FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Scott Forrester

March 29, 2011 505-934-5681

(ALBUQUERQUE) -- DPNM Chairman Javier Gonzales yesterday sent a letter to Governor Susana Martinez asking her to reconsider her nomination of Darren White to the Judicial Standards Commission.

The following is the letter in its entirety:

March 28, 2011

The Honorable Susana Martinez
Governor of New Mexico
Office of the Governor
490 Old Santa Fe Trail
Room 400
Santa Fe, NM 87501

Dear Governor Martinez,

I understand and respect the executive power of the governor to make appointments. But with this power comes great responsibility.

I am not talking about a responsibility to ensure ideological balance, though I would hope that would be one of your aims when making appointments. What I am talking about is a responsibility to ensure that your appointments are not so severely ethically compromised that they -- by their mere connection to a commission or department -- raise serious questions about the validity of any decisions coming out of that commission or department.

Specifically, I am talking about the recent appointment of Darren White to the Judicial Standards Commission.

I do not oppose White because I think he's conservative. I oppose him because too many serious questions have been raised about his dealings while holding public office or while in publicly appointed positions. From securing a lucrative contract for a campaign donor to his questionable practice of seizing money and property from people who have not been charged with a crime, to the overwhelming no-confidence vote levied against him by rank-and-file members of the Albuquerque Police Department, White's track record has raised much more doubt than it has inspired confidence.

It is for these issues that I respectfully urge you to withdraw your nomination of White for the Judicial Standards Commission.

The Judicial Standards Commission is one of those rare institutions in government where lay people and experts come together and do the hard work of judging our judges. And because White's judgment has been so suspect, it is increasingly important to the public's faith in the Judicial Standards Commission that he not be allowed to serve. It would be abhorrent to think of a commissioner having a vendetta against a judge who ruled against him. But that is potentially the conflict the White appointment presents considering how his property-seizure policy was recently found to be illegal by a judge who he would oversee were he to become a commissioner.

I'm no lawyer, but that seems like a terrible way to oversee judges.

As someone who campaigned on ethics, I would hope you could clearly see the pitfalls of moving forward with a Darren White appointment to the Judicial Standards Commission and reconsider.

Regards,

Javier M. Gonzales
Chairman, Democratic Party of New Mexico

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Scott Forrester

March 23, 2011 505-934-5681

(ALBUQUERQUE) -- Darren White, who has recently faced serious questions over his role in helping a campaign contributor get a lucrative contract selling useless DWI-monitoring equipment to Bernalillo County, has been appointed by Governor Susana Martinez to the State's Judicial Standards Commission.

White has also been roundly criticized for supporting a controversial practice of seizing property and cash from people before they were even charged with a crime. A judge ruled that White and the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department overreached in their interpretation of seizure guidelines and the county will have to pay back $3 million it illegally seized.

"Talk about a bad appointment," said DPNM Executive Director Scott Forrester. "Here we have a Martinez crony with a track record of questionable ethical decisions being put on a board that oversees the behavior and practices of our judges. The Judicial Standards Commission must have members that have an impeccable record and demonstrated history of good judgment. Sadly, that's not the case with Darren White."

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