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As recent elections nationwide have shown, the administration of elections is a critical, demanding and increasingly rigorous task.  Its success rests on the shoulders of county clerks and secretaries of state, whose ethics and competence must be up to the job.  Those individuals themselves are elected, so it’s up to voters to select the best qualified candidates for this critical role.  Voters are often too busy research candidates in these down ballot races and simply vote for an incumbent or a familiar name.  But we risk botched elections by failing to scrutinize these candidates.

One such candidate, Karen Montoya, presently seeking the Bernalillo County Clerk seat, should be vetted carefully, as her track record is suspect.  In 2012, she was the subject of an Albuquerque Journal editorial about her before she was elected to the Public Regulation Commission. (See “Can This Track Record Reform Troubled PRC?” December 5, 2012).

The Journal stated, “if voters knew then what they know now, it’s questionable they would be entrusting her with setting their utility rates, overseeing their insurance premiums and governing the safety of their ambulances.” It was referring to her inexplicable failure, as Bernalillo County Assessor, to impose property taxes on a $7 million “Tuscan estate” in Los Ranchos, a debacle exposed by Larry Barker, KRQE-TV, on March 23, 2013. The Journal also decried her failure to show up for work for a month during her primary campaign and her opposition to proposed legislation to reform the PRC and set qualifications for Commissioners.

Another Journal editorial about an embarrassing whistleblower incident at the PRC questioned Montoya’s ethical rigor related to workplace accountability and transparency: “Had the media not picked up on this case, this would never be an issue right now.”  (See “4 of 5 PRC members don’t get public accountability,” August 27, 2014)

Montoya’s ethics were also questioned in a Motion to Recuse her and other commissioners, filed by New Energy Economy with the PRC on September 2, 2015, Case No. 13-390-UT.  Montoya allegedly violated the PRC Code of Conduct prohibition against acts of impropriety or the appearance thereof by having an inappropriately close relationship with PNM, undermining her objectivity as a regulator and causing her to pre-judge PNM cases before the PRC.

Email evidence obtained from PNM revealed that Montoya held weekly Starbucks meetings with PNM’s Strategic Initiatives Director and repeatedly engaged in prohibited ex parte communications with multiple PNM executives.  She privately sought PNM’s positions on matters pending before the Commission and adopted them as her own in deciding cases and making presentations at professional conferences, including requesting and receiving a draft power point presentation from PNM she later presented at a conference as her own.  Montoya refused to recuse herself.

Emails also showed that Montoya successfully solicited from PNM a $1000 contribution to the political campaign of a friend, Tim Eichenberg, who had contributed $1000 to a previous campaign of hers.  (See “Too cozy with PNM?”, Santa Fe New Mexican, September 2, 2015)

Someone responsible for the secure, efficient and complete recording of our precious votes should not be one who looks for the easy or illegal way out of doing the job right, as Montoya has done in the past.

For County Clerk, I’m voting for Michelle Kavanaugh – the smart, competent Deputy Bernalillo County Clerk with a sterling character, a wealth of public service experience in voting administration, and a passion for election integrity.  I hope you will, too.

Cynthia Hall
Former New Mexico Public Regulation Commissioner