Dem House race turns nasty
Trujillo mailer hits Romero over use of taxpayer funds; PAC backing challenger blasts lawmaker over sexual assault claim
In the cutthroat world of politics, the Democratic primary race between incumbent Rep. Carl Trujillo and newcomer Andrea Romero is about as nasty as it gets.
For evidence, consider the slew of campaign mailers and calls that House District 46 voters have been receiving in the past few weeks.
Trujillo, who is seeking a fourth twoyear term in the state House of Representatives, sent out a mailer that paints Romero as a vengeful liar who “lost her job for abusing our tax dollars, buying liquor and perks for her political cronies.”
Trujillo is referring to Romero’s tenure as executive director of the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities and reimbursements she received for alcohol and other expenses that violated the public agency’s travel policy.
“It was a mistake to have submitted those reimbursements and once it was brought to light, I should have handled it better,” Romero said Thursday via email. “I have learned from this experience.”
Romero took umbrage with Trujillo calling her a liar in his campaign mate-
rial, as well as accusing her of distorting his record “instead of running an honest campaign on her own merits and issues.”
“Carl has called many women liars during the course of this campaign, including the women who have come forward alleging sexual harassment,” she wrote.
Romero’s campaign mailers have been relatively benign, but an Albuquerque-based political action committee that supports her sent out a mailer that pummels Trujillo and shines a big spotlight on the recent sexual harassment allegations lodged against him by lobbyist Laura Bonar.
“Hands off, Rep. Trujillo,” states the front side of mailer, which shows a dark-skinned man wearing a wedding ring and placing his hand on the bare knee of a woman wearing a skirt.
“The details are disturbing and disgusting,” states the other side of the mailer. “Rep. Carl Trujillo accused of sexual harassment by a Santa Fe lobbyist.”
The mailer triggered a warning to parents on a social network for neighborhoods in the Pojoaque Valley.
“Wait until after the election to let your children check the mail,” wrote Eileen Reinders, a Trujillo supporter who called the allegations against the representative unproven and repulsive.
“The fact that such filth is being mailed is not in our control but we can ensure that our children don’t get exposed to such filth,” she added.
Trujillo, who is married, is accused of propositioning a female lobbyist for sex and then retaliating against the organization she represents, Animal Protection Voters, when she rejected his sexual advances in 2014.
Trujillo vehemently denies the accusations, calling them politically motivated lies that surfaced only weeks before the June primary instead of years ago, when Bonar says the harassment happened.
“Our opponents have shown that there is no limit to how low they will go in order to silence our voice,” Trujillo wrote in one of his mailers. “They are backed mostly by special interest groups who are not even in our district or part of our community, but think they should decide for us who represents us.”
Andrea Serrano, executive director of the Albuquerque-based Organizers in the Land of Enchantment, a 501(c)(4) known as OLÉ, said the group’s political action committee sent out the anti-Trujillo mailers because he “hasn’t been representing the interests of the people of the state.
“If you add on the egregious act of sexual harassment,” she added, “there’s no place for him in our state government.”
In a statement Thursday, Trujillo continued to emphasize that an outside group is trying to influence a local race.
“Putting aside for a moment that this is another example of illegal coordination and PAC campaign spending from the crowd that’s usually so vocal about getting soft and dark money out of politics, I continue to be saddened by the arrogance and narcissism of those who live outside the district thinking they have the right to tell the people of District 46 what our values should be and who should represent them,” he wrote.
The sexual harassment allegations dealt a major blow to Trujillo’s campaign. A couple of labor groups withdrew endorsements, and some of Trujillo’s Democratic colleagues have called on him to resign.
After the sexual harassment accusations became public, Planned Parenthood of New Mexico also called on Trujillo to resign. The organization called supporters who live in District 46 and asked them to sign a petition.
“The message of those calls was that Planned Parenthood believes completely that all people deserve to work in a safe work environment, free from hostility, including harassment, and we joined with other nonprofit advocacy groups in calling on Rep. Trujillo to resign,” said Marshall Martinez, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood in New Mexico. “Those calls were not about the election.”
Marshall said callers read from a script, though he declined to provide a copy, saying such documents are shared only with staff and volunteers.
“We don’t have anything to hide, but we have security concerns,” he said.
When asked how sharing the script was a security concern, he replied, “That is just our standard practice.”
The Planned Parenthood calls have added more drama to an already bitter race.
Over the weekend, the Trujillo campaign wrote on Facebook that voters had contacted the campaign about a so-called push poll — a call designed to influence voters’ opinions — paid for by Planned Parenthood.
“Our campaign has always supported the work that Planned Parenthood does and are heartbroken that they’ve chosen to engage in this kind of unethical tactic,” the Facebook post stated. “If you want to have a say about that (and free up our bandwidth so we can get back to the issues), consider calling their local and national offices to tell them to stick to the high road.”
The Facebook post included the personal cellphone numbers of Martinez, the Planned Parenthood spokesman, and Julianna Koob, who works as a contract lobbyist for the prochoice organization.
Koob said in an interview Thursday that she was camping over the weekend when she started getting warnings that Trujillo had posted her name and personal cellphone number on Facebook.
“I feel like this is the same intimidation and retaliation tactics he’s been [using] against Laura [Bonar],” said Koob, who filed a complaint Thursday against Trujillo with the Secretary of State’s Office, as well as the Legislative Council Service.
Koob emphasized that she filed the complaint as an individual, not as a contract employee.
“Trujillo’s intimidation and retaliation tactics against me on social media … are particularly concerning given the heightened danger of naming me, providing my cell number, and referencing my work in protecting a woman’s access to abortion,” she wrote in her complaint. “They are also concerning given the fact that Carl Trujillo’s supporters include an extremist group that opposes Roe v. Wade and just endorsed him.”
Trujillo, who was listed as pro-life in the New Mexico Alliance for Life voter guide, initially declined to comment about the complaint. But he later changed his mind.
“The larger issue is that given that the push poll they did was unethical and the spending they’re doing is illegal,” he wrote, “maybe people in glass houses shouldn’t be filing complaints.”