By MILAN SIMONICH
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Altering voter registration records in hopes of getting appointed to the Legislature must be a way of life for politicians in Cibola County.
A pair of bitter foes, former state Sen. Clemente Sanchez and former state Rep. Harry Garcia, both abruptly changed their residency listings to pursue a vacant seat in the House of Representatives.
Garcia began as the front-runner, but he was disqualified after state investigators exposed him for claiming he lived in a trailer park that was uninhabited.
Sanchez now has a chance to be appointed, but his tactics were similar to Garcia’s.
Sanchez and Garcia, both Democrats, pounced when ailing Rep. Eliseo Alcon resigned from the House District 6 seat Nov. 23.
At that time, Garcia and Sanchez listed themselves on voter registration records as residents of House District 69. Only a day after Alcon’s resignation, Garcia and Sanchez changed their records to claim they lived in District 6.
With Garcia’s residency in question, political pals still tried to send him back to the Legislature. The Cibola and McKinley County commissioners nominated him to fill the vacant House seat.
Sanchez called Garcia “a total fraud” for claiming he lived in the trailer park in District 6. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had her own doubts about Garcia. Rather than automatically appointing Garcia, she asked the state attorney general to investigate where Garcia lived.
One morning in January, an agent from the state Department of Justice found Garcia groggy from sleep in his spacious home in House District 69. Agents checked the trailer park where Garcia claimed he lived. It was unfurnished and vacant.
Garcia, 75, was finished politically. Sanchez, 66, gained new life in his campaign to receive the legislative appointment.
The Cibola County commissioners recently nominated Sanchez to be the representative in District 6, despite questions about his residency. Sanchez’s wife, Georgia Routzen Sanchez, is a freshman commissioner. She abstained from the vote in which her husband was selected.
McKinley County’s board of commissioners is scheduled to vote Tuesday on its nominee to fill the legislative vacancy. If McKinley’s commissioners also nominate Clemente Sanchez, the governor might have no choice but to call for another investigation of a candidate’s residency.
“I welcome it,” Sanchez said in a phone interview. “The people know I live here [in District 6].”
Not everyone agrees. One of Sanchez’s detractors is Ahtza Dawn Chavez, executive director of the organization NM Native Vote.
“While much of the focus has been on Harry Garcia, the public has a right to know Clemente Sanchez would be just as ineligible if put under the same process of an AG investigation,” Chavez wrote in an email.
Sanchez in 11 months twice changed the address on his voter registration record. Both changes were linked to political offices he sought.
Sanchez once told me he and his wife moved from Grants to Acomita in early 2023. Clemente Sanchez didn’t change the address on his voter registration record until Jan. 13, 2024, weeks before he entered the race for an open seat in Senate District 30. Acomita was part of the Senate district. Grants was not.
Sanchez lost to Angel Charley in the Democratic primary last June, 63% to 37%.
Rep. Alcon fell grievously ill less than six months later. Sanchez again switched his voter registration. This time he said he lived in Grants, and he applied for appointment to the open seat in House District 6.
Sanchez said his wife of 49 years remains in Acomita while he resides in Grants.
“Acomita is my wife’s family home, not mine,” Sanchez said. “People maybe find it strange we live in two different houses.”
Neri Holguin, who managed Charley’s winning Senate campaign, is another critic of Sanchez.
“He swore to the media and voters he lived in Acomita, not Grants. Today he’s saying he lives in Grants,” Holguin said.
Sanchez told me he probably spends 80% of his time at his residence in Grants. He visits his wife and says they often attend Mass together.
He insists his circumstances are different from Garcia’s. Sanchez says he is rooted in House District 6, whereas Garcia falsely claimed to live in the trailer park.
Lujan Grisham might not want Sanchez back in the Legislature. Like Garcia, Sanchez stood against the Democratic governor on abortion rights.
One of Lujan Grisham’s priorities in her first term was to repeal a 1969 law criminalizing abortion. Sanchez and Garcia voted to keep the old law on the books.
Progressive groups targeted Sanchez for defeat in 2020, and he lost in the Democratic primary.
Sanchez attempted a political comeback in a 2022 campaign for mayor of Grants. He lost that race by eight votes. Then came his move to Acomita and another loss in a Senate primary.
Now, seeking the House seat, he says he can withstand a state investigation of his residency, if it comes to that.
All the changing of records, politicking and debate about who lives where haven’t helped ordinary people.
The Legislature has been in session for almost two weeks. One seat is empty. Some 30,000 residents of House District 6 don’t have a representative.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505.986.3080.
