Police recordings haunt New Mexico governor

Police recordings haunt New Mexico governor

Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The woman who met police in the hotel lobby at 1:30 a.m. waved them off a complaint of rowdy behavior and demanded in a sing-song voice to know who called them.

Accompanied by her own state police detail, she scarcely needed to identify herself — but did anyway.

She was New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, the host of a hotel ballroom holiday party for staff members that spilled upstairs into a noisy fourth floor room and balcony, prompting complaints from other hotel guests.

Audio recordings of the awkward exchange between the governor and police are the latest difficulty to hit Martinez and could spell trouble for a rising star within the Republican Party.

'I went up there two hours ago and it was emp-ty, emp-ty,' Martinez told a Santa Fe police commander, Sgt. Anthony Tapia, and a hotel security guard, pronouncing empty as if it were two words.

'But now the complaint is bottles are being thrown over the balcony and I am in there. There are no bottles being thrown over,' she said, in audio captured by Tapia's belt recorder.

Tapia and the guard listened to Martinez, then stepped aside and agreed the governor was 'inebriated.'

They then puzzled over what to do.

'Obviously we're not going to be able to move her,' Tapia said. 'What can we do to resolve this?'

No police report or charges were filed, but political opponents are accusing the governor and former district attorney of bullying dispatchers and police while displaying an above-the-law attitude.

Martinez has said she had 1 1/2 drinks over the course of several hours at the party.

She apologized for the conduct of her staff and the way she herself talked to a hotel receptionist and police dispatchers. She said her staff may be disciplined but notes that they were hurling snowballs and not bottles.

Democratic state Sen. Michael Padilla said no one faults the governor for enjoying a holiday party.

'Have at it,' he said. 'But don't badger a hotel clerk, don't clog up a 911 line when there are serious calls. When a public safety officer is involved, any citizen of New Mexico should simply respond.'

The hotel recordings have touched off a flood of social media posts.

By Morgan Lee