King Claims Intimidation by GOP

Attorney General Gary King told reporters today that he believes the state Republican party is trying to "intimidate" him with a recent public records request, perhaps so he'll back off of an investigation of possible violations of the state Government Conduct Act.

That investigation is in response to a request by two Democratic legislators concerning a May 2 email sent from a Public Education Department spokesman’s private email account to Martinez’s political director Jay McCleskey and several administration officials on personal email accounts.

Here's what King said today:



UPDATED 5:13 pm. As he says in the video, King responded to the GOP request and delivered some emails. But he said he would need more time to go through his personal email (since January 2010) to see which ones might involve state business.He said he'd produce any of those within 45 days.

Here's a statement by State Republican Party Chairman Monty Newman:

“The Attorney General’s letter shows that there is no consensus among the branches of government on just what the rules are concerning private email accounts. The Attorney General cannot say whether or not his private emails concern public business. This points up the need for a legislative and regulation fix looking forward. ”

There will be more on this in Saturday's New Mexican.