Update on Child Molester Wars

The Susana Martinez campaign this morning released this statement by Joe Novak, father of the victim in the Hector Montes case, which is the subject of a recent attack ad by the Diane Denish campaign. (Montes was the Las Cruces High janitor convicted of molesting a girl.)

Here's the statement;

“My daughter was the victim in the Montes case. I was contacted yesterday by the Denish campaign and asked to say that I felt I was done wrong by the Dona Ana County DA’s office. I told the Denish campaign that is not true and that the prosecutor did what was in the best interest of my daughter. In that case, I had moved my daughter to Nevada to a rehabilitation school to help her recover from her issues. I did not want to take her back to New Mexico and drag her through a trial and communicated that to the DA’s office when we discussed how to proceed. The plea agreement was in my daughter’s best interest.”

UPDATE: A spokesman for the state Democratic Party said it was the party, not the Denish campaign that contacted Novak.

In a written statement, James Hallinan said:

"Over the past few weeks, the Democratic Party has been contacted by, and has contacted, individuals in Dona Ana County who have been on the wrong side of Ms. Martinez’s 3rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Ms. Martinez opened the door by putting victims on TV. It is only fair that individuals who have been failed by Ms. Martinez have the same opportunity to tell their story. We will certainly respect everyone’s privacy and we expect the same from Ms. Martinez.”