Font Resize
LAS CRUCES - The Doña Ana County commission may censure one of its own on Tuesday.
The board will consider such action against District 5 County Commissioner Leticia Duarte-Benavidez, Democrat, for yet-specified reasons.
A censure amounts to a formal reprimand.
County Attorney John Caldwell said Wednesday afternoon that he was still drafting the language of the censure, and it won't be ready until today. He said he didn't want to comment about the matter until Duarte-Benavidez was given a copy of the resolution.
"In fairness to the commissioner, I'd prefer not talking until she's had the chance to see it, too," he said.
Caldwell said there's no alleged criminal activity on Duarte-Benavidez's part. He declined to comment further.
Duarte-Benavidez, meanwhile, said Wednesday she didn't know what was behind the proposed censure. She said she'd contacted the county's legal office, which told her the document would be ready today.
"I'm about as baffled as everybody else," she said.
County Commission Chairwoman Dolores Saldaña-Caviness, Democrat, and Commissioners Karen Perez and Billy Garrett, both Democrat, declined to comment about the matter and instead deferred questions to Caldwell or County Manager Brian Haines.
Haines didn't return calls seeking comment about
Duarte-Benavidez has held the seat since January 2009. She's a former grants administrator for the county. District 5 is located mostly in Las Cruces.
County spokesman Jess Williams said a censure can be proposed for a variety of reasons, including violations of the county's code of conduct or state law. He said he doesn't know the specifics of the allegation against Duarte-Benavidez.
"This is a matter that goes before the commission, and they have to study it and decide how they're going to vote," he said. "I'm waiting to read the resolution, too."
The county commission last censured a county official in February 2007. The body reprimanded then-County Treasurer Jim Schoonover, Republican, who was alleged to have improperly spent money on pencils that resembled campaign materials and used county manpower and equipment to carry out work for personal reasons, including on behalf of a nonprofit with which he was involved. Schoonover contended the censure was a politically motivated attack.
Schoonover left office in December 2008, when his term ended. He lost an election bid that year to current Treasurer David Gutierrez, and lost a statewide race last year for New Mexico treasurer.
In November 2009, a former county audit committee chairwoman, Verona Wright, asked the county commission to consider sanctioning former County Commissioner Oscar Vásquez-Butler for what she called a "verbal affront," made during a public meeting, against the county's internal auditor at the time. The commission didn't grant her request.
Diana M. Alba can be reached at (575) 541-5443.
If you go
•What: Doña Ana County commission meeting
•When: 9 a.m. Tuesday
•Where: Doña Ana County Government Center, 845 N. Motel Blvd., Las Cruces
•Information: (575) 647-7200; www.donaanacounty.org
