency officials have said it is unclear how much more work is required to complete the in-house campaign finance reporting system. And indications are the agency may opt to go another route.

The latest discussions by the agency, and other state officials, have included the Secretary of State’s Office purchasing a campaign finance reporting program from the state of Washington. Even if that purchase occurs, however, the program will must be customized to New Mexico, which will take money and time, Herrera’s deputy, Don Francisco Trujillo II, told state lawmakers recently.

Herrera has spent only a small portion off the $176,500 the Legislature appropriated to build the in-house campaign finance reporting system. Instead she tapped her office’s operating budget, her deputy, Trujillo told lawmakers.

In a short interview with the Independent on Monday, Herrera went out of her way to call on her critics, especially state Rep. Janice Arnold Jones, R-Albuquerque, to “help me get that money” to pay for a new campaign finance reporting system.

“She’s been the one speaking out,” Herrera said.

The agency’s unsuccessful efforts to build its own campaign finance reporting system burst into public view in late June when the office’s Web site and other computer-based services went down for several days.

An evaluation put together since then by the Legislative Finance Committee found that the Secretary of State’s Office lacked both the technical capability to manage information technology projects and a “viable disaster recovery” plan for its “mission critical” systems.

An image from a mailing targeting ex-state Sen. Shannon Robinson that eventually helped trigger Monday's court ruling.

A federal court on Monday ruled that the state of New Mexico had violated two nonprofits’ rights to free speech last year by attempting to force them to disclose the origin of the money that had paid for mailers that were critical of state lawmakers.

The legal issue before the court was whether “the mailings, are unambiguously campaign related,” Judge Judith Herrera wrote in the 30-page opinion issued Monday.

The judge found that they were not by using a complicated analysis touching on several U.S. Supreme Court rulings. Therefore, she wrote, the nonprofits were not subject to a state law that would have required the nonprofits to register as a political committee.

The ruling was a serious rebuff for Secretary of State Mary Herrera and Attorney General Gary King, both of whom had contended that the mailers were essentially “electioneering” and had triggered a state law that required them to register as “political committees.” Herrera sought late last year to force the two nonprofits to register with the state, and in turn the nonprofits sued in federal court.

Meanwhile, the ruling was seen as a serious victory in New Mexico’s nonprofit community.

“This ruling represents one more victory for the nonprofit sector in New Mexico in its battle to defend the First Amendment and fulfill its mission of educating the public about how the legislative process works and how legislators vote,” said Matt Brix of the Center for Civic Policy, which oversees New Mexico Youth Organized, one of the nonprofits at the heart of the lawsuit.

Added Mario Sanchez, a spokesman for a just-formed nonprofit Southwest Citizens Coalition: “We’ve said all along that SCC will operate under the laws and regulations of which we are organized under [Internal Revenue Service] statute, which trumps any quack opinion handed down by the state.”

Had the nonprofits been forced to register as a political committee they would have been subject to much stricter disclosure requirements than they operate under currently, including the disclosure of not only the identity of their donors but the amounts given. The federal law governing nonprofits does not require a nonprofit to disclose either.

The mailers at the heart of the court case were the product of New Mexico Youth Organized and SouthWest Organizing Project. And they were sent out at least two months prior to the June 2008 primary election. Along with criticizing the voting record of several state lawmakers, the mailers also included the amount of monetary contributions the lawmakers had received from certain industries.

In essence, the legal issue before the federal courts was what exactly is political speech, in the sense of political speech that seeks to influence a political election in general, including the election or defeat of individual candidates.

New Mexico’s political community has hotly debated the issue of political speech ever since the two nonprofits sent the mailings out to the lawmakers’ constituents several months prior to the 2008 primary election.

Three Democratic state lawmakers who lost the primary election in part blamed their loss on the mailers and sued the nonprofits in state court. That complaint was later thrown out. Click here to see an example of a mailer.

Some current and former elected officials said Monday that Judge Herrera’s ruling would open the door to a dramatic profusion of nonprofits as people would try to use them as clearinghouses for money to influence future elections.

“It’s bad, bad, bad. Just because a court makes a ruling doesn’t mean they are in the right,” said former state Rep. Dan Silva, an Albuquerque Democrat who was one of the targets of last year’s mailings.

“I think I am going to start my own nonprofit. “That way I can destroy good candidates,” Silva said, adding that he was very disappointed in the court ruling.

Shannon Robinson, a former state senator who also lost in the June 2008 primary, placed blame for Monday’s ruling on King, the attorney general.

Robinson said that instead of deposing witnesses and investigating the matter, the office of the attorney general agreed with the nonprofits on seeking a summary judgment from the judge.

“This was the cover up by the attorney general to pretend he was in a fight, and he threw the fight,” Robinson said Monday night. “The attorney general declined to do any investigation and the people of New Mexico lost the opportunity… to know where the money came from” that was used to pay for the mailers.

Other elected officials said the ruling would create an unfair situation going forward for political candidates because nonprofits would have unlimited resources and would not have to report where their money came from if they targeted political candidates.

That concern has repeatedly surfaced as state lawmakers debated certain campaign and ethics reform measures. This year the New Mexico Legislature passed a law to cap contributions for the first time in state history. Until then, New Mexico had been among a handful of states that did not limit campaign contributions.

Lawmakers also considered several measures that would have placed limits on nonprofits during this year’s legislative session, but none of them passed.

“There needs to be some level of fairness on reporting,” said Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell. “Everybody who wants to do campaigning reporting is going to set up a nonprofit and you don’t have to report to anybody.”

It is unclear whether Monday’s ruling by Judge Herrera will be the last word on the issue.

A spokesman for Attorney General Gary King expressed disappointment at the ruling and left open the possibility of an appeal.

“We will take some time to thoroughly review the court’s decision before deciding our next course of action,” King spokesman Phil Sisneros said in a statement. “We are assessing our options and will likely make that public in a few days.”

He said he imagined that one of those options was filing an appeal to overturn the judge’s ruling.

Secretary of State Mary Herrera said she had no comment on the ruling.

“We’re going to be meeting with the Attorney General’s office” in the next few days, she said.