AG Balderas cuts ties with Sec. of State’s Office

The Office of the Attorney General of New Mexico will no longer give Secretary of State Dianna Duran’s Office legal advice or representation and has returned 31 campaign finance civil complaints to Duran’s office.

Attorney General Hector Balderas notified Duran and her office in a letter Tuesday that his office will essentially no longer work together as a criminal case against Duran remains pending.

KOB requested and received a copy of the letter Tuesday evening.

The AG’s Office filed a criminal information and complaint Aug. 28 charging Duran with 64 counts, including embezzlement and fraud, for allegedly using campaign accounts to reimburse her personal accounts while gambling at casinos across the state.

“Beginning immediately, the SOS will need to seek other legal counsel,” the letter reads. “Until OAG resumes its representation of your office, please advise the OAG of any litigation in which the SOS is a party so we can properly commission the attorneys who represent the SOS.”

The Attorney General’s Office provides legal representation for state entities caught up in legal battles and also investigates campaign finance discrepancies that are referred to the office by the Secretary of State’s Office.

“Although not made lightly, I believe that the decision to discontinue our legal representation of the SOS while the criminal proceedings are pending will facilitate the operations of both our offices,” the letter continues.

Duran’s office referred 31 cases of possible Campaign Reporting Act violations to the AG’s Office six days after Balderas filed the criminal complaint and information, according to a spokesman for the AG’s Office.

“In light of the ongoing criminal complaint, I believe the most prudent course is to return the 31 referred matters to the SOS,” Balderas wrote in his letter Tuesday.

Balderas recommended Duran’s office refer the cases to district attorneys.

“Although I understand this may cause some inconvenience for your office, the [Campaign Reporting] Act authorizes the SOS to refer these and other civil matters for enforcement to the district attorneys, as well as to the OAG.”

James Hallinan, Balderas’s spokesman, told KOB those 31 cases do not include a pending complaint against Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, who KOB discovered had misreported or failed to report around $11,000 in campaign contributions.

“The Maestas referral from KOB was received prior to information sent by the Office of the Secretary of State and is still under review by the Office of the Attorney General. We will inform the public of the disposition of this referral once that determination has been made,” Hallinan wrote.

His letter goes on to say that though it may cause “some inconvenience” for Duran’s office, state law allows the Secretary of State’s Office to refer those complaints and other civil matters to district attorneys in the state for them to enforce.

The letter goes on to say that the AG’s Office will withdraw from further participation in pending arbitration between the Secretary of State’s Office and several other people and organizations, including Stand4KidsNM, CHILE-PAC and Stefania Ackerman.

It says that an assistant attorney general will help the Secretary of State’s Office transfer the pending civil matters to a private attorney.

Duran called the move by the AG’s Office political in a statement to KOB sent by her spokesman, Ken Ortiz:

“The Attorney General has created a ‘conflict of convenience’. Although he believes there is no conflict in prosecuting his own client, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General now believes he has a conflict with investigating other candidates and political committees who may be his political friends.”

KOB’s Ryan Luby contributed to this report, which first appeared at KOB.com