NM AG candidate Colón grasps for headlines over his attempt to stop Otero election audit

As Democrat New Mexico State Auditor Brian Colón attempts to grab headlines amid his run for the state’s open attorney general post, he is trying to stop Otero County from doing a forensic audit of the 2020 election. The audit was exclusively reported on first by the Piñon Post.

“New Mexico State Auditor Brian Colon’s Office confirmed it opened a special examination over an agreement between Otero County and a firm to audit the results of the 2020 Election, asserting the contract could violate state [procurement] laws,” one report notes. 

Colón’s basis for making a publicity stunt against the audit is that he thinks the $49,750 approved by the Otero County Commission this month is against the New Mexico Procurement Code, claiming the procedure of how the contract was procured “raised questions.”

But Otero County Attorney RB Nichols said, “The contract was sourced and approved under (the small purchases section) of the Procurement Code. The contract is for professional services and under the $60,000 threshold,” crippling Colón’s apparent politically motivated argument.

Colón then further proved his attempt to hinder the audit was politically motivated by appearing on MSNBC’s far-left The Rachel Maddow Show. 

When Maddow asked what prompted his inquiry into the contract for the audit, Colón told Maddow, “This initial examination was opened due to a whistleblower who anonymously provided a complaint to our office about this expenditure.” He claimed, “My job is to restore people’s faith in government, and I’m not sure that’s what’s going on in Otero County right now.”

Maddow branded the company, EchoMail, which was awarded the contract, as being started by an “election conspiracy theorist,” Shiva Ayyadurai, who is reportedly the founder of email and highly educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

When asking about political motivations Colón has about his inquiry into Otero County’s audit, the state auditor responded, “For us, every dollar in New Mexico — particularly rural New Mexico — is important to the taxpayers. And we gotta make sure that there isn’t any waste, fraud, or abuse. You know, when we have elected officials who are abusing power, potentially,  we hold them accountable with our investigations and our findings.” 

Colón said, “For me, what I always have to look through the lens of is this translation in the best interest of taxpayers? In this particular concern, we gotta wonder whether this has something to do with a personal agenda and that’s gonna be part of the question. What drove this translation? Was it appropriate… legal and compliant with all our codes, regulations, and procurement process”

“And was this in the best interest of the taxpayers, or was this a situation where we really had waste in government? There has already been an audit on this election by a bipartisan panel. Is it appropriate to spend another $50,000 to audit the election, or is a personal agenda driving the decision?”

He added, “In this case, we are gonna do a full and complete investigation to make sure not one dollar was misspent or spent without the appropriate process.” 

It should be noted that Colón has yet to do a “full and complete” investigation into alleged fraud to the tune of millions of dollars during the allegedly corrupt Susana Martinez administration, which he noted in 2019 abused power. Nor has he done an investigation into scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham regime, which misplaced hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money from the Department of Workforce Solutions, misuse of taxpayer dollars for $200/lb Wagyu steaks and liquor, or the Governor paying off a former staffer $150,000 for allegedly groping his crotch. 

But now, Colón is striving for “transparency” despite an election audit being just that — a search for the truth. If there is nothing to hide, why fight an audit?