Heath Haussamen had this first, but Secretary of State Mary Herrera told me the same thing later today.She believes last week’s burglary of the Española law office belonging to her former elections director was faked to make her look bad.
Española police are investigating an Oct. 1 break-in of A.J. Salazar’s law office. Salazar, a former deputy district attorney who worked as state elections director for almost abruptly resigned in March, claiming that Herrera had violated laws and had politicized the office.
Police have not named any suspects in the break-in. The case remains open.
“I find it kind of strange that the only thing missing was his income taxes and documents related to the Secretary of State," Herrera said. "It sounds kind of suspicious to me.”
Asked whether she though Salazar had staged his own burglary, Herrera replied, “Yes.”
Salazar on Friday responded, “If Mary Herrera wants to pit her credibility up against mine, I’m more than happy to do so. She knows that I was unwilling to perpetrate a crime when I worked for her. That’s why I left her office. I’m not going to start perpetrating crimes now by filing false police reports.”
Salazar said he has never accused Herrera of being responsible for the burglary.
Herrera repeatedly has said that Salazar and other former employees who have accused her of wrongdoing are trying to hurt her re-election effort. She faces Republican Dianna Duran in the November election.
Posts
