Blogged by Brad Friedman from the road…
We’ve been on the road for the last several days, so haven’t been able to keep you up to date with some of the latest beats in the NM GOP/Rep. Heather Wilson “Vote-Buying” story, since our on-air audio interviews with some of the key players on Friday. (see our Special Coverage Page here for the full background.)
New Mexico journalist and TV host Dennis Domrzalski — who broke the story in the blogosphere first, including the not-insignificant detail that coverage of the original allegations had been spiked by NM’s largest news/talk radio outlet KKOB-AM 770, leading to the resignation of their award-winning news anchor, Laura MacCallum, who had originally both witnessed and aired the charges — has been advancing it smartly over the last several days. As The BRAD BLOG reported exclusively in detail last week, KKOB’s news director Pat Allen has been having a difficult time keeping his stories straight about why exactly he spiked the stories after the Wilson campaign contacted him to complain about them several times.
Domrzalski will have a guest blog for us here shortly on the latest latest, but to quickly catch you up with notable developments over the last several days…
On Sunday, Eye on New Mexico, co-hosted by Domrzalski on Albuquerque’s NBC affiliate, featured both NM’s former Republican David Cargo, one of the several elected officials to make the vote-buying allegations against Rep. Heather Wilson (who is vying for the GOP nomination to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Pete Domenici), and Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White (who is vying for the GOP nomination to run for the seat Wilson is vacating to run for Domenici’s), and GOP operative Pat Rogers. You can watch the show online right here: Part 1, Part 2.
Rogers is likely best known to the national audience for having inappropriately pressured NM’s former US Attorney David Iglesias on behalf of the GOP front group calling themselves “American Center for Voting Rights” (ACVR) to bring phony “voter fraud” charges before the ’04 and ’06 elections in the state. The BRAD BLOG has covered the ACVR extensively since we originally outed the “non-partisan” voting rights group, and their direct White House/GOP ties beginning in early 2005. Iglesias will be testifying on Wednesday to a Senate panel on the fraudulent “voter fraud” matter and its ties to the U.S. Attorney Purge to which Iglesias fell victim.
Rogers continued his work over the weekend as an unapologetic operative/stooge by making an ass out of himself on the show, attempting to run interference as swiftboater-in-chief hoping to deflect the damage of the Vote-Buying Scandal. On the show he attempted to distract from the actual charges in the case, by producing what Cargo has now called a “magical invoice,” from four years ago, alleging someone in the party had previously paid the former Governor’s registration fee to a past GOP event. Oddly enough, the invoice was dated last week! Clearly, the GOP swiftboaters are losing their touch.
Further, Rogers has now been forced to retract additional claims made on the show, alleging that Cargo, a two-term GOP governor, instrumental in building the party in the state over the last 3 or 4 decades, had donated only to Democratic candidates. Facts mean little, political power means all, to slimers like Rogers.
Earlier in the weekend, Domrzalski also offered a nice round-up of Wilson’s “horrible week,” asserting that she has only herself to blame for her campaign’s horrible handling of this PR fiasco.
There’s your quick catchup. See all of those links for many more details. And we’ll have the latest by Domrzalski himself posted here at The BRAD BLOG shortly…
That “invoice” is a joke – it would be rejected by any A/P department in the country. *Oxley/Sarbanes and all that…*
Is that the best Pat Rogers and the GOP can come up with?
For the money they waste, I’d expect better. *the “yellowcake” forgeries come to mind…*
I don’t see what the trouble is. What happened with the reporter was pretty screwed up, but I’m pretty sure that the HW campaign is fine. These pre convention conventions are pretty much private county GOP events. Every voter has to PAY to get in. If NM State law applied, wouldn’t that be considered a poll tax? In that case, shouldn’t the whole system be under review?
You don’t see what the problem is? Come on! It is a PRIMARY ELECTION, not a pre-convention convention. It is also not a private event, but a public one. You can’t pay people for votes (period) I guess when you stretch the rules far enough, you don’t even notice when they are broken.
Chris, a little research is needed on your part. The conventions where the so called vote buying went on were called County Pre-Primary Conventions. What is happening Saturday is called a State Pre-Primary convention. Then the Primary happens in June and finally the RPNM Quadrennial Convention takes place on June 14th in Las Cruces, NM . Check the NM GOP’s web page and calendar. (Weekend of Feb. 16th for the Counties Pre-Primary, March 15th for the State Pre-Primary) http://www.localendar.com/public/Catencio & http://www.gopnm.com . Also Bernalillo’s County GOP website, http://www.bcgop.org/.
From the GOPNM Rules (3-2-1)
“B. Pre-Primary County Convention: In any year in which a Pre-Primary Republican State Convention occurs, a County Convention shall be held in each County, during the week specified by the State Chairman and as designated by the elected officers of each County Central Committee in a proper Call for the County Convention, to elect Delegates to the Pre-Primary Republican State Convention.”
Again, to enter the County Pre-primary convention, one has to pay a significant amount of money. If you are without money, you may not vote. Even if you can not afford to. In that sense, this was not an open public election.
What has not been brought up, is the amount of cheating going on during the vote counting at the Bernalillo County Pre-Primary Convention. Perhaps all the Delegates to the State Pre Primary Convention from Bernalillo County should be disqualified.