Michael Morris – In Focus

In the world of politics the only constant is the presence of corruption. Well, in New Mexico, we have the additional component of sloth on the part of many elected official that consider themselves some kind of royalty by virtue of being entrusted to do the People’s business. Lincoln County Clerk Tammie Maddox is by no means alone in criminal behavior in office. Instead she is merely the first to be exposed in what appears to be a widespread corruption regarding ballot manipulation. Yesterday Ruidoso News reporter Julie Carter brought to light the latest felonious act by Maddox. In this case Maddox has been caught willfully subverting the law she is charged with upholding. State law requires that she be imprisoned for this felony.

The current situation concerns a criminal violation of the Election Code by placing incumbent Lincoln County Sheriff Rick Virden on the primary ballot when the candidate did not follow the law required to obtain placement on the ballot. Let’s take a moment to understand the law here. You decide who is more dangerous to the community, a drug dealer on the street corner or felons willing to engage in crime to steal an election from the people. Do you really want a psychopathic criminal like this one recording your deed?

NMSA 1-8-29

"DECLARATION OF CANDIDACY

I, ............, (candidate's name on certificate of registration) being first duly sworn, say that I reside at ............, as shown by my certificate of registration as a voter of Precinct No. ........ of the county of ............, State of New Mexico;

I am a member of the ............ party as shown by my certificate of registration and I have not changed such party affiliation subsequent to the governor's proclamation calling the primary in which I seek to be a candidate;

I desire to become a candidate for the office of ............ at the primary election to be held on the date set by law for this year, and if the office be that of a member of the legislature or that of a member of the state board of education, that I actually reside at the address designated on my certificate of voter registration;

I will be eligible and legally qualified to hold this office at the beginning of its term;

If a candidate for any office for which a nominating petition is required, I am submitting with this statement a nominating petition in the form and manner as prescribed by the Primary Election Law; and

I make the foregoing affidavit under oath, knowing that any false statement herein constitutes a felony punishable under the criminal laws of New Mexico.

The allegations here are that Virden did not file the nominating petition required by this law:

1-8-21. Primary election; methods of placing names on primary ballot.

A. All candidates seeking primary election nomination to a statewide office or the office of United States representative shall file declarations of candidacy with the proper filing officer. Candidates shall file nominating petitions at the time of filing their declarations of candidacy. Candidates who seek, but do not obtain, preprimary convention designation by a major political party may file new declarations of candidacy and nominating petitions pursuant to Section 1-8-33 NMSA 1978.

B. Candidates for any other office shall have their names placed on the primary election ballot by filing declarations of candidacy and nominating petitions with the proper filing officer. Candidates for county office shall also pay filing fees or file the proper paupers' statements at the time of filing declarations of candidacy.

Is that clear enough for you?

There are penalties for this.

In the case of the Clerk who was to require all of the items above before certifying a candidate for placement on the ballot:

1-20-23. Violation of code by officers.

Violation of the Election Code [Chapter 1 NMSA 1978] by officers consists of the willful violation of the Election Code by any state or county officer or by any deputy or assistant thereto, or the willful failure or refusal of any such person to perform any act or duty required of him by the Election Code.

Any officer, deputy or assistant who commits such willful violation of the Election Code is guilty of a fourth degree felony and, in addition, violation is sufficient cause for removal from office in a proceeding instituted for that purpose as provided by law.

Take note of the words “any act or duty required of him by the Election Code.” We will be referring to this later.

If a candidate for any office for which a nominating petition is required, I am submitting with this statement a nominating petition in the form and manner as prescribed by the Primary Election Law

And:

Candidates for any other office shall have their names placed on the primary election ballot by filing declarations of candidacy and nominating petitions

So why is there no prosecution forthcoming? Well, in New Mexico we have a long history of allowing governmental felons to walk free. Unlike the other common criminals across the state the elected who steal from the public the legitimacy of the elections that make this a free country steal from us all. I ask again who has committed the greater offense, a guy selling pot on the corner or those entrusted with public office using that office to perpetrate election fraud?

Here is the real kick. For her defense Maddox is invoking incompetence rather than willful violation. As amazing as it sounds Maddox will defend her criminal actions with a defense of ignorance of the law. Above we see an explicit requirement that the Clerk follow the law. Implicit in that obligation would be to actually know the law. Sure we can place some of the blame on the malpracticing County Attorney Alan Morel who never bothered to inform anyone of the election law. Then again when you hire an incompetent tax sucking shyster with a track record like his you get what you pay for. Regardless of the useless County Attorney who, had he been competent in the law he sells himself as an expert in, could have prevented this mess it is the Clerk who has an affirmative duty to know the duties of the office. In this case Tammie simply wiped her butt with the law in an orchestrated plan to get a fellow party member on the ballot while at the same time keeping an independent candidate off the same ballot.

For her defense Maddox looks for safe harbor in the felonious conduct of Secretary of State Mary Herrera and her predecessor Rebecca Vigil-Giron for whom the statute of limitations has not yet run. The object of this felonious conduct is found here:

1-20-9. Falsifying election documents.

Falsifying election documents consists of performing any of the following acts willfully and with knowledge and intent to deceive or mislead any voter, precinct board, canvassing board or other election official:

A. printing, causing to be printed, distributing or displaying false or misleading instructions pertaining to voting or the conduct of the election;

The document in question is the “2008 Candidate Guide” printed with your tax dollars meant to mislead the voters by stating the conditions for ballot qualification reflected in a pre-1996 law that did not require county office candidates to file a nominating petition. Sadly we see that that law was amended in 1996 as follows:

Effective January 1, 1997, a new Section 1-8-21 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:
"1-8-21. PRIMARY ELECTION--METHODS OF PLACING NAMES ON PRIMARY BALLOT.--

A. All candidates seeking primary election nomination to a statewide office or the office of United States representative shall file declarations of candidacy with the proper filing officer. Candidates shall file nominating petitions at the time of filing their declarations of candidacy. Candidates who seek, but do not obtain, preprimary convention designation by a major political party may file new declarations of candidacy and nominating petitions pursuant to Section 1-8-33 NMSA 1978.

B. Candidates for any other office shall have their names placed on the primary election ballot by filing declarations of candidacy and nominating petitions with the proper filing officer. Candidates for county office shall also pay filing fees or file the proper paupers' statements at the time of filing declarations of candidacy."

Not only is this a criminal violation of the law it shows the utter uselessness of the Secretary of State. It has been over 11 years since the law was changed yet the SOS still publishes the last century law. Why? It does not matter as the law prohibits “printing, causing to be printed, distributing or displaying false or misleading instructions pertaining to voting or the conduct of the election”. Mary Herrera, without question, caused this document to be published with tax dollars and also caused the same to be distributed to any voter considering candidacy for office. Is ignorance of the law a defense to this as well?

In the same section of law we find an additional crime by Tammie Maddox:

1-20-9. Falsifying election documents.

B. printing, causing to be printed, distributing or displaying any official ballot, sample ballot, facsimile diagram, ballot label or pretended ballot which includes the name of any person not entitled by law to be on the ballot, or omits the name of any person entitled by law to be on the ballot, or otherwise contains false or misleading information or headings;

Clearly a false and unlawful certification and placement on the ballot of a candidate who has not filed the required documents underlying this certification has “include[d]s the name of any person not entitled by law to be on the ballot.” So far we have seen Lincoln County Clerk Tammie Maddox engage in 2 felonies in the placement of Rick Virden on the primary ballot. Is that the kind of government you want? Government by the criminals for the criminals?

Now to the point of convicting the criminals. The first obstacle to overcome is the presumption under the Election Code that the Secretary of State is not one of the perpetrators of the crime. The Election Code places in the hands of the SOS the responsibility of referring violations of the Election Code to the Attorney General or District Attorneys for prosecution. Since the Secretary is in clear criminal violation of the Election Code how can she be allowed to make that determination? The answer is she cannot because of the inherent conflict of interest involved in investigating her own criminal actions. Unfortunately there is no clear cut procedure in the law for dealing with a criminal action by the SOS in the Election Code. Lacking that we have to fish around for the road to justice.