SOS Duran Accuses Herrera of Contract "Irregularities"

Secretary of State Dianna Duran this afternoon said she has referred "several matters of serious concern" to State Auditor Hector Balderas. She's talking about “ a number of irregularities in contracts and purchasing processes conducted by the previous administration which appear to violate the New Mexico Procurement Code ..."

Duran also said that some documents appears to be missing from the office’s files. "Unless those documents are recovered, their disappearance could impair an independent audit that will be conducted later this year," a news release said.

Also, Duran said, data on some hard drives on office computers has been deleted. "The data, if not recoverable, is significant to the core operations of the Office of the Secretary of State," the release said.

Duran also raised the possibility that federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds were spent appropriately and whether timely reports were submitted to the federal government.

 “I intend to bring this office into full compliance with the law,” said Duran, “and so I am asking for an independent investigation by the State Auditor into a number of issues that appear to raise doubts.”

UPDATE: (3:35 pm)  Herrera, in a phone interview, disputed Duran's complaints.

She pointed out that in her office's last budget in June she got a clean bill of health with no findings.

Herrera said that after losing the election, she and her staff made a concentrated effort to have a smooth transition and said "went out of our way to leave everything in place," because, she said, there had been little communication between her staff and the staff of her predecessor, Rebecca Vigil-Giron. "I didn't want anyone to have to go through what I did," Herrera said.

Herrera denied that there are missing documents. She said that the contents of her computer and that of her deputy, Don Francisco Trujillo, were sent to the state archives. She also said Duran's staff has called Herrera's former staff to ask where certain things could be found.

"I don't know why (Duran) doesn't continue to move on," Herrera said.

Roundhouse Roundup: Blue Book Blues

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
January 6, 2011


The much-maligned, already obsolete New Mexico Blue Book 2009-2010 has hit the stands — well, the reference book is available at the Secretary of State’s Office — and it’s even more fun than I thought it would be.

I picked up a copy on Wednesday. I felt like I was nabbing a collector’s item. For one thing, there’s fewer copies available than previous editions. Only 5,000 copies were printed, compared with 15,000 in previous years.

Also, the new Blue Book has been in the news a lot more than previous volumes.

Published in the waning days of 2010, the Blue Book contains pictures of and information about all the state officers who left office at the end of the year. Outgoing Secretary of State Mary Herrera, a Democrat who was defeated by Republican Dianna Duran, was criticized by some for publishing the 367-page book, which cost $44,000 to print during the depths of a budget crisis.

But Herrera has argued that it was important to print the book, even if the information was dated shortly after it rolled off the press.

“When I took office in 2007, I continued distributing the Blue Books in stock, which included Rebecca Vigil Giron for a year,” she told me in an e-mail last year, referring to her predecessor. “It did not matter because it is the History and data that matters.”

Pictures? Did someone say pictures? Channel 13 anchorman Dick Knipfing on Tuesday quipped that the Blue Book could double as “The Mary Herrera Yearbook.” The face of the former SOS pops up everywhere, including a full-color, full-page portrait near the front of the book (which is a tradition for secretaries of state) and a full-color, full-page photo of Herrera with President Barack Obama. You’ll find her with U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and with Prince Felipe of Spain.

I counted nine photos of Herrera so far (though in one of them her back is to the camera and in two others she’s pictured as one of dozens of SOS employees.)

Her deputy, Don Francisco Trujillo, also has plenty of pictures in the Blue Book, including one with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a grip-and-grin shot with Vice President Joe Biden.

The section on the secretary of state is eight pages — compared to six pages for the governor. But in fairness, in the 2005-2006 edition, Vigil-Giron’s last Blue Book, the SOS also got two more pages than the governor.

And there are photos of now-departed officials like Gov. Bill Richardson, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish and Land Commissioner Pat Lyons.

In the section on the Public Regulation Commission, one might think at first glance the commission has six members instead of five. There’s a photo of former Commissioner Carol Sloan — who left office after being convicted of felony burglary and battery charges — alongside her replacement, Theresa Becenti-Aguilar. The book mentions that Sloan left office but doesn’t state why.

New Gov. Susana Martinez and new Secretary of State Duran do appear in the book. Martinez is right there on page 238, pictured with all the other district attorneys in the state. (She was the DA in Doña Ana County until last Saturday.) Her election to governor last November is mentioned as the last item in the state history section.

Duran is there on page 209 in her former role as a state senator.

Blue notes: While the book includes the music to the state song, the state bilingual song and the state ballad, there’s not even a mention of the official state cowboy song, “Under New Mexico Skies” by Syd Masters. And there’s nothing about the state guitar (the Pimentel Sunrise guitar). Both became official in 2009.

But there is something for music fans. In the back of the book there’s a feature on the “Godfather of New Mexico Music,” Al Hurricane — who played at Herrera’s birthday party last year — as well as one on his son, Al Hurricane Jr., and singers Gonzalo and Dynette Marie.

(The photo at left is NOT in the Blue Book!)

Internal Polling

It's been rumored for awhile that polls by both Secretary of State candidates are showing Republican Dianna Duran leading Democrat Mary Herrera. I just got evidence of such a poll. It's a couple of weeks old, but it claims a 12 point lead for Duran.

According to the poll, Duran had 46 percent to Herrera's 34 percent. That leaves 20 percent undecided (which might look high, but this is a down-ballot race that's seen only minimal television advertising by either candidate.)

The poll was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, a GOP firm. They interviewed 800 likely voters on October 14 & 17-18, 2010 including 100 cell phone interviews on October 16th. The margin of error is 3.4 percent. Duran Poll Oct 14 Meanwhile, the Diane Denish gubernatorial campaign also released an internal poll today. This one shows Denish, the Democrat in the race, just one point behind Republican Susana Martinez.

It has to be noted that the only recent polls showing a close race have all come from the Denish camp. Real Clear Politics  shows a 9-point average Martinez lead, though the latest poll listed there was done on Oct. 14.

Denish's poll was conducted October 20 – 24 by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic firm. They talked to 603 likely voters. Margin of error is 4 percent.

Oct 25 Denish Poll

Herrera Runs First Ad of the SOS Race

According to the state Democratic Party, this spot will begin running on Tuesday.


 
UPDATE: 10-22-10 As Edward points out in the comments below, this video has been removed. I just searched for another version with no luck. If anyone alerts me to another version of this ad, I'll post it.

Herrera Responds to Critics

Embattled Secretary of State Mary Herrera is fighting back.

She appeared yesterday at the Bill Clinton/Diane Denish rally in Espanola. And despite fears by some Democrats that Herrera's problems could be a drag on the rest of the ticket, the state Democratic Party just e-mailed a news release including her, along with other Dem candidates lieutenant governor nominee Brian Colon and Attorney General Gary King as headliners for early-voting rallies Saturday in Albuquerque, Los Lunas and Rio Rancho.

And her campaign just sent this new release rebutting some of the accusations that have plagued her in recent months. (It's the same thing that was published as an op-ed on Heath Haussamen's site earlier this week.) Nothing much new here, though she does take a stronger term with her former employees who are now accusing her of wrongdoing. She calls them "disgruntled employees" and their "continued antics and staged incidences." (sic)

And she lambasts reporters: "If reporters haven’t done their homework to determine the credibility of allegations by disgruntled employees, they have contributed to the unfair character assassination of a dedicated public servant."
Press Release on Responses to Accusations 10 15 10 (2)

The SOS Race

Pollster Brian Sanderoff hasn't done any polling on the Secretary of State race. But he's got some thoughts about what might happen in the race between incumbent Mary Herrera and challenger Dianna Duran.

Read about that in my look at the race for Secretary of State is in Wednesday's New Mexican. You can find it HERE 

A detailed look at the fundraising efforts by Herrera and Duran is HERE 

Quick biographical facts on the candidates are HERE 

And if you ever wondered what the secretary of state is supposed to do, check THIS.

SOS: Burglary was Staged

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.

Roundhouse Roundup: Dem SOS Tells PIO "Get Involved" with GOP

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
October 7, 2010

Did embattled Secretary of State Mary Herrera ask one of her exempt employees to “get involved” with the Republican Party to try to discourage the GOP from fielding a candidate for secretary of state this year?

That’s what former SOS public information officer James Flores, who was fired by Herrera last month, said Wednesday. Herrera, however disputes that.

If there was such a plan, it didn’t work. The Republicans nominated state Sen. Dianna Duran, a former Otero County clerk, to run for the office.

In a Jan. 21, 2010 e-mail from Herrera to Flores — a copy of which I obtained last week — Herrera wrote, “I asked you a long time ago to get involved in the R party, you didn’t and now they are looking for someone to run against me.”

Contacted Wednesday, Flores verified that e-mail was authentic. Flores, a registered Republican, said Herrera had repeatedly asked him to “get involved” in the party to talk her up and even arrange for her to speak at Republican events. However, Flores said, “I didn’t want to do that. I never did that.”

But Herrera said Wednesday that she’d only suggested to Flores he become active in the GOP so that Republicans would feel that her office was open to both parties. She said that Flores is one of four Republicans she hired.

If I don’t have a job ... The same e-mail from Herrera goes on talk about requiring employees to help with political campaigns — something that Flores and others have accused her of and that she repeatedly has publicly denied.

However, while chastising Flores for an apparent lack of “interest in helping me,” here Herrera doesn’t mention her own campaign, but that of another state official seeking re-election.

“As the Treasurer mentioned to me, he told all his exempt (employees), ‘If I do not have a job, neither do you.’ He said he told them (that) after November they can submit (a) letter of (interest) but he is only keeping (exempts) who helped him.”

Flores said “the Treasurer” was a reference to state Treasurer James Lewis.

Despite the e-mail, Herrera said Wednesday that Lewis never told her such a thing. She said if she wrote that, it might have been based on a conversation with Deputy Treasurer Mark Valdes, her boyfriend. But she also said that Valdes told her that Lewis didn’t require his employees to support his re-election.

Yasmine Dennig, chief counsel to the state Treasurer’s Office and a spokeswoman for Lewis, said Wednesday, “The treasurer never said anything like that to me. He’s never asked me to volunteer (for his campaign) or contribute and never even implied anything of that sort.”

Flores was one of two exempt employees whom Herrera fired in September. He and former office administrator Manny Vildasol had spoken to the FBI about what they claimed was possible criminal behavior on Herrera’s part. Herrera has denied that was the reason for the firings. No charges from the accusations have been filed. Herrera has denied any wrongdoing.

Documents obtained indicate Herrera had accused Flores, who was responsible for sending news releases to reporters, of having an “altered media list.”

Some SOS sources say that Herrera suspected Flores of e-mailing news releases to Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza — who is a critic of Herrera — and to her former elections director A.J. Salazar, who resigned in March, accusing Herrera of several possible violations of law or policy, including having her staff do political campaign work in the office during work hours.

Herrera repeated her belief that the fact there’s various e-mails and other documents floating around in recent weeks is related to the election.

I’m not a crook: With last week’s burglary of Salazar’s Española law office I’d better add a disclaimer here before the Española police come looking for me.

Salazar did report that some of his documents from his secretary of state file appeared to be missing. But I received this e-mail at least a couple of days before that incident. It’s not the fruit of any crime.

Herrera Vs. Duran Debate

You can read all about the Mary Hererra-Dianna Duran debate  HERE.

You can listen to it this afternoon at 4 p.m. on KSFR

You can watch it-- at least Comcast cable customers can -- on Channel 16 at 6 p.m.

Asked during the debate about the public records request Herrera made in August for emails among various of her staff and political enemies, Herrera said she had heard that someone was "attacking" her family. But asked whether she found any evidence among the documents she'd requested that her family was being attacked, Herrera said that she hadn't had time to pick up the records she'd requested.




I was one of the panelists, along with fellow Santa Fe journalists Julia Goldberg of the Santa Fe Reporter, Dan Boyd of The Journal North and Bill Dupuy of KSFR News.

What's Wrong With SOS Picture?

Photographer/blogger/retired law-enforcement dude Mark Bralley takes a look at the recent troubles in the SOS in a lengthy blog post HERE.

Much of the ground already has been covered, but it's a good primer for those who haven't followed the blow-by-blow.

Plus, Bralley probably is the first to bring Charlie Guiteau into the discussion

Roundhouse Roundup: Dueling IPRA Requests

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 16, 2010

The bad blood continues between Mary Herrera and some county clerks across the state. Last week some county clerks complained on KOB News about Herrera getting $10,000 from the state to hire temporary “liaisons” at various “problematic” areas statewide.

“Liaisons are a direct line of communication between the polling locations and the Secretary of State's Office, who by statute is the Chief Election Officer of the state responsible for efficient elections,” said a SOS news release last week.

But some county clerks bristled at being called “problematic” — a word that Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo said was used by some staffer at a legislative committee, not the Secretary of State’s office.

And some clerks complained that the liaisons didn’t seem to know what they were doing and, at least in one case, didn’t seem to be around until after the polls closed.

Whoever said, Deputy Santa Fe County Clerk Denise Lamb responded Monday with a public information request under the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) to the SOS. Some of the items she asked for included the names of all “liaisons,” their resumes, the “dates, times and duration” of the training for all liaisons and temporary workers employed by the SOS in the primary and the “familial relationship” of any liaison or temporary worker to any SOS staff member.

Lamb also requested all correspondence related to the hiring of these folks and all of the communications from the liaisons on primary day.

Herrera herself answered within just a few hours. She said her office would comply with the request. But then she added, “This is a good idea for the office of the Secretary of State to obtain in the files of all the staff hired by your office as well, who we do I send the IPRA request to?”

Lamb quickly shot back: “Mary, We don't hire any ‘liaisons’ to monitor your conduct of the election.” She said any request for public information should go to the county attorney.

Herrera started the IPRA Wars last month when she made a public information request for correspondence involving some of her staff past and present and her critics.

The Out-of-Staters: Earlier this week Diane Denish’s gubernatorial campaign blasted Republican candidate Susana Martinez for getting 52 percent of her campaign contributions from out-of-state supporters, according to her latest campaign finance report.

Nearly a quarter of Martinez’s total in the most recent report came from the Republican Governor’s Association, based in Washington, D.C. She also received several five or six-figure contributions from out-of-state sources, including some big GOP moneymen.

Denish, who raised less than half of what Martinez did since late June, received a few big contributions from outside of New Mexico herself, mainly from unions. She’s saying that about two thirds of the cash in her latest report came from New Mexico.

The Institute of Money in State Government’s website Followthemoney.org, has not yet included this week’s reports in their totals. But as of the previous campaign finance reports submitted in early July, 63 percent of Martinez’s money had come from New Mexico and almost 37 percent had come from out-of-state. Denish’s figure was about 67 percent in-state, 32 percent from out of state.

But even if Martinez eventually does end up with about half her campaign funds coming from outside of New Mexico, she wouldn’t be the first.

According to Followthemoney.org, in 2006 less than 51 percent of Gov. Bill Richardson’s campaign funds definitely came from New Mexico. Nearly 48 percent was from out of state, while the place of origin of 1.7 percent of Richardson’s money couldn’t be determined.

The real question is why New Mexico gubernatorial get so much money from elsewhere. In Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma, all gubernatorial candidates, both Democratic and Republican, according to followthemoney.org, all are getting more than 90 percent of their campaign cash from inside their respective states.

Roundhouse Roundup:History of Staff Problems at SOS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 8, 2010

Secretary of State Mary Herrera's problems with her staff in the last few months have been well documented. But these problems didn't happen all at once.

In fact, some say her staff problems have been brewing from the beginning of her term. That view is bolstered by a letter of resignation from Herrera's first Elections Bureau director in January 2008 — just a little over a year after she took office.

In case you've missed the most recent development, Herrera late last week fired two administrators who had talked with the FBI about possible wrongdoing in the office. A few months ago, Herrera's election director left, firing off a blistering letter accusing her of breaking laws and policies.

For her part, Herrera in recent weeks asked state police to conduct a sweep for electronic bugs — apparently no such listening devices were found — and filed public-information requests for e-mails of past and present staff members and certain political enemies.

One of those former staffers was Albuquerque lawyer Daniel Ivey-Soto, who resigned in early 2008 as Herrera's Elections Bureau chief.

He said at the time he was quitting to pursue an appointment to a vacant judgeship. It's long been whispered that there was more to that story, and the letter shows that's true.

Ivey-Soto began his "Dear Mary" letter saying he was sending his resignation by e-mail because "communication between us has been strained as of late."

"It is important in any agency to have a sense of teamwork," he wrote. "This is especially true when there is a small team. It has been apparent to me for some lime that I am not integrated into the team here at the Secretary of State's Office. This saddens me greatly, because I really do have tremendous respect for you and I believe that you are capable of showing great wisdom when you rely on you own instincts."

But Ivey-Soto apparently believed Herrera wasn't relying on her own instincts.

"This is your team, and Don Francisco is your coach," he said, referring to Francisco Trujillo, Herrera's top deputy. "I know Don Francisco has asked you repeatedly to fire me, and I appreciate the loyalty you have shown. My staying, however, is only worthwhile if we can work together as a team. Don Francisco's behavior recently confirms for me that this is not possible. Because he is the coach, the honorable thing for me to do is to finish my task, and depart gracefully."

And so he did.

"I do not plan to say anything negative in public and would appreciate the same respect," Ivey-Soto wrote. He has stuck by that. And I've never heard a negative word about Ivey-Soto from Herrera — which is why I was surprised to see his name among those whose e-mails Herrera sought.

As he said in his letter, any time a reporter, including me, asked why he resigned from the SOS, he said it was for that possible judicial appointment, which he didn't get.

On Wednesday, Ivey-Soto, who now works for the state organization for county clerks, verified that a copy of the letter I'd obtained was authentic. But he declined further comment, saying, "I think the letter speaks for itself."

Trujillo didn't respond to a request for comment.

After Ivey-Soto left, the job was vacant for a few months. Herrera then hired Jim Noel, but state Republicans raised a stink because he's related by marriage to U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who at the time was running for office. So Noel quit before he even started the job. (I wonder if he's sent a thank-you note to the GOP.) Lawyer Gerald Gonzales only lasted a couple of months.

Then came A.J. Salazar, who left with a bang in March with a fiery resignation letter accusing Herrera of soliciting donations from companies that contract with her office and ordering some of her employees to gather signatures on petitions for her re-election campaign.

UPDATE: This column has been corrected. It no longer contains incorrect information on Don Francisco Trujillo's name. (More details HERE)

Herrera Fires Employees Who Talked to FBI

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 8, 2010

Secretary of State Mary Herrera has fired two of her administrators who talked to the FBI about possible wrongdoing in her office.

The Española lawyer representing both Manny Vildasol and James Flores on Tuesday formally notified the state Risk Management Division that his clients might be suing, claiming the terminations violate the Whistleblower Protection Act.

"As you are aware, they reported to the FBI what they believed to be criminal acts within her office and immediately after the media reported they had spoken to the FBI, they were both placed on administrative leave and now, FIRED!" Rudy Martin said in his letter to Risk Management.

"Both of my clients have been accused of creating a hostile work environment for allegedly recording employees at the office," Martin continued. "My client Mr. Vildasol, never returned to the Secretary of State's office after the initial news story broke and Mr. Flores was accused of acts which he did not participate in. The actions by Ms. Herrera serve only as a guise in her attempts to justify her retaliatory conduct toward my clients."

Deputy Secretary of State Francisco Trujillo said Tuesday that he could verify Flores, former public information officer and Vildasol, whom was office administrator, were no longer employed by the office, but could not provide details because the firings were "personnel matters."

"I can tell you that after the investigations were completed, (the firings) have nothing to do with whistle-blowing," Trujillo said in a telephone interview.

Martin has said his clients, who also include former Bureau of Elections Director A.J. Salazar, have talked to the FBI about such issues as Secretary of State's Office workers going to political events during work hours.

In separate letters to Vildasol and Flores dated Sept. 3, Herrera thanked each for his services after saying, "your services as an at-will Governor Exempt employee have been terminated effective immediately."

Herrera does not have to state a reason to fire exempt employees such as Vildasol and Flores.

Although the term "hostile work environment" typically is used in relation to alleged sexual harassment, no such charges have emerged in the ongoing Secretary of State's Office controversies.

In Vildasol's case, members of Herrera's information technology staff on Aug. 18 complained to Herrera about Vildasol creating a hostile environment by videotaping them working on Herrera's personal laptop computer, which had been infected with viruses. Some of that footage later appeared on a KOB news report about problems in the Secretary of State's Office.

It's not clear why Flores is suspected of recording employees.

On Aug. 24, Trujillo wrote Flores saying, "the Secretary of State has received a complaint about a hostile work environment and is concerned with what appears to be an altered media distribution list. You are the subject of the investigation."

The reference to the "altered media distribution list" might support a claim by some Secretary of State's Office sources that Herrera suspected Flores of sending e-mail news releases to Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza — who is a critic of Herrera — and to Salazar, who resigned earlier this year, sending Herrera a scathing letter accusing her of several possible violations of law or policy, including having her staff do political campaign work in the office during work hours.

Herrera is seeking re-election to a second term. Her opponent is Republican state Sen. Dianna Duran of Tularosa.

Roundhouse Roundup: Debugging the SOS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 2, 2010

Is someone bugging Secretary of State Mary Herrera?

I don’t mean bugging as in “bothering.” In recent weeks, a lot of people — reporters, some of her staffers, county clerks and who knows who else — have been bugging her in that respect.

I’m talking about bugging as in electronic surveillance.

Apparently Herrera sometime in recent weeks thought that someone was pulling a Watergate on her.

I asked Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson about a tip that Herrera’s office had called in state police to do a “sweep” for electronic listening devices.

Olson in an e-mail confirmed it. Kind of.

“I believe there was a sweep,” he wrote. “I don’t know what the outcome was. We often search state buildings for stuff like this and other safety issues. ... It’s not common but we do it on occasion.”

Did the sweepers uncover anything suspicious? “I don’t believe anything was found,” Olson said.

Is Herrera, who is running for a second term against Republican state Sen. Dianna Duran of Tularosa, getting a little paranoid? It was just two weeks ago that this column revealed that Herrera had done a public records request for e-mail correspondence involving various political enemies, staff members and others.

Thinking that someone might be secretly recording her might not be that far-fetched of a fear for Madam Secretary. Don’t forget that one of her own staff members recently secretly videotaped Secretary of State’s Office technicians working to get pornography viruses out of Herrera’s laptop computer. (That employee, office administrator Manny Vildasol, is one of two staff members recently suspended by Herrera.)

Or perhaps Herrera feared the FBI was listening in. Vildasol, public information officer James Flores and former elections director A.J. Salazar all have talked to the FBI about what they think might be violations of law in the Secretary of State’s Office.

Olson referred further questions to the Secretary of State’s Office. Deputy Secretary of State Francisco Trujillo didn’t return my phone calls or an e-mail Wednesday.

Eat this: Here’s my favorite state government news release of the week. It’s from Expo New Mexico, or the state fair, or whatever they’re calling it these days.

“World Burrito Championship Returns to 2010 NM State Fair” was the subject line. No, it’s not a cooking contest. This is an eating contest.

The event, scheduled for Sept. 11, will feature “a host of the world’s best competitive eaters, including #1-ranked Joey ‘Jaws’ Chestnut,” the news release said.

“Chestnut, who counts asparagus and pizza among his numerous eating records, won his fourth consecutive hot dog eating title last month at Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island. He now looks to add burritos to his resume of world records. Chestnut will also seek to set a new world record in the burrito discipline. Last year’s World Burrito Eating Championship, Bob ‘Notorious B.O.B.’ Shoudt, consumed 38.5 burritos in 10 minutes to set the benchmark.”

Yum.
The release quotes Richard Shea, president of Major League Eating — yes, there is such a thing.

“Having proven himself the best eater in the world, Chestnut is favored in every competition he enters,” Shea said.

“However, there’s a chance we will witness an upset in Albuquerque, especially since many local competitors have deep knowledge of the burrito, its composition, how the beans play off the tortilla, et cetera.”

The 10-minute event — with green chile beef burritos provided by Garcia’s Kitchen — begins at 2:30 p.m. at the State Fair Pavilion. There's $3,000 in prize money. That'll buy a lot of Alka-Seltzer.

Now I’ve got to search through my e-mail for state Health Department releases on the importance of good nutritional habits.

SOS Tidbit: Herrera's IPRA Request

A couple of hours after her "press conference" in which she walked away without taking any questions from the press, Herrera and her staff went to the Capitol Rotunda for a group photo shoot.

Encountering reporters afterward -- namely myself and Rob Nikolewski of Capitol Report New Mexico -- Herrera declined to elaborate on her statements about her staff being put on leave and the allegations of wrongdoing in her office.

I asked Herrera why she recently made a public information request for e-mails between Deputy Los Alamos County Clerk Sheryl Nichols — who has made critical statements about Herrera in news articles — and several people, including Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza and several members of Herrera's staff.

"I did that as a citizen," Herrera said, adding that just because she's an elected official doesn't mean she has to give up her rights as a citizen. "I made that (request) for me."

She said she used her own money in making the request. She declined to say why she wanted the e-mails or what information she found in them.

Rob took video of the brief exchange. Here's the part about the Inspection of Public Records request:

Herrera Bolts Her Own Press Conference

Embattled Secretary of State Mary Herrera held press conference this morning. But then she bolted before reporters could ask questions.

Before she left, she called allegations of wrongdoing "blatantly false and ridiculous ... Thrown at the press like red meat in an election year."

She apparently was referring to allegations by an attorney for two of her current employees that there has been criminal wrongdoing in the office. Lawyer Rudy Martin represents Manny Vildasol and James Flores who were recently put on administrative leave. He also represents former elections director A.J. Salazar, who left his job in March with complaints about possible wrongdoing by Herrera.

Reading a statement, Herrera said the state is investigating the two employees -- Vildasol and Flores. She emphasized that she is not involved with the investigation.

The press conference, held in the lobby of the SOS office, had been called to discuss voter information being mailed to active voters before the general election.

As reporters began asking questions about the investigations, etc. , Herrera turned and walked briskly to the safety of her own office. Deputy SOS Francisco Trujillo told reporters he had no more to say on the subject.

More Trouble Brewing at SOS

Another top administrator at the Secretary of State's Office -- the second in a week's time -- has been put on paid leave.

This time it's Manny Vildasol, the office manager who recently appeared on a KOB News report openly accusing SOS Mary Herrera of vague "criminal activity" and secretly recording state technicians trying to remove porn viruses from Secretary of State Mary Herrera's laptop computer.

As I reported yesterday, Herrera's spokesman James Flores was put on administrative leave last week. He was supposed to return to work yesterday, but it looks like that didn't happen.

Rudy Martin, a lawyer representing both Vildasol and Flores, said both men recently have talked to the FBI about what they see as wrongdoing in Herrera's office. The FBI can't confirm or deny that.

An interesting tidbit about Flores. According to Martin he is accused of committing what Herrera must see as the ultimate sin: communicating with Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza, a major Herrera critic, and with A.J. Salazar, who noisily resigned as election director in March, accusing Herrera of wrongdoing.

Martin said the real reason for putting the two on leave is retaliation for talking to the FBI.

Deputy SOS Francisco Trujillo did not return my phone calls Wednesday to respond to any of this.

Read my story in today's New Mexican HERE

More SOS Turmoil

Secretary of State Mary Herrera’s longtime chief spokesman has been placed on paid administrative leave.

James Flores, who has been the public information officer for the Secretary of State’s Office since Herrera took office in 2007 was put on leave on Aug. 18, deputy SOS Francisco Trujillo said today.

Trujillo said he couldn’t say why Flores was put on leave. “It’s a personnel issue,” he said.

Flores is supposed to report back to work tomorrow, Trujillo said.

Immediately before the leave Flores had taken time off to attend the funerals of two family members.

Flores’ leave came in the midst of controversial news stories about the Secretary of State’s office last week.

There were television and newspaper stories about pornographic computer viruses infecting Herrera’s personal computer, as well as my column about Herrera filing public information requests to get e-mails involving some of her own staff and some of her political critics.

Flores was not on the list of employees whose e-mails Herrera wanted.

Roundhouse Roundup: Herrera Seeks Critics' E-mails

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
August 19, 2010

Secretary of State Mary Herrera apparently likes to know what people are saying about her, especially when she knows a controversial news story about her office is in the works.

So early this month, while an Albuquerque television station was working on a story about how a computer virus infected her laptop with links to pornographic websites, Herrera did what a reporter might do — file a public information request for documents under the state Inspection of Public Record Act.

Reporters who have had a difficult time getting timely responses from the Secretary of State’s Office for public records requests are surely rolling their eyes by now.

The target of the Aug. 2 request, obtained by The New Mexican, was Sheryl Nichols, chief deputy clerk of Los Alamos. Nichols is president of the state association for county clerks and has been quoted in this publication and other news media over the years making critical remarks about Herrera’s performance.

Herrera requested copies of all of Nichols’ e-mail correspondence from July 12 through July 16 from the County Clerk’s Office to and from a list of several people, many of whom have been critical of Herrera. And several were employees of Herrera’s own office.

Right at the top of the list was Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza and her deputy clerk, Denise Lamb. Espinoza last year considered running against Herrera in the Democratic primary. Earlier this month, my colleague Kate Nash reported that Espinoza is supporting Herrera’s Republican opponent Dianna Duran in the upcoming election.

Others on the list were Chief Deputy Bernalillo County Clerk Robert Adams; Albuquerque lawyer Daniel Ivy Soto — a former Elections Bureau chief for Herrera and a lobbyist for the county clerks; Doña Ana Deputy County Clerk Mario Jimenez; and six of Herrera’s own staff.

Among those was office administrator Manny Vildasol, the whistle-blower who used a hidden video camera to tape computer personnel in Herrera’s office working on her laptop.

Some of Vildasol’s footage was used in KOB’s report last week about Herrera’s laptop being infested by viruses that put porn links on the desktop of her laptop.

In that report, Vildasol accused Herrera of “covering up” anything controversial in the Secretary of State’s Office and made a vague reference to “criminal activity.”

Herrera has since blamed Vildasol for being the first to bring a computer virus into her office’s system. In April, Vildasol apparently was the victim of a “phishing” scam that caused unwarranted e-mails to be sent from his account.

It’s not clear why Herrera had to request her own staff’s e-mails from the Los Alamos County Clerk’s Office. It would seem that she could get them from the Secretary of State’s Office computer system — except perhaps if she didn’t want anyone in her office to know she was looking.

It’s not clear what, if any, records have been turned over to Herrera and what, if any, “smoking guns” were found.

At least one of her staff members on that list didn’t know Herrera was looking for her e-mails. Kelli Fulgenzi, administrator for the state Bureau of Elections, said Wednesday that she was surprised to find out she’d been included. But she speculated her role as custodian of the office’s public records might have something to do with her being included.

The time range included in the request coincides with the time KOB began poking around about the computer porn story. But nobody in the position of actually knowing what Herrera was seeking in her public records request is talking on the record.

Herrera didn’t return my call Wednesday. Nor did Nichols.

Computer Viruses Are Not Destroying State Government

It appears that the big computer virus problems in state government Secretary of State Mary Herrera's told us about yesterday might not be such big problems afterall -- at least for state government.

Of the two examples she gave earlier this week, one appears to have been exaggerated, while the other — the apparent theft of $700,000 by computer hackers — involved a victim that was not a state agency.

The SOS was responding to reports that Herrera’s own laptop had been infected by viruses that put unwanted links to pornography sites on the desktop of her computer. Other computers in her office have been hit with viruses also, including one that sent numerous “spam” e-mails from a Secretary of State account.

“Information technology professions in various executive and legislative agencies of state government have reported numerous malware attacks in recent months,” a Tuesday news release from Herrera’s office said.

“The New Mexico Educational Assistance Foundation system was even compromised by a malware package ...” The release goes on to explain how hackers were able to get a password and other information and make numerous transfers from the foundation’s bank account. The money lost totaled about $700,000.

That much is true Woody Farber, president of the foundation. The loss to the operating fund occurred just last month. However, NMEAF is a private non-profit, Farber said and while working with the state Department of Higher Education, it is not part of government. “We’re working with the FBI and Bank of the West,” Farber said.

Herrera’s news release also spoke of a “malware intrusion” at the state Legislature’s website, which infected “the legislative bill analysis site, which could have easily spread to other frequent users, including government agencies, businesses and other public users.”

But John Yaeger of the Legislative Council said Wednesday that while a possible malware intrusion was detected a few months ago, the presence of a virus never was verified.

“We did get a report from (the state Department of Information Technology) that our web server may have had some minor malware on it — something that would have impacted a user’s ability to open PDFs,” Yaeger said. “We ran the prescribed fixes and then a scan that showed a clean bill of health. All resolved in a day.”

The problem initially was reported by a state employee — who was having trouble opening some documents on the site — to DoIT, Yaeger said. The Legislative Council received no other complaints about the website that day, he said and there was no other indication of computer trouble.

The Secretary of State was correct that there have been numerous attacks — or at least attempted attacks — on state computers. According to the April DOiT newsletter, “ During the month of March, DoIT blocked approximately 300,000 critical attacks. DoIT cyber security sends out notifications to agency CIO and security staff when an attack is detected.”

Marlin Mackey, the secretary of DOiT, told a reporter Wednesday that his agency does not maintain the computer system for the Secretary of State’s Office or the Legislature — though his staff does offer assistance to those and other state agencies that have their own systems.

Mackey said his agency has recommended the Secretary of State hire forensics computer specialists, such as those at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, to help with its virus problems.