May 20, 2015

State GOP send out letter sent with typos, mistakes

The Republican Party of New Mexico is asking people to disregard a letter sent to thousands of households throughout the state, according to a report from a local TV station. The letter was filled with mistakes and even misspelled the name of Gov. Susana Martinez. House Majority Leader Nate Gentry told KOB-TV that the letter […]

Matthew Reichbach

The Republican Party of New Mexico is asking people to disregard a letter sent to thousands of households throughout the state, according to a report from a local TV station.

Screenshot from a 5/19/15 story on KOB-TV with Nate Gentry.

The letter was filled with mistakes and even misspelled the name of Gov. Susana Martinez. House Majority Leader Nate Gentry told KOB-TV that the letter was a draft and should not have been sent out.

The TV station said in addition to the misspelling of the governor’s name, the letter referred to Gentry as “Speak of the House” and used the official state seal. The Albuquerque Republican is not Speaker of the House, but rather the House Majority Leader.

The full video of the story is available at the bottom of the post.

Gentry, who was very active in the 2014 elections where Republicans took control of the House for the first time in decades, distanced himself from the mailer.

“I was surprised as anybody to see this letter,” Rep. Gentry said in an interview withKOB on Tuesday.He said he learned of it when friends contacted him Tuesday morning.

Supporters would have rightfully believed he authored the letter, which criticizes Senate Democrats. It looks as though he literally signed off on it.

Gentry says that the signature on the bottom of the letter is not his.

The letter was sent to 11,000 homes according to KOB-TV. It comes as members of the Legislature debate who is to blame for the failure of capital outlay legislation to pass.

A spokesman for the Republican Party of New Mexico, and a former spokesman for the House majority, placed the blame on a vendor that the party hired.

“An oversight occurred with our vendor which resulted in us believing that the letter was approved by Representative Gentry,” Pat Garrett, a party spokesperson, said in a statement. “Once we were notified that was not the case, we worked to rectify the situation immediately. It was an honest mistake and we apologize.”

Last week, Garrett mocked the new Democratic Party of New Mexico chairman for a typo on her Twitter account.

Debra Haaland has since fixed the typo on her Twitter bio.