Corey Johnson
If [Jamie] Estrada purchased the domain legally, which it sounds like he did, then he has the right to use it and use its attached email accounts. Webhosting 101.
If the Gov. [Susana Martinez] and team continued to use email accounts for which they no longer had control over, then they are just dumb and they deserved what they got.
Was it up to Estrada to tell everyone, “Hey, I own this domain now”? Nope, it was up to the Gov and her people to manage and renew the domain.
No one would care about a case like this, and law enforcement would ignore it if this was Joe Blow who didn’t renew his domain like a dummy. Law enforcement would tell Joe, “This is the way the internet works.” But because it’s the governor, then suddenly power and status turn this non-case into a big-deal federal offense.
It’s wrong and undemocratic to treat the public one way, then treat high government officials another. Who else has gotten prosecuted because of buying a domain that had lapsed its registration? No one, I am guessing.
I’ve lost a domain before because I forgot to renew it, and it was a huge pain in the ass but I didn’t cry like a huge freakin’ baby to the US Attorney’s office!
It was the governor and her team’s responsibility to control the domain and renew it, and they shirked that responsibility. I would be ashamed of this if I was on that team, instead of blaming Estrada.
I would hide my face instead of getting up in everyone’s business. This is not the way to respond to one’s own shortcomings, blaming everybody else.
Was Estrada slimy for abusing their emails? YES, no question about it. Should he be convicted of crimes? Probably not. It sounds like he played by the current f’ed up Internet Domain registration rules.
Should Team Martinez have been on top of managing and renewing the domain and changing the passwords when Estrada left? YES, totally. HOW DID THEY NOT DO THIS? Is it Estrada’s fault that Team Martinez is fubar? Nope, it’s not his fault.
If I was Team Martinez, I would get the US Attorney to quietly drop this case now, because in the end, the big damage to Team Martinez is going to come from the foolish way they look when people realize how incompetent her team was in all this, and how they lash out as a result of their own lack of attention to basic procedures, and how they use high political power to bring a prosecution that no one else would even bother with.
This reminds me of when [former US Rep.] Heather Wilson went after NM State Attorney [David] Iglesias. That boneheaded, clearly partisan political move torpedoed Wilson’s Senate career forever.
Susana, don’t make a boneheaded, rookie-league political move with this email debacle that your own disorganized team brought about! Political 101: Stuff your dirty laundry in a closet instead of hanging it out the fourth floor window, for the whole county to examine. Blame The Messenger
Frankly, it’s incredible that the Martinez campaign did not IMMEDIATELY CHANGE THE PASSWORDS for their website and their domain when they parted company with Mr. Estrada. That’s basic computer security.
The governor further expects us to believe that none of the emails for herself and staff got through for about a year, and yet they never noticed or switched to other email accounts. Yeah, sure.
The sad part of this is that, due to the way the email evidence was obtained, several potential crimes and breaches of ethics must go unprosecuted for lack of legitimate evidence.
Zandru
Mail letters to Letters, Santa Fe Reporter, PO Box 2306, Santa Fe, NM 87504, deliver to 132 E Marcy St., fax them to 988-5348 or email them to editor@sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in SFR and may be edited for clarity and space.
News, June 5: "Fallout"
