Tuesday, May 03, 2022Checking In On The Dem AG Contest; Torrez And Colón Spar Over Campaign Money And Conflicts of Interest; Colón Uses Race Card To Defend AG Balderas; Torrez Says "For Sale" Sign At AG's Office Needs To Come Down
At a recent forum sponsored by Taos County Democrats (video here) BernCo District Attorney Raul Torrez went on the attack against fellow Dem AG hopeful and current State Auditor Brian Colon, saying Colón has received over $165,000 in contributions from out of state law firms that are looking to handle litigation for the AG's office: We need to rebuild the Litigation Division of the AG's office. We have outsourced some of the biggest civil litigation to out of state law firms...who are contributing to my opponent's campaign. . . over $165,000 in contributions from out of state law firms. We need to take down the for sale sign that is currently hanging inside the AG's office where people make big contributions and they get a big contract. We need to rebuild that division and concentrate on consumer protection and environmental protection. . . He also challenged his rival's environmental credentials, declaring: I am puzzled that Brian has taken over $10,000 from Chevron. . .It's really troubling. It has an impact on how you are going to enforce litigation and proceed aggressively against corporate interests. Colón, a prodigious fund-raiser who in his recent campaign report had $1.2 million in cash on hand April 4 compared to $563,000 for Torrez, shot back and pointed out that Torrez has taken a campaign contribution of $10,000 from the CEO of PNM. And he also made an issue of a PAC supported by billionaire George Soros that gave Torrez substantial support when he first ran for DA in 2016: The person who purchased his current office provided and bought that office for over $120,000. (That's) from one donor who helped fund that campaign for him to be the district attorney. So he has a long track record of taking money that assisted his campaigns in the form of a PAC.
I have a long track record of accountability and transparency. . . I'll let the attorney general defend himself in that regard. It is interesting to me that there are six or seven firms that are working on that case (the proposed merger between PNM and Avangrid that resulted in the ethics charge) and only one firm was singled out. It's the firm owned by people of color and I am not going to make any specific connections on that. But I'll also say it's not a conflict of interest to have either worked with an attorney in the past or to have associated with an attorney in the past. What we have to do is make sure that we have a transparent process to bid for that work and present your credentials for that work. Then there's a selection committee at the attorney general's office. And a bit out of character for New Mexico's "Happy Warrior," Colón then spanked the media: Everything from the Supreme Court to the Ethics Commission have all found no wrongdoing on the part of the current attorney general so the newspapers and the media doesn't necessarily cover that side of the story very well because it doesn't sell as many papers to say that the Supreme Court actually found no conflict of interest here. And any settlements that have been approved have all been approved by a judge. STATE OF THE RACE  It has been longstanding practice for New Mexico attorneys general to outsource millions in litigation contracts to high-powered out of state law firms that in turn make major contributions to the AG candidates. But the practice is now attracting more scrutiny. Torrez says he is not taking donations from the out of state firms and he is using Colón's donations from them as a cudgel. In his TV ads Torrez takes a dig at Colón saying the sate needs a "prosecutor not a politician." Colón is emphasizing his record as Auditor and says as AG he will go after "corporate greed" and "defend democracy." Colón, a former NM Dem Party chairman beat Torrez at the Dems March pre-primary convention, 62 to 38. Torrez is getting prominent backing from US Senator Martin Heinrich. Campaign watchers report that Colón has led in the polling and that his big money advantage could be key in the home stretch. As for billionaire Soros he does not appear to be coming to the aid of Torrez this time--at least not yet. Gallup attorney and Marine veteran Jeremy Gay is unopposed for the GOP AG nod but no R has been elected to the post since the 1980's. For Torrez and Colón it's all on the line June 7. This is the home of New Mexico politics.
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