There are some people out there who have considered New Mexico’s Republican Governor Susana Martinez to be the most likely person to broaden her party’s appeal to Latinos who are not of Cuban descent and maybe even the voting public at large. I mean, heck, she’s already the Vice Chair of the Republican Governor’s Association!
Having resided in her state entirely through her tenure, I have always said: “guess again.”
Today, Santa Fe County authorities released bombshell 911 tapes featuring audio of the governor interacting with police and the staff of the hotel where her own staff’s holiday party took place last weekend. The topic of the calls was a disturbance at the hotel, with loud noise and reports of bottles being thrown. Martinez was staying in a room in the hotel through at least 1:30am, at which point the cops started to get involved.
During the 911 calls leading to and during the police presence, Martinez was recorded intimidating hotel staff and the 911 dispatcher, repeatedly demanding to know who reported the disturbance and giving us all a brand new way to pronounce “piz-zah.”
At one point it appears the hotel desk passed a call to Martinez who wasted no time in throwing her weight around and demanding to know who called the complaint in because it's "public record."
Martinez: Helloooo?
Dispatch: Yes, this is (inaudible) with the Santa Fe Police Department.
Martinez: Hi, this is Governor Susana Martinez.
Dispatch: What can I do for you?
Martinez: Yes, tell me what the complaint is? ... Why are you coming to the El Dorado Hotel?
Dispatch: Because we were called out there.
Martinez: For what purpose?
Dispatch: Uh, reference loud noise...?
Martinez: Loud noise?? We're in a room eating pizza.
Dispatch: I'm sorry, someone called us out there and we had to go.
Martinez: Someone? Who is someone?
Dispatch: I can't give you that information ma'am.
Martinez: Why can you not? It's public record, give it to me.
Martinez is heard in the background asking "is it possible another resident had made a complaint." Staff answered affirmative, then Martinez demands to know the room number and gets nasty again, this time with hotel staff:
Martinez: What room number? … Tell me! What room number?
Hotel staffer: I'm not allowed to say.
Martinez: Are they on the fourth floor? Are they next door to our room?
Hotel staffer: They're in that area.
Martinez: What area? Are they next door?
Hotel staffer: I don't know.
Martinez: I want to know who they are.
The dispatcher attempts to connect the governor to a supervisor. It appears that cops have shown up in person at that point, but she’s still on the phone harassing the dispatcher:
Martinez: Ok so we're sitting in there, I'm the governor of the State of New Mexico, and we're in there with my sister who is disabled along with about six other people who are having pizza ... why does this require 30 police officers to be here? … I've been in that room for at least TWO hours and if there was, it was about six hours ago ... Everything is ... we are eating pizza! And drinking Cokes. And whoever was throwing bottles, is not there and hasn't been there for, like, six hours.
In the tape transcript I counted at least eight references to her party eating pizza. I think that much we can all agree on. In any event, the governor eventually concludes the final 911 call with a demand that they call off the police presence:
Martinez: Thank you very much. We appreciate it. There's no necessary...it's not necessary for your office to be here. ... Thank you. Call them off. Goodbye.
Now that the story has erupted on local media she’s apologized but said her alcohol consumption was light over the course of the evening. Judging from the tape, it sure doesn’t sound that way, but who knows.
So there you go. New Mexico is used to bad leadership (hey, our Secretary of State just went to jail today!) Forget her administration’s scandals too numerous to list here. Being caught on tape acting this way just might be Gov. Martinez’s downfall.