Two Easy Voting Choices

Two 2020 local primaries shouldn’t be close.

I had hoped the County Commission would appoint Lindsey Bachmann County Clerk when Scott Krahling left. The Commission appointed Ms. Askin. I’ve found her professional, careful, responsive, and thoughtful, and she appears to be an effective leader. She ran the 2019 election well, despite limited preparation time and resources. Some Yvette Harrell supporters place her just this side of Satan in their cosmos; but they provide no evidence.

Challenger Andrew Ostic is a disgruntled former employee seeking revenge. He was terminated in December 2019, after 18 years with the County Clerk’s Office. He appealed, and his termination was upheld. He apparently has not filed a lawsuit challenging it. 

 

When we talked, Ostic alleged Askin violated county policies and procedures and state ethics laws; but he refused to provide details, or even identify rules he thought broken, repeating, "it's a personnel matter." Personnel rules would keep Askin from commenting on his shortcomings or termination; but he can speak freely. He apparently had some beef with his supervisor, and perhaps her supervisor; I’m guessing he had little contact with Askin; but Askin is the one he can attack. I hate to say it, but accusing her of unspecified legal wrongs and refusing to say anything more lies somewhere between idiocy and character assassination. It hardly suggests competence. 

 

County Treasurer Eric Rodriguez won election to the post four years ago. I didn’t support him in the primary or general election. He had worked under David Gutierrez. Gutierrez’s sexual misconduct was flat wrong, and embarrassed us all. Gutierrez was helping Rodriguez get elected. I wanted Rodriguez to promise publicly that he absolutely would not hire Gutierrez as deputy. Rodriguez assured me that he wouldn’t hire Gutierrez, and I believed him; but without an unambiguous public statement, I couldn’t support him.

We’re four years down the road. Rodriguez didn’t hire Gutierrez. He seems to have handled the job professionally and prudently, though we sometimes disagree. A year ago Easter Weekend, on Saturday night, while visiting the many asylum-seekers housed at LCHS, I saw Rodriguez behind a table handing out water bottles. I thought it a good sign. 

 

Rodriguez’s primary opponent is Gina Montoya Ortega. In 2015, Ortega ran for mayor, finishing 3^rd in a 3-way race. In last year’s mayoral race, she finished fifth. She ran Fiesta Bakery for many years. 

 

Ortega says we should elect her because Rodriguez got his start under Gutierrez, who was a disgrace to party and county. She told us she wanted to make the Treasurer’s Office more transparent. Rodriguez pointed out that he’d done just that; and that since many citizens don’t read county financial reports on the website, he added a helpful newsletter. Ortega accused Rodriguez of starting the newsletter as a political ploy, in response to her challenge. I asked when he’d started it. Three years ago. She also cited something she’d read by an Albuquerque county treasurer saying clean audits were important. Rodriguez noted that the County has had clean audits. Ortega seems to lack financial qualifications; and she landed no blows on Rodriguez.

In each case we have someone in office who seems competent and honest. Neither was my first choice for the position; but they’ve both impressed me. Their challengers’ efforts to attack them not only have failed but have tended to embarrass the attackers. Voting for these two incumbents should be easy choice.

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[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 3 April 2020, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A radio commentary version will air during the week both on KRWG and on KTAL (101.5 FM -- Las Cruces Community Radio), and will be available on demand on KRWG's site.]

[Nothing against the challengers in these races.  But when folks in office seem to be doing a relatively good job, and challengers can't muster serious allegations to the contrary or show superior credentials, why are they running?]

[PLEASE DO contact the County Clerk's Office and request an absentee ballot, so that if you choose to vote by mail (or drop your ballot off at a designated location), you'll be able to do so.
Call 647-7428.  You can also register to vote -- or, if you've moved, change your registration address, on-line https://www.donaanacounty.org/elections.]

[After this column appeared in the paper this morning, someone I know and respect added personal observations of Mr. Ostic's poll-worker training sessions: "From my limited perspective, it was a wise decision to remove Andrew Ostic from his position at the County Clerk’s office. . . . It’s my understanding that he had been in charge of training [poll-workers] for many years.  While some poll workers are quite good, some are not and his training sessions could be a significant reason why.  He was rigid, relatively disorganized, and uncreative . . . lacked good interpersonal skills, lacked imagination, and seemed mainly focused on certain procedural steps.  . . .  It was also clear that Andrew took a dim view of poll challengers." ]