AG can't document open-meetings breach

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (KRQE) - New Mexico Attorney General Gary King has ruled that a probe into whether a troubled New Mexico border city violated a state sunshine law in appointing the mayor earlier this year is inconclusive.  

The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that the office issued its opinion last week about Sunland Park after interviewing five city councilors.  

The determination indicated that King's office interviewed the five city councilors who voted abruptly to appoint Mayor Javier Perea in August . None of them corroborated a version of events relayed to the Sun-News by a sixth city councilor, Mayor Pro Tem Isabel Santos, according to the letter.  

The attorney general's office interviewed the councilors in the presence of the city's attorney, Frank Coppler, "at his request," according to the letter.  

"Based on our investigation, we are unable to find witnesses or documentary evidence that independently corroborates the allegations of Ms. Santos," wrote by Richard Word, assistant attorney general.  

In August, Santos' account had pointed to a type of state Open Meetings Act violation known as a "rolling quorum," in which members of a board talk to each other, one by one, outside of a public meeting in order to reach consensus.  

The complaint about a possible violation was filed by the Sun-News in the days following the vote. It was based on information provided by Santos about conversations she claimed transpired before the vote. More specifically, Santos reported that two separate city councilors had reached out to her before the vote, mentioning a plan to install Perea as mayor at the next city meeting.  

Councilors voted in August to appoint Perea as Sunland Park mayor after Mayor-Elect Daniel Salinas was charged with extortion.  

The city also has been rocked by a number of arrests linked to allegations of voter fraud.  

Santos stood by her original remarks, reiterating the account. She charged that Perea's appointment was coordinated in the days leading up to the vote by a group of people who "want to control the City Hall."  

"I'm very sure they had a rolling quorum," she said.  

Perea, meanwhile, said he had received a copy of the letter from the Attorney General's Office and believes the City Council did not run afoul of the sunshine law.   "As far as I know, there was no violation of the Open Meetings Act," he said.