More on Republican Vote Buying Scandal Investigation

Is there an investigation or not and who's opinion is correct about this issue?

I posted earlier that I had emailed the AG’s office about any type of investigation that would be done into how legal was what Former Republican Governor David Cargo saw during the republican ward level pre-primary convention for his party on February 17. A.K.A the republican vote buying scandal The AG’s office’s Director of Communications got back to me the very next day with this response:

“The AG’s Office is not conducting an investigation at this time. Since party conventions are not subject to the State Election Code, it is likely this matter will be addressed by party officials.”

Now Dennis Domrzalski for Eye on New Mexico says that he does not agree with the AG’s position because of these sections of the New Mexico election code:

1-7-1. Political parties; conditions for use of ballot. (1969) All nominations of candidates for public office in New Mexico made by political parties shall be made pursuant to the Election Code [1-1-1 NMSA 1978]. No political party shall be permitted to have the names of its candidates printed on any election ballot unless and until it has qualified as provided in the Election Code.

B. Each county political party organization may adopt such supplementary rules and regulations insofar as they do not conflict with the uniform state rules and regulations or do not abridge the lawful political rights of any person. Such supplementary rules shall be filed with the county clerk and the secretary of state in the same manner as other rules are filed.

I asked Secretary of State Mary Herrera to give a statement about whether her office would investigate the allegations but her office never returned my email. I guess she likes talking to republican bloggers better. She told Dennis Domrzalski late Friday:

“She hadn't seen a memo from the state Attorney General's Office saying it would not investigate allegations of vote buying at the recent Bernalillo County Republican Party pre-primary conventions and that her office was still pursuing the vote-buying allegations.”

Secretary of State Mary Herrera will be at the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County’s monthly meeting this Thursday evening at 6:00 pm in the UNM Law Library so maybe I will get a opportunity to ask her questions about this issue. Maybe Secretary of State Mary Herrera should look into where her emails and memos are going. I also understand that Secretary of State Mary Herrera’s office should provide a report to the AG’s office with the results from her investigation. I wonder if she is planning on doing so after her investigation is over or maybe she will just report the results to Dennis Domrzalski.