Friday, August 08, 2008

NM Attorney General: letter? what letter?

marjorie says...

Regarding the letter the A.G.'s deputy sent to the Sec. of State last May about New Mexico Youth Organized...

Apparently, it was followed up pretty quickly by another directing the Sec. of State to disregard it. Here we are in August, and the A.G.'s office has finally decided to share that bit of relevant information.

From Trip Jennings' story in the NM Independent:

Deputy secretary of state Don Francisco Trujillo said Thursday that the author -- Attorney General Gary King's Chief Deputy Albert J. Lama -- phoned shortly after sending the letter out to ask "me to disregard it or set it aside. I don't remember the exact terminology. The message was, we've decided that is not our final say." ...

"The letter has been the source of speculation about and criticism of our organization in the media over the past three months," said Matt Brix, political director of The Center for Civic Policy, which oversees New Mexico Youth Organized. "We are shocked to find out today that just days after it was released it was disavowed by its author."

Phil Sisneros, spokesman for Attorney General Gary King, confirmed Thursday that his agency and the Secretary of State's remain in talks about what to do about New Mexico Youth Organized. Changing the organization's legal status remains an option, as does backing off the advice in Lama's letter, he said.


"We are making sure that all our information is correct," Sisnerso said.
It is unclear why Lama sent the letter out.

When asked how much research Lama had done prior to the letter's release, Sisneros said, "You can ask him that yourself."


Sisneros, however, said that Lama could not be reached Thursday because he was on a plane.


Read the full story for yourself.

So, while these entrenched incumbents and their surrogates in the blogosphere used the letter for months to bolster their rampant hyperbole attacking the credibility of a pretty straightforward non-profit voter education campaign ...

... the A.G.'s office sat on its hands.

Why is that?