May 17—A veteran of New Mexico politics, Joseph Maestas, takes on a young go-getter, Zack Quintero, in the Democratic primary for state auditor.

Maestas, 61, of Santa Fe is a member of the state Public Regulation Commission, but by state law that commission will cease to be elected at the end of the year. Instead, its members will be appointed by the governor. Maestas also has served in elected local government roles in Santa Fe and Española.

Quintero, 31, of Las Cruces, stressed he has experience in government and, among other strengths, his law degree and background make him the right man for auditor.

Late in this Democratic primary race, the two have shown a willingness to drop the gloves.

Maestas described his opponent in an email as "a young man recently out of law school who hasn't yet passed the bar exam."

Quintero accused Maestas of showing himself with the state seal in a television ad, which Quintero said prompted him to file an ethics complaint. "It's like somebody using a state truck for a political event," Quintero said.

The winner of the June 7 Democratic primary will meet Libertarian Robert Jason Vaillancourt of Albuquerque in the general election Nov. 8. Vaillancourt, 53, is unopposed in the Libertarian primary.

Quintero said his campaign is going well. "I feel we're leading," he said in a recent interview. He won with 62 percent of the vote in the Democratic preprimary nominating convention in March, which tallied the votes of more than 1,000 delegates.

Maestas said many Democrats find the preprimary event "outdated" and not representative of primary voters' sentiments.

Quintero said he is well prepared to be state auditor. "You can be young and qualified," he said.

As auditor, Quintero said, he would strive to purchase software that could trace suspicious actions such as sole-source procurement and other patterns of spending that could reveal problems.

He priced the software and found it would cost $772,000, he said, adding he would go to the Legislature to help cover that. He said the technology would pay for itself in its protection of public money.

He also said he would like to connect rural towns without financial expertise with "rural resource officers" — certified public accountants and graduate students — who could help them analyze their finances.

And he would use the auditor's oversight of government money to make sure crisis pregnancy centers don't give false information to women seeking abortions or try to coerce those women from seeking abortions.

Maestas said he, too, planned to expand the use of technology to alert the auditor to warning signs of waste and fraud.

"I would go to the Legislature and fight for more budget," he said. The auditor needs to have the ability to move with urgency and not be stifled by resource constraints, he added.

He also would reduce the duration of time when a local government can use the same auditor or auditing firm to prevent complacency and coziness in that relationship.

Maestas led in raising money, according to the most recent campaign finance filings with the state. He had generated $145,973 compared to Quintero's $118,198.

"Trust is waning in government," Maestas said, adding he wants to do his part "to protect taxpayer money from fraud, waste and abuse."

The State Auditor's Office serves as an independent and nonpartisan agency responsible for holding local government, state government and elected officials accountable for their use of public money.

Brian Colón, who holds the office now, is running for attorney general.

Maestas has served as the mayor of Española, a city councilor in Española and a Santa Fe city councilor. He failed four years ago in his bid to become Santa Fe's mayor and won a seat on the Public Regulation Commission in 2020.

The commission in December made two big decisions. In one, it rejected Public Service Company of New Mexico's proposal to leave the Four Corners Power Plant and retire existing debt there through bonds paid off by customers. In the other, the commissioners turned down PNM's proposed merger with two other companies. PNM has appealed both decisions to the state Supreme Court.

Maestas currently is chairman of the commission. "He thinks like an auditor should," fellow Commissioner Cynthia Hall of Albuquerque said of Maestas. "I can't think of anybody better qualified that I know."

He examined the commission's finances and pledged to bolster the agency's staff by getting more money from the Legislature "and he achieved that," Hall said. "So he worked very hard to improve our staffing and maximize our spending."

Maestas is a civil engineer who earned degrees from the University of New Mexico and Arizona State. He worked as an engineer and manager in the Federal Highway Administration from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s.

Quintero has a bachelor's degree from New Mexico State University and a law degree from UNM.

He said among his work experiences, he served as the ombudsman for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, worked in economic development with the city of Santa Fe and has performed legal work for organizations and the Roybal-Mack & Cordova firm in Albuquerque. He lost three years ago in an effort to get on the Albuquerque City Council.

Theresa Trujeque, a retiree from Corrales, said she met Quintero when he worked for Mayor Javier Gonzales in Santa Fe about seven years ago. She said she is impressed by him and sees his potential.

"I've known Zack for years now," Trujeque said. "He's the kind of young man that I think we need to step up and do good things."