Honeyfield: Mendoza defamed him

By Zsombor Peter
Staff writer

Eric Honeyfield

GALLUP — If Mayor Harry Mendoza thought he had heard the last from Eric Honeyfield when he pressured Gallup’s former city manager to resign 3 1/2 months ago, he was wrong.

In a Sept. 10 letter to Mendoza, Honeyfield’s attorney, David Jordan, accuses the mayor of defaming, wrongfully terminating and breaching the contract of his client. Should the parties fail to resolve the claims, Jordan threatens to sue. The city has yet to respond.

Honeyfield claims he resigned July 11 following a meeting with the mayor that morning. If he failed to step down voluntarily, Mendoza reportedly said he had enough support on the City Council to remove him by a majority vote. Jordan claims the request was retaliation for Honeyfield’s refusal to violate the law by “pre-selecting (City Councilor) Bill Nechero for an unbudgeted administrative job” and “pressuring city department heads for gubernatorial campaign contributions.”

According to Honeyfield, Mendoza asked him to reserve the soon-to-be vacated position of assistant city manager for Nechero,. But as a condition of the lawsuit the city settled with the U.S. Justice Department a few years ago for allegedly discriminating against American Indian job applicants, City Hall agreed to fill all positions competitively.

“I explained to (Mendoza) again and again that that’s the way it had to be,” Honeyfield said.

Nechero eventually landed a job with McKinley County as a DWI probation coordinator. But the warning did not stop Mendoza from later suggesting that the council replace Honeyfield — with the mayor’s friend and campaign supporter Gerald Herrera — without a competitive search as well. The city attorney eventually prevailed upon the council to open the vacancy to other applicants, but Herrera won the slot anyway. A pair of shunned candidates, both Navajo, have filed complains with the New Mexico Human Rights Division claiming the council had no genuine intention of giving anyone else a fair chance.

As for the campaign contributions, Honeyfield said Mendoza and state Sen. John Peña, a former city mayor, together attempted to pressure him into asking all city employees earning $50,000 a year or more to chip in for Gov. Bill Richardson’s re-election bid. Mendoza claims he received a letter from Peña asking for contributions from city staff and passed it on to Honeyfield and the city attorney strictly to have them consider its legality.

“In retaliation for Mr. Honeyfield’s lawful conduct, you conducted an illegal poll of city councilors to gather support for his termination,” Jordan writes Mendoza. “The illegal poll violated open meetings laws and placed extraordinary pressure on Mr. Honeyfield.”

Mendoza himself has conceded to individually and privately approaching at least three of the city councilors, a quorum of Gallup’s five-member governing body, to gauge their interest in removing Honeyfield. Known as the rolling quorum, the tactic violates the state’s Open Meetings Act. Mendoza, however, insists he acted lawfully.

The two-page letter goes on to accuse the mayor of defamation for publicly and fallaciously blaming Honeyfield for “dwindling city finances” and comparing him to David Baltzer, the former CEO of Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital let go by his own governing board amid allegations that he hid the hospital’s deficit.

Finally, Jordan charges the city of refusing to pay Honeyfield’s car and cell phone allowance and his accrued sick and annual leave, all conditions of his severance package. Honeyfield declined to disclose the amount. Jordan did not return the Independent’s message requesting comment.

Mendoza declined to comment on the rest of the charges because they involved pending litigation.

“This notice,” Jordan’s letter ends, “serves to inform the city of Gallup of possible litigation against it should this matter not be resolved.”

Jordan is the law partner of Bob Rosebrough, the former mayor whose administration hired Honeyfield in 2003.