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THE NEW MEXICAN Thursday, June 5, 2014
LOCAL NEWS 3K veterans left without doctor Congresswoman seeks answers, plans town hall
pool was part of an effort to balance demand and a shortage of doctors at a facility that handled nearly 660,000 outpatient visits last year. By Susan Montoya Bryan They said the health of patients was The Associated Press monitored, and those who needed urgent care were seen either in clinALBUQUERQUE — Officials at ics or emergency rooms, or they a Veterans Affairs medical center in were squeezed onto the schedule of Albuquerque say as many as 3,000 another doctor, but it wasn’t immedipatients were assigned to a docately clear whether the practice put tor who didn’t actually see them, a any veterans at risk. New Mexico congresswoman said It also wasn’t clear how long they Wednesday. waited to be assigned to a doctor. The officials told U.S. Rep. Michelle Officials said the practice began in Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., that the summer 2012 and lasted until Janupractice of putting patients without ary 2014, but they have not said what prompted the end of the program. primary care doctors into a separate
The congressional staffers were told nearly two-thirds of patients at the Albuquerque VA medical center are seen within a 14-day window, but Lujan Grisham questioned the data, given that VA officials weren’t initially forthcoming about the patient pool. The disclosure of the separate patient pool, which was managed through the local VA’s computer system, comes as the Veterans Affairs Department grapples with allegations that secret waiting lists and delayed care sometimes led to the deaths of veterans in other states. The congresswoman said she has asked for more information from VA
officials, including the results of an internal review. “We want everything, and I don’t think we should stop until there’s no stone left unturned,” she said. Lujan Grisham is hosting a town hall Saturday in Albuquerque to address allegations that the New Mexico VA manipulated wait times and delayed care for thousands of veterans. The state’s congressional delegation also is awaiting the results of an audit done by regional VA officials. A VA spokeswoman didn’t immediately return messages seeking com-
Please see VeteRans, Page A-7
Rodella loses election; FBI raids home Probe may be related to sheriff’s traffic stop By Anne Constable and Uriel J. Garcia The New Mexican
Controversial Rio Arriba County Sheriff Tommy Rodella on Tuesday lost his re-election bid by 200 votes to a former deputy whom he had fired. And the next morning, the FBI showed up with a warrant to search Rodella’s home in La Mesilla. Sheriff’s office spokesman Jake Arnold said the search was related to a criminal prosecution initiated by the sheriff’s office of a man he identified as Michael Tofoya. “Other than that, I don’t have any other comment,” Arnold said. Frank Fisher, a spokesman for the FBI’s Albuquerque Tommy Division, issued a Rodella statement that said, “This morning, the FBI executed a search warrant at the home of Rio Arriba County Sheriff Thomas R. Rodella in connection with an ongoing federal investigation. Pursuant to U.S. Department of Justice policy, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office cannot comment on the nature of investigation at this time.” This isn’t the first time the FBI has raided a Rodella premises. Agents searched his office in 2013, ostensibly looking into a scholarship fund Rodella set up to accept donations from motorists in lieu of traffic fines. No charges were filed, and Arnold said the fund was found to be legal because deputies act as prosecutors in the Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court. Rodella recently defended the fund, saying that educating young people is a way to fight the county’s well-known drug-abuse problems. Rodella declined, through a spokesman, to comment about Wednesday’s search. A statement issued Wednesday night says Rodella has retained the law firm of Rothstein, Donatelli, Hughes, Dahlstrom, Schoenburg & Bienvenu LLP to represent him in response to “recent allegations stemming from a March 2014 traffic incident involving Sheriff Rodella’s encounter with an erratic driver.” The statement says Rodella handled the encounter “lawfully and is innocent of any wrongdoing in this matter.” The FBI declined to specify what triggered the search, but online court records show that Michael Tafoya, 26, was arrested by Rodella in March following a chase through a La Mesilla neighborhood. Tafoya was charged
Rio Arriba County Sheriff Tommy Rodella’s home in La Mesilla was searched by the FBI on Wednesday morning. The FBI declined to specify what agents were searching for. PHOTOS BY LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
sheriff, can I see your badge?’ ” he told the TV reporter. “And so he pulls out his badge and says, ‘You want to see my badge?’ And he grabs me by my hair and he says ‘Here’s my badge.’ ” A KOAT-TV reporter said Tafoya told her Rodella also pointed a gun at his face and slapped him across the face with the badge. In Tuesday’s Democratic primary election, Rodella lost by two percentage points to James Lujan, who polled 37 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns. Joe M. Mascareñas, a former two-term Rio Arriba sheriff, finished third. Lujan said Wednesday that it had been a long night waiting to learn the election outcome. No results for Rio Arriba County, which has elecRodella’s picture hangs outside the sheriff’s office Wednesday. Rodella tion bureaus in both Española and lost his campaign for re-election Tuesday by 200 votes to a former Tierra Amarilla, were provided to the deputy whom he fired. Secretary of State’s Office until after 10:30 p.m., and those were only partial with assault on a peace officer, identified himself. Then, after being results. aggravated assault and resisting or forced to stop at the end of a dirt Lujan said he had been hanging out obstructing an officer. The charges road, Tafoya tried to run the sheriff with family and friends Tuesday night were dismissed later that month and over, according to the document. at JoAnn’s Rancho O Casados, his apparently not refiled. Tafoya told KOB-TV on Wednesday mother-in-law’s restaurant in EspaA probable cause statement in the that after he posted bail, he contacted ñola, but he wasn’t really sure he had case describes how Rodella and his the FBI to report the incident because won until Wednesday morning. son were traveling west on County he was mistreated by Rodella and his He said the election outcome Road 126 in La Mesilla when Tafoya son. He said Rodella had been tailgat- showed that “the people of Rio Arriba nearly collided with Rodella’s gray ing him, and, after pulling him over, are ready for change.” Jeep and then almost rear-ended Rodella and his son pulled him out of Lujan said cooperation is key to the his car and shoved him to the ground. another vehicle. Tafoya fled in his “I finally asked him, ‘If you’re the vehicle after Rodella stopped him and Please see sHeRiff, Page A-7
A police chief in a small, southeastern New Mexico city who was suspended for having sex in the back of an ambulance, however, lost his judicial bid. And Rio Arriba County Sheriff By Russell Contreras Tommy Rodella not only lost his seat The Associated Press to a deputy he once fired, he woke up Wednesday morning to a federal raid ALBUQUERQUE — A judicial canon his home. didate convicted in a fatal drunkenSuch were the outcomes of some of driving accident and a sheriff’s canthe more unusual races in Tuesday’s didate with three prior convictions elections, which also selected guberfor driving while intoxicated were natorial and statewide nominees. among those who won their party’s In the state’s most populous county, nomination in Tuesday’s New Mexico Scott James Baird narrowly defeated incumbent Bernalillo County Sheriff primary.
inside u After nasty treasurer’s race, opponents bury the hatchet. Page a-7 u Two incumbents trail opponents in Legislature races. Page a-7
Dan Houston for the GOP nomination. Baird drew attention before the election when the Albuquerque Journal reported he had three DWI convictions between 1985 and 1987. Baird said those arrests were 30 years ago and happened before he became a father and husband. “Over 25 years ago in his youth, Scott struggled with three DWIs and
Section editor: Howard Houghton, 986-3015, hhoughton@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Richard Olmsted, rolmsted@sfnewmexican.com
Mayor’s transition team issues blistering report Editor’s note: Over the next several days, The New Mexican will take a look at various sections of Mayor Javier Gonzales’ 140-page transition team report. Read the report at www.santafenewmexican.com.
By Daniel J. Chacón
The New Mexican
Members of a transition team assembled by Mayor Javier Gonzales to analyze nine areas of city government pulled no punches concerning the head of the city’s Finance Department. The team’s finance subcommittee said the department needs oversight by an individual with expertise in finance, accounting and budgeting practices, as well as good leadership and communication skills — which the report said is “lacking within the Finance Department.” The report doesn’t identify current Finance Director Marcos Tapia by name. “In terms of weaknesses, your finance area, in my view, is an area of weakness,” former Santa Fe County Manager Domingo Sanchez told the mayor and city councilors Tuesday. The mayor, who was elected in March, had asked Sanchez and David Wolf, another former Santa Fe County manager and onetime county budget director, to assess the city’s financial, budgetary and administrative structure and operations. The Finance Department isn’t alone, Sanchez and Wolf wrote in their report. Other city government “weaknesses” include the Information Technology and Human Resources departments, which the report suggests should be consolidated with the Finance Department under a single Administrative Services Department.
Please see finance, Page A-10
ROBERT TRAPP SR., 1926-2014
Española newsman a community watchdog By Robert Nott The New Mexican
came to the realization that he needed to turn his life around; and the transformation was remarkable,” Baird’s campaign website says. “It was during this struggle that Scott found his faith, found his bride, became a father and gave up drinking.” Houston had problems of his own, being accused by a former employee of discriminating against Latinas. The county later settled a whistleblower lawsuit connected to Houston for $570,000. In Rio Arriba County, known for its unusual politics, Alexandra Naranjo
A newspaperman who many considered relentless in carrying out the watchdog role of a free press died Sunday of natural causes at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center. Robert Trapp, who helped found the Española-based weekly Rio Grande Sun back in 1956 and guided it for decades, was 87. He was preceded in death by his wife, Ruth, who died in January. Robert Though he offiTrapp Sr. cially retired as editor and publisher in 2001, Trapp remained involved as editorial writer, among other duties, until shortly before his death. Over his nearly 60-year career, he faced off against old-school politicos, corrupt cops, drug dealers, educational leaders and even advertisers who weren’t always happy with what Trapp considered fit to print. But, as former Rio Grande Sun reporter Sally Denton said Tuesday, “He never backed down. He assigned us to look into unsolved murders …
Please see PRimaRY, Page A-7
Please see tRaPP, Page A-10
Primary brings out several unusual candidates One convicted in deadly DWI, another with 3 DWIs win their races
Santa Fe finance director’s expertise faulted
BREAKING NEWS AT www.santafenewmexican.com