The crowded Democrats’ county sheriff’s race may be between former Anthony Police Chief Veronica Ordoñez and longtime State Police Officer James Frietze. Each is personally appealing and has significant relevant experience. My progressive friends favor Ordoñez. Friends in law enforcement favor Frietze. Each has a good demeanor. Sheriff Kim Stewart has endorsed Ordoñez. The Deputies Union has endorsed Frietze.
Among Republicans, I prefer former under-sheriff Jaime Quezada; but 2022 nominee Byron Hollister brings substantial law-enforcement experience and Gabriel Baisas is a thoughtful “constitutional conservative” with an interesting background. I’d rule out former sheriff Todd Garrison, who got so entranced by a non-law-enforcement person he hired that morale hit an absolute low. Once the county administration fired the man, he then sued all of us, but the federal judge ultimately dismissed the case and fined the man. Deputies who experienced that would be horrified if Garrison prevailed. A recent conversation suggested that Garrison still doesn’t understand (or admit) how badly his misjudgment harmed DASO and its employees.
The county assessor’s race is a mess. Former Department employee Ruben Reyes knows the office best, but he generated extensive complaints from co-workers. An investigation found that that he’d created a hostile work environment for women, as the Sun-News reported in 2019. This year, his odd response to our invitation for a radio discussion would not spark confidence in him.
Incumbent Gena Montoya Ortega and two-term county commissioner Shannon Reynolds visited us. Gena sounded good, displaying knowledge of her job. However, there are persistent reports that her autocratic management style reportedly drives folks. Even discounting tension between her and the county commission, the complaints are concerning. Some come from people I know and trust. Gena strongly denies these reports, and urged any critics to join her on the radio.
Aside from the Jupiter Project, Reynolds is a capable public servant and a good manager, who stood for transparency and careful observance of law for most of his tenure. Some say he’s running because of existing problems in the office.
However, if elected, Reynolds almost surely could not legally serve. Our state constitution states, “All county officers, after having served two consecutive four-year terms, shall be ineligible to hold any county office for two years thereafter.” Shannon resigned in December 2025. In a 1984 case, the state supreme court stated, “[W]hether or not he resigns prior to the completion of his second term, he is nevertheless ineligible to seek election for a third consecutive time.” That’s binding on lower court. If Reynolds appealed, would the supreme court change its mind?
Shannon says neither the county nor the state filing office rejected his candidacy. But those offices make ministerial decisions and verify formal filing requirements and obvious statutory qualifications, but do not conduct real investigations absent a complaint or challenge. They check for timely filing of proper paperwork with sufficient valid signatures, timely financial disclosure forms, and whether the candidate’s residency and party registration are correct. Those offices don’t check for criminal history, constitutional eligibility controversies, or potential incompatibility-of-office questions. The system relies on challenges by other candidates or by voters. Too, here the constitution says he can’t hold the office – not that he can’t run.
So, probably I don’t vote for my good friend Shannon Reynolds. I don’t vote for Reyes, a man who created a hostile work environment. Maybe I vote for Eugenia Montoya Ortega, while imploring her to adopt a softer and wiser management style.
– 30 –
[The above column appeared Sunday, 17 May 2026, in the Las Cruces Sun-News and on the Sun-News website and (presently) on KRWG’s website. A shortened and sharpened radio commentary version of this Sunday column will air during the week on KRWG (90.1 FM) and on KTAL-LP (101.5 FM /
I’m beyond disappointed in Shannon Reynolds, who long stood as a pillar of ethics and good judgment on the Dona Ana County Commission. Quite naturally, he asked the Sun-News if the paper could print a column from him when my column (above) appeared. I welcomed that.
However the degree to which his column (available in full here) is misleading, even flatly false, is shocking. He claims to have consulted with lawyers. Either they told him what he wanted to hear, or they’re the dumbest lawyers this side of Donald Trump’s Department of Justice.
Shannon admits that the state constitution provides that: “All County officers after having served two consecutive four-year terms, shall be ineligible to hold any county office for two years thereafter.”
“ Note that the word “full” nowhere appears in that provision. Yet Shannon insists that its “basic premise is that an Elected Official must ‘serve two full terms.’” That’s a quite reasonable reading of the provision, though not the way I would have read it. So which is correct?
The first place anyone would look for guidance is to New Mexico Supreme Court decisions. I cited one, and had told Shannon about it. The case goes against him. In hid rebuttal column, does he cite it and offer some reason the New Mexico Supreme Court would now overrule it? Sadly, no. He hides it from readers. Pretends it doesn’t exist. If he were a lawyer arguing in court, the Judge would punish him for that.
Shannon hides the ball. He adds, “Before registering to run for this office, I reviewed this part of the Constitution and consulted a couple of lawyer contacts and we agreed that by leaving office in December of my 3rd year of my second term, this does not apply to my situation.” He doesn’t deign to explain how they figured leaving a year before the end of his term would cut it. Given the “two years” inactivity mandated by the constitution, resigning a year earlier would have seemed a more likely effort to get round the law.
Shannon claims I’m “being used by” his opponents. Shannon has used me too, at times. I write a Sunday column, as best I can, that tries to share truth and occasional insight with fellow members of this community. Often some folks love what I write and some hate it. I gave Shannon every chance to respond with rational argument or legal authorities to the way I read this provision. Instead, he offers taurine waste.
He even claims that the Secretary of State and the County Clerk “are both aware of this Article of the Constitution and determined that I can in fact serve once elected.” Those offices don’t determine any such thing, as I discussed in the column. I interviewed our county clerk, who would not agree that she “determined Shannon could serve.” She determined that he could run, and he is.
He claims he’s safe because no one has yet legally challenged his presence on the ballot. A year or two ago, behind the scenes, I helped with a situation where a county official in another New Mexico county was running for an office, even though he could not have served in it without resigning his existing post. We agreed that my friends could not keep him from running, but only from serving. The judge agreed that he could not mandate a withdrawal, though he pointed out how silly the candidacy was.
Shannon calls me a “pawn” being moved around by his opponents. I’d have guessed maybe I was a knight, moving to the drums I hear, uncontrolled by Shannon or anyone else. I’m most sorry to see Shannon, having bothered to ask for space in the paper, decline even to mention the New Mexico Supreme Court case that he knows holds against him, and tell us what eloquent arguments he would use to get a different result in 2026.
Of course, the point was to end Ms. Montoya Ortega’s reign as assessor, for reasons that likely include both good and questionable motives. It may succeed, if Shannon gets elected and can’t serve, letting the county commission pick someone it likes better than Gena. And that may even be the best result for the county. I don’t presume to know. But bullshitting the voters is bad form, Shannon.
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