Rep. Rod Montoya, GOP whip, also faced tax lien

SANTA FE — The state Republican Party last week called on House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, to resign his leadership post after facing a federal tax lien earlier this year.

But a member of the House Republican leadership — Minority Whip Rod Montoya of Farmington — faced a bigger tax lien the previous year.

The Internal Revenue Service filed a notice in San Juan County a year ago claiming Montoya owed $44,850 in unpaid taxes over two years.

In a written statement Friday, Montoya said he will resolve the lien soon.

“This lien is the result of a career change a few years ago,” he said. “I have addressed the issue and it will be resolved soon.”

In a separate statement Friday, Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce stood by his criticism of Egolf and didn’t directly respond to a question about whether Montoya should resign as minority whip. The two situations are different, Pearce said, because Montoya isn’t speaker of the House and he opposed 2019 legislation that increased some taxes.

Democratic Party Chairwoman Marg Elliston said Pearce “thought a minor tax technical error — that had already been resolved — merited resignation by a Democrat. If, however, Pearce has not yet called for the Minority Whip’s resignation, then I am eager to hear why he holds Republican legislative leaders to a different set of standards.”

Egolf’s lien was filed in February for $10,594. He said he had made a mistake while writing a check and didn’t realize he owed anything until notified of the lien, which he said he paid immediately.

ELECTION RESULTS: Forget about election night. Voters might want to prepare for election week.

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Trevor

Potter, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, said Thursday that the expected influx of absentee ballots in the Nov. 3 general election could mean voters go to bed that night without knowing who won close races.

They spoke in an online event sponsored by New Mexico Ethics Watch, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

Toulouse Oliver said it’s routine for vote counting to continue well past Election Day. But usually there are so few outstanding ballots that the public doesn’t notice — because they won’t affect the outcome of races.

But the potential for a recordbreaking number of absentee ballots could change that.

Absentee ballots turned in on Election Day — or that arrive with a 7 p.m. mail drop from the Postal Service — will be difficult to tabulate immediately on election night, she said.

“There will be outstanding ballots,” Toulouse Oliver said. “That’s a given.”

Potter, general counsel to John McCain’s 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns, said voters should prepare for similar delays in states throughout the country. The verification of absentee ballots is a normal part of the process and witnessed by outside observers, he said.