Eldorado Hotel staffers called police in Santa Fe this weekend after a loud party. Then, someone identifying herself as Governor Susana Martinez demanded to know why police were called, insisting she and others were just “eating pizza.”
Related Story: See Gov. Martinez’s response to media outlets following this report.
Update: The City of Santa Fe released more audio.
NM Political Report obtained audio of three calls to police. One was from the front desk of the hotel, saying those in the room had been warned multiple times and asked for police to come and escort those in the room off the property.
Audio below: The first clip is the front desk calling police. The second clip has the woman at the front desk saying Martinez is there to speak to police and Martinez speaks to a dispatcher. The third clip features Martinez speaking to a dispatcher and police.
The other two featured Martinez demanding to know who called to complain and saying there was no need for police to be involved.
Related Story: Read the transcript.
NM Political Report left a message with a spokesman for the governor but did not receive a response. We will add a response when we receive one.
A front desk staffer called the police after midnight to have the people in the room “escorted off the property.”
“They’ve been warned already and they are still not quieting down,” the staffer told a Santa Fe Police Department dispatcher. “They’ve been told to leave. We were told to call you guys.”
Once the police came to the hotel, the woman identifying herself as the governor talked with police on the phone at least twice.
Matt Ross, a spokesman for the city of Santa Fe, confirmed police were sent to the hotel and confirmed that a police officer said he spoke to the governor about the situation.
Ross said the incident did not require a police report because security handled the situation to the hotel’s satisfaction before Santa Fe police arrived. Santa Fe police do not have lapel cameras yet, so there are no other records of the situation beyond the phone calls.
Since there was no arrest or “any real investigation,” Ross said, there was no police report.
In the first call, she came down to the front desk to speak with an officer.
“Hi, this is Governor Susana Martinez,” she says.
“What can I do for you?” the dispatcher responds.
She went on to ask what the complaint was about and why the police were sending officers to respond to it.
“Reference loud noise,” the dispatcher replies.
“Loud noise?” she said. “We’re in a room eating pizza.”
Martinez goes on to ask who complained, including what room they’re staying in, no less than seven times. The woman at the front desk said three times that she cannot give her that information.
“Oh, you can give it to the police but they won’t tell you—you won’t tell me? I’ll get it from the cops,” she says.
She also sought the information from the dispatcher, who rebuffed her.
“I can’t give you that information, ma’am,” he said.
“Why not? It’s public record,” she said. “Give it to me.”
Later, she said that there was no reason for police to show up.
“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’s disabled, along with about six other people who are having pizza,” she says.
When she asks the dispatcher what was reported, the dispatcher says that “there was a party and people were throwing bottles off the balcony.”
She responds that no one is throwing bottles off the balcony “and if there were, it was about six hours ago.”
After being told that the hotel’s front desk filed the complaint, Martinez asks the dispatcher again who complained to the front desk about her room.
“I don’t know, they didn’t advise us to that,” the dispatcher responds.
Then, Martinez addresses a police officer who is with her in person.
“There’s no one been throwing bottles off,” she says. “I’ve been in that room for at least two hours, and if there was it was about six hours ago.”
She then repeats herself: “Everything is, we are eating pizza and drinking cokes and whoever was throwing bottles is not there, hasn’t been there for like six hours.”
Since there are no records, there is no indication of who the others in the room are. Ross said police walked around the hotel but did not enter the room.
Previous Susana Martinez stories:
- Guv responds to reports of hotel party, phone calls
- GOP governors choose Martinez to lead RGA
- Gov confirms FBI spoke to her, staff about investigations
Update: Added quote from Martinez about public records
Correction: We misspelled the Eldorado Hotel as “El Dorado.” This his been corrected.
