Auditor faces ex-mayoral race rival
Editor’s note: This is part of a series of election stories about 2018 New Mexico races and candidates that started Sunday. Look for more stories in the coming days and weeks leading up to Election Day.
SANTA FE — Just over a year ago, Brian Colón and Wayne Johnson were both running to be Albuquerque’s next mayor.
Now they’re squaring off in the race for state auditor, a once-obscure state government position whose stature has increased in recent years due to previous auditors’ efforts to broaden the scope of the office.
Johnson, a Republican and former Bernalillo County commissioner, currently holds the $85,000-a-year job, after being appointed in December by Gov. Susana Martinez. He filled the vacancy created when then Auditor Tim Keller won the Albuquerque mayor’s race.
Since becoming auditor, Johnson has ratcheted up the scrutiny of several quasi-governmental agencies, including a state high-risk insurance pool and the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities.
“What I’ve found is when
people are observed they tend to behave better,” Johnson said. “I look at myself as the chief transparency officer in the state of New Mexico.”
Colón, a Democrat with a long political track record of his own, also touts transparency as a tool to reduce fraud and waste in New Mexico state government. If elected, he said in a recent interview, he would seek to raise awareness and secure more funding for a state fraud hotline.
“The more I’m on the campaign trail, the more I realize the deep disappointment the electorate has in public officials,” said Colón, who is an attorney of counsel with the Albuquerque law firm of Robles, Rael and Anaya.
The State Auditor’s Office functions as a state government watchdog of sorts, as it’s in charge of making sure each state government agencies’ finances are reviewed annually. It’s also authorized to launch special audits and refer findings to law enforcement agencies.
The state auditor’s budget has been cut in recent years — from $3.8 million in the 2015 budget year to $3.4 million this year — and the office currently has 28 employees, according to a state transparency database.
Independence
Johnson is trying to buck history in this year’s race; the last time a Republican was elected state auditor was in 1966, when Harold Thompson won election to the post.
He argues that having a GOP auditor is a good thing in a state with a large number of Democrats — both in terms of voter registration and elected officials.
“I think the key component of any audit is independence,” he said. “I think it’s really a good thing and a healthy thing for a Republican to be in an office like this so you have that separation of influence.”
Johnson has also questioned whether Colón, a former state Democratic Party chairman, could be compromised by political connections. He specifically cited the friendship between Colón and Attorney General Hector Balderas, a former state auditor who attended law school with Colón and publicly endorsed his campaign for mayor.
“That type of connection concerns me as a taxpayer and citizen of the state of New Mexico,” he said. “As an auditor, it would raise an eyebrow.”
In response, Colón said he’d be able to put his friendship with Balderas aside if necessary, but also suggested the attorney general would be unlikely to balk at an outside auditor’s findings.
In addition, Colón said, he would not be bashful about pushing lawmakers and the state’s next governor — either Republican Steve Pearce or Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham —for adequate funding for the Auditor’s Office.
“I am going to hold the next governor accountable to make sure I have the resources to do my job,” he told the Journal.
Colón also questioned Johnson’s response to a recent ruling by Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s office that Johnson reimburse his campaign for $1,607 spent on an October 2017 party for his failed mayoral campaign. Johnson said last week he planned to appeal the ruling and accused Toulouse Oliver of political bias.
Meanwhile, Colón also pointed out Johnson’s chief of staff, Bobbi Shearer, previously worked as elections director under former Secretary of State Dianna Duran, who resigned and pleaded guilty in 2015 to misusing campaign funds to cover a gambling habit.
“That doesn’t engender trust in the public,” Colón said.
Fundraising
Colón has outraised and outspent his opponent in the auditor’s race, but much of that spending occurred in a Democratic primary race that pitted Colón against state Rep. Bill McCamley of Las Cruces. Johnson was unopposed in the GOP primary.
As a result, Johnson reported last month having slightly more money in his campaign account than Colón — $105,029 to $100,607.
A Journal Poll conducted in midSeptember found Colón with a lead over Johnson in the race, but plenty of voters were still undecided. Forty-five percent of proven statewide voters surveyed in the poll said they would vote for Colón, while 39 percent said they’d vote for Johnson.
Colón said his law degree and finance background make him “perfectly situated” for the auditor’s job and said he’s learned from past campaigns, including being the Democratic lieutenant governor nominee in 2010 and one of eight candidates in last year’s Albuquerque mayoral race.
“There’s a reason I’m back at the table, no matter how hard it is to lose,” Colón said. “I feel like I’ve got something to offer.”
He also said he would evaluate special audits undertaken by Johnson, and forge ahead if they’re found to be worthwhile.
For his part, Johnson said he would continue with the work he’s already started if elected to a new four-year term.
While he has faced criticism for overreaching on some efforts, including a planned review of New Mexico’s public campaign financing system, he said he’s focused solely on results.
“There are a lot of things that we’ve discovered since I took office that either hadn’t been audited or hadn’t been audited to a full compliance level,” Johnson said. “I really believe there’s all these groups we don’t even know about yet.”