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| Secretary of State Herrera: Former employees critical of her office were "not competent" |
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Airdate: Tue., 16 Mar. 2010 |
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By: Jim Williams |
Secretary of State Mary Herrera |
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Secretary of State Mary Herrera is firing back over allegations that her office is poorly managed. As KUNM reported last week, several former Elections division employees have echoed the contentions of a former Elections Director that Deputy Secretary Francisco Trujillo is interfering with how the division is run. Herrera, in defending Trujillo, is now saying the former employees were incompetent. KUNM's Jim Williams reports.
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TRANSCRIPT: On February 26th, Elections Director A.J. Salazar quit his position, leaving behind a scathing resignation letter to Herrera. In it, he alleged Herrera had directed employees to gather petition signatures for her re-election, and to get sponsorships from companies that contract with the Secretary of State’s office. But Salazar also had strong words about Trujillo, saying the Deputy Secretary had told him the Bureau of Elections Administrator would report not to Salazar, but to Trujillo. That, Salazar argued, was indicative of the way Trujillo “undermined” the management of the Elections Bureau.
KUNM contacted two former Elections employees, and one who was at one point in line for a position in the office. Each confirmed Salazar’s statements, saying Trujillo was creating divisions in the office and was responsible for the high turnover there. Herrera, in an e-mail response to KUNM, writes “shame on these people blaming another person because they were not competent to do their jobs”. She adds that she “gave some employees an opportunity to perform but they basically didn’t perform at the expected level”. And, she says, had any of the former employees had Trujillo’s work ethic, which she describes as including “strong management skills”, she would have offered any of them the Deputy Secretary position.
KUNM has requested resignation letters of all other Elections Directors who left under Herrera’s tenure. At least one of those former directors maintains his letter is equally critical of Deputy Secretary Trujillo. Despite the fact that Attorney General Gary King has said the letters are public documents, Trujillo says they require further legal scrutiny before they can be released.
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