New Mexico Governor: If We Were Throwing Bottles Off The Balcony ‘It Was About Six Hours Ago’
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New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez was the subject of a complaint at a hotel when neighbors complained of loud noise.
Martinez’s recorded dealings with police, dispatchers and hotel employees made her a wide target for criticism Friday. Her detractors and political enemies accused her of trying to bully other government employees to thwart an investigation.
The confrontation began about 1:30 a.m. Sunday following the governor’s holiday staff party in a hotel ballroom when an employee of the hotel called police to report troublesome guests “partying” in a room and to ask that police escort them off the property.
“They’ve been warned already and they’re still not quieting down. They were told to leave and we were told to call you guys,” the employee said. A dispatcher asked if the guests had weapons. “I just know that they were throwing bottles off the balcony, I believe, earlier,” the employee replied.
After learning of the complaint, Martinez personally intervened, prompting a hotel desk clerk to call authorities again, so that Martinez could speak to a dispatcher. After she was handed the phone, Martinez invoked her title and demanded to know from a dispatcher who had complained about her group.
“Hi, this is Gov. Susana Martinez,” she says, then asks why police are coming to the Eldorado Hotel and who made the complaint they had received.
“I can’t give you that information, ma’am,” a dispatcher says.
Martinez replied: “Why can you not? It’s public record. Give it to me.”
Martinez has issued an apology:
“I want to apologize for the conduct of my staff the night of our holiday party,” she wrote. “There was apparently a party in a hotel room earlier in the night that was disruptive. Someone was also throwing snowballs from a balcony. None of that should have happened and I was not aware of the extent of the behavior, until recently. And that behavior is not acceptable.
“I also want to admit that I made a mistake when I went to speak to the receptionist and asked her about the complaint. I should not have gotten involved in trying to resolve the situation, nor should I have spoken to the dispatcher on the phone. I was wrong to speak with them like that, and I apologize.”
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