Deputy Bernalillo County Treasurer Linda Stover has gone on the offensive in her ongoing debate with the Board of County Commissioners over whether she had the right to take her job.
Stover was hired by county treasurer Tim Eichenberg and started work Jan. 1. Her term as county clerk had expired the previous day.
Stover said her ethics complaint against County Commission Chair Eric Olivas is a matter of defending her reputation and the hard work she’s done to acquire it.
The Bernalillo County Compliance Office has confirmed receipt of the complaint, but it has yet to be scheduled for a hearing before the Code of Conduct Review Board.
The complaint states that Olivas violated provisions in the county’s code of conduct prohibiting commissioners from “making, participating in making or in any way attempting to use” their positions to influence hiring decisions.
The complaint says there’s a narrow exception that permits a commissioner to confidentially inform the county manager or county attorney of alleged employee misconduct.
It says Olivas violated those provisions when he filed a complaint with the review board on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners.
“Olivas’ repeated public statements vilifying me and my actions violate (confidentiality and nondisclosure requirements in the code),” Stover wrote in her filing with the compliance office.
Another allegation is that Olivas broke rules against commissioner interference by infringing on Eichenberg’s statutory authority to hire his own staff.
County commissioners argued that Stover’s hiring violated the code of conduct, which includes a one-year “cooling-off period” after leaving office before a former elected official can accept employment or paid consulting work with the county.
Stover and Eichenberg say the county ordinance violates state law, which gives certain elected officials exclusive domain over the hiring of their deputies and that county commissioners may not obstruct an official’s choice in those matters. Eichenberg has filed a lawsuit seeking to have that right spelled out.
The review board eventually found that Stover did violate the code, but acknowledged the courts will likely settle the issue.
Olivas said Thursday that the allegations in the complaint are unjustified.
“It’s a frivolous complaint in my opinion,” he told CityDesk ABQ. “I was acting in my role as chair of the county commission.”
Olivas said his public statements had been vetted by the commission’s lawyer, and he had been empowered to act by the rest of the board.
“(Stover) is just trying to muddy the waters while avoiding really serious issues she has now been found guilty of,” he said.
Olivas said attorneys for the county commission believe District Court Judge Joshua Allison will decide in June on a schedule for the case.
Stover disputed the claim that her complaint is frivolous, saying that after Eichenberg approached her about working in his office, she considered the code of conduct, but was assured by Eichenberg that state law permitted her to become a deputy treasurer.
She said further activity, such as her attending required training for county employees and an opinion from New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez led her to believe she was sworn in because it was determined she hadn’t done anything wrong.
One thing on which she and Olivas agree: the process is taking time and resources away from the operations of county government.
