Ethics complaint dismissed against state Sen. Ivey-Soto
A hearing officer has dismissed an ethics complaint against state Sen. Daniel IveySoto.
The complaint, filed in August by Santa Fe attorney Daniel Yohalem, accused Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, of violating the Financial Disclosure Act, the Lobbyist Regulation Act and the Governmental Conduct Act in his work with the state’s county clerks and some of his votes as a senator.
Hearing Officer Alan Torgerson recently issued an order dismissing Yohalem’s complaint, basing his opinion on the late March findings of Walker Boyd, the general counsel for the State Ethics Commission.
Boyd cites a variety of grounds, including a lack of evidence for the claims and his determination some of the allegations were beyond the commission’s twoyear statute of limitations.
He also wrote the commission does not have the authority to investigate lawmakers’ votes or legislative actions, citing the state constitution, which says lawmakers “shall not be questioned in any other place for any speech or debate or for any vote cast in either house.”
As part of its investigation, the Ethics Commission took affidavits from Doña Ana County Clerk Amanda López Askin, Los Alamos County Clerk Naomi Maestas and Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine Clark. All three described their work with him as a contract adviser and in his former role as executive director of the Clerks Affiliate, which is part of the association called New Mexico Counties. They denied asking him to lobby or influence legislation.
Ivey-Soto, who has been in the Legislature for more than a decade and represents Senate District 15, is running for reelection against Heather Berghmans in the June 4 Democratic primary. The winner will face Republican Craig Degenhardt in the November general election in the heavily Democratic district.
Berghmans has the backing of some prominent Democrats; the state party cut ties with Ivey-Soto last year in the wake of harassment and bullying allegations against him. Yohalem’s complaint reiterated some of these allegations, which Ivey-Soto largely has denied.
Boyd found no probable cause to support them, finding Yohalem either lacked direct knowledge or that the statute of limitations had passed.