GOP Officials Knew of Candidate's Background (Pena)

[dalton99a]

2. They knew he was a violent criminal.

https://archive.ph/6m2Ev

The arrest was not Peña’s first encounter with the law. Democrats had gone to court last year to argue that his prior convictions on charges of stealing cars, ramming them into stores and making off with expensive electronics should disqualify him from running for the state legislature, but a judge disagreed.

Despite Peña’s criminal record and long odds of winning in a heavily Democratic legislative district, prominent Republicans supported his candidacy.

“He appeared to be a very thoughtful, upstanding young man,” said Harvey E. Yates Jr., a former member of the Republican National Committee and longtime GOP donor in New Mexico whose energy company gave Peña $5,000. “Before I donated to him, I was aware he had committed felonies and so forth. But it seemed to me that he was trying to turn his life around.”