On Saturday, the Santa Fe New Mexican ran a story by the AP's Deborah Baker, covering a ruling issued Friday by state district court judge Daniel Sanchez, barring Wanda Valentine, a Tularosa Democrat, from the June 6th Primary ballot for failing to sign her own declaration of candidacy.
Baker, whose reporting is usually sharper than a Ginzu knife cutting a can, left a little to be desired on Saturday. While Baker mentioned that the declaration of candidacy forms were signed by an "woman whom Valentine had authorized to file the documents," she didn't say who the woman was. Link to article
Raising further interest is the fact that Valentine apparently wasn't the only Democratic candidate unable to sign her own name on the candidate form. According to Baker, another aspiring Democratic Candidate in Bernalillo County was bounced from the ticket for the same failure as Valentine. Again, Baker didn't mention the identity of the true signer.
However, two little birdies, (maybe they're the same ones talking to Ave down in Silver City) told me that the individuals who did sign the forms were employees of the Democratic Party of New Mexico who had been rushing around the state at the last minute to find candidates to run in the 2006 elections to prove to the DNC that the money for paid staff was being put to good use.
Why the State Party Employees are running around in a last minute frenzy to recruit candidates is beyond even me, considering they sent out this letter earlier in the year that declared finding qualified candidates a priority for the Party in the midterm elections.
The birdies, who even had the names of the employees that signed the papers, were surprised by the blunder, thinking seasoned professionals would know better. What the birdies still don't get, is that these aren't the Gov's organizers who had previously been working for the party and moving in things in the right direction in 2005.
Anyway, hope the party didn't have to pay for the legal representation.
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