May 28 – Republicans attack Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez Tuesday after a conservative news outlet reported that Texas police had issued an arrest warrant for New Mexico’s freshman congressman in March over outstanding traffic tickets dating back more than two decades.
“FUGITIVE IN CONGRESS,” the National Republican Congressional Committee tweeted along with a story from the Washington Free Beacon, which reported Friday that Vasquez failed to appear in court in 2002 after being charged with driving without a license, driving without insurance and disregarding an “official traffic control device.”
“The arrest of Gabe Vasquez underscores his disregard for the law and law enforcement,” Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce said in a statement.
However, Republicans’ claims were exaggerated.
Vasquez, who was 18 at the time of the incident, was not booked or arrested at any time and settled the case in March by posting bail, Luis Yañez, an attorney for Vasquez, said in a statement.
Yañez said Vasquez was never notified of the outstanding citations but immediately paid them when notified.
“As soon as Vasquez found out he missed a court date, he paid the bond, and this is now a simple administrative matter that will be handled by an attorney,” Yañez said.
Sergeant Noe Juarez of the El Paso County Office of Constable confirmed that the March warrants “were executed for a fee” under Texas law for unpaid traffic citations.
“Once it’s an order and we get involved, the only way we can close them is ‘executed by payment’ or ‘executed by booking,’” he said.
Vasquez’s legal trouble began in 2002 when he received three traffic tickets for driving without a license, driving without insurance and ignoring an “official traffic control device.”
Yañez said Vasquez never received a notice that he had missed a court hearing.
“The state of Texas routinely fails to notify motorists of traffic violations and the need to go to court, leading to a large number of erroneous arrest warrants intended to draw attention to missed court dates – or they whether they were aware of the original hearing date or not,” he said.
But court records show that five years after the traffic stop, in 2007, the El Paso District Court sent a letter to Vasquez telling him to appear in court for a hearing, Juarez said. The letter was allegedly sent to the address Vasquez provided during the traffic stop five years earlier, he confirmed.
Juarez admitted that people changed addresses: “That happens routinely, but it is the defendant’s duty to provide a current and correct address to the court,” he said.
But he disputed Yañez’s claim that Vasquez did not know he had a court appointment, noting that when someone signs a traffic ticket, it is an initial notice and a promise to make arrangements to come to court.
“Now, once you receive the summons and you don’t come to court, the court has the authority to issue an arrest warrant,” Juarez said.
Vasquez’s campaign manager, Dylan McArthur, told the Free Beacon that the traffic tickets date back to when the congressman was 18.
The fines “were paid off and no further action has been requested,” he said.
Juarez called the traffic tickets against Vasquez “not anything major.”
“And as an 18-year-old, a lot of people at that age get traffic tickets,” he said.
But news of the arrest warrant gave Republicans an opportunity to go on the offensive as they try to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives.
Vasquez, a Democrat from Las Cruces, is in a hotly contested rematch against Republican Yvette Herrell in the November general election. Vasquez narrowly defeated Herrell in 2022.
A spokeswoman for the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives, took aim at Vasquez.
“Gabe Vasquez is a champion of the defund-the-police movement, and it is abundantly clear why,” Maureen O’Toole said in a statement. “Vasquez has no respect for the law or those who enforce it.”
The PAC announced last week that it had earmarked $141 million in advertising for television, streaming and digital platforms across 37 media markets for the 2024 election cycle, including $2.3 million in Albuquerque.
Valeria Ojeda-Avitia, a spokeswoman for Vasquez, countered that the congressman “has the utmost respect for law enforcement, which is why he has secured federal funding for law enforcement and public safety, the same funding that Yvette Herrell vowed never to take.”
Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.
