NM secretary of state hit with new charge of identity theft

The state attorney general’s office says it will no longer provide Secretary of State Dianna Duran’s office with legal advice or handle campaign finance complaints referred by Duran’s office.

Duran’s lawyer Erlinda Ocampo Johnson filed late Wednesday a motion, arguing Attorney General Hector Balderas has a conflict of interest since he and Duran have sparred in the past. She pleaded not guilty to the charges last month but has faced mounting pressure to resign.

“Although not made lightly, I believe that the decision to discontinue our legal representation of the SOS while the criminal proceedings are pending will facilitate the operations of both our offices”, the letter states.

The AG’s Office filed a criminal information and complaint August. 28 charging Duran with 64 counts, including embezzlement and fraud, for allegedly using campaign accounts to reimburse her personal accounts while gambling at casinos across the state.

For Duran, that amount would be close to $500,000.

The complaint details an interview that investigators had with Don Kidd about his name being used on several reports Duran filed as part of her 2010 campaign.

The complaint also stated that a review by investigators uncovered more than 100 transactions totaling more than $10,000 were found in bank statements but not listed as campaign expenditures.

What was to have been “a signature case of public corruption by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office” instead ended in 2014 “with a whimper”, the Albuquerque Journal wrote at the time.

Balderas told Duran earlier this week the Attorney General’s Office would not act as the Secretary of State’s Office’s legal counsel, at least while the criminal case against Duran is pending.

The secretary of state’s office is responsible for enforcing campaign finance reporting and elections laws.

The case also has spurred calls by open government advocates for reform of the state’s campaign finance system.

The next court hearing in the Duran case is set for Thursday in Santa Fe.