After a Democratic political action committee called for the resignation of New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran for alleged racist jokes, Duran reportedly placed a member of her staff on leave.
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Updated 4:45pm Thursday: The Albuquerque Journal reports that after the Justice League PAC raised concerns about language on an official disclosure form template posted on Duran's website, Duran has placed a staff member on leave.
The 2011 PAC filing form, which is downloadable on the Secretary of State's website, originally listed the following sample filing:
"Sheryl Powdrell-Culbertson" is an amalgam of two African American state legislators' names, Sheryl Williams Stapleton, a Democrat, and Jane Powdrell-Culbert, a Republican. Jefferson Davis was president of the Confederated States of America during the Civil War.
"It's appalling that any person, much a state elected official, would provide such horrible racist commentary, and I think Secretary Duran ought to do the right thing and resign immediately," Eli Il Yong Lee, the treasurer of the Democratic Justice League PAC, tells SFR.
"Literally, this morning, I opened this document from the Secretary of State's website, and I was just appalled," Lee says.
The Secretary of State's office did not return three separate phone messages requesting comment.
The scandal comes on the heels of Attorney General Gary King's announcement that Duran's decision allowing Gov. Susana Martinez' use of campaign funds to pay for political ads decrying the issuance of driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants was unlawful.
To view the report, click here go to the section of the Secretary of State's website dedicated to political action committees (PACs).
Under "2011 POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE FORMS," click on "2011 PAC Filing Form for April 11, 2011 Report," which will lead to an automatic download of an Excel file.
The third tab of the Excel file, titled "Monetary Contributions(B1)" was where the information displayed above was posted--but as of 1pm Thursday, the information was apparently deleted.
Here's a PDF version of original Excel file from NM Secretary of State's office (give it a moment to load, then zoom all the way in to read it):
