Steele supporter Michael Gaddy said he told about 400 people via email last month that The Cortez Journal either acted with \u201cdeliberate\u201d fashion or \u201cineptitude\u201d in vetting Republican sheriff candidate Steve Nowlin. He also emailed the Denver Post and Albuquerque TV stations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is disconcerting to many that this information is in the public domain, yet The Cortez Journal has endorsed Mr. Nowlin for the office of sheriff without it seems even a cursory examination of his past reputation,\u201d Gaddy wrote in an email on Aug. 20.<\/p>\n
(No reporters or news editors at the Cortez Journal write editorials or endorsements.)<\/p>\n
Gaddy based his claims on selected portions from a 249-page court transcript of a motions hearing that took place in La Plata County on Oct. 23, 2008. Gaddy said the \u201cdamaging\u201d court documents connected to the interstate drug\/theft ring reveal that Nowlin was \u201cdishonest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of this county are entitled to this information before they vote for any candidate for an office which requires the public trust,\u201d Gaddy wrote.<\/p>\n
Gaddy, an Army veteran, is former president of the New Mexico Minuteman Project, one of the first anti-immigrant groups to patrol the nation\u2019s southern border in Arizona beginning in 2005. In 2011, he claimed that federal land-use policies in the West were part of an orchestrated effort to hide the transfer of mineral rights on public lands to China.<\/p>\n