New Mexico Magazine, the state-operated tourism publication, no longer will contract with its art director's husband as a freelance photographer following complaints by a Corrales photographer who claims he lost an assignment due to nepotism.

The magazine's art director, Fabian West, on Tuesday said she didn't think she was doing anything wrong by giving photo assignments to her husband Chuck West, who was paid more than $7,000 in the past three years by the magazine.

However, she said a state Tourism Department lawyer advised her earlier this year that she should stop contracting with West to avoid the appearance of impropriety. New Mexico Magazine is part of the Tourism Department. The magazine operates as an enterprise fund, supporting itself by advertising, subscriptions and single-copy sales. Magazine staff, such as Fabian West, are state employees.

"My husband is my favorite photographer," Fabian West said in an interview Tuesday. "We're a great team. I don't know anyone else who works harder for less money."

Tourism lawyer Pat Lopez said his department's code of conduct and other policies are in need of an update. He wouldn't say whether the contracts could be seen as violating a state statute that prohibits the state contacting with family members of employees without going through the state procurement code.

Almost all of West's individual assignments were for less than $1,000.

Chuck West had done assignments for the magazine under two previous art directors, Fabian West said. He was one of 79 photographers hired by the magazine last year and one of 68 in 2007. The magazine's budget for photographers is $75,000 to $80,000 a year, said Fabian West, who has been art director since 2006.

She pointed out that editors at the magazine signed off on Chuck West's invoices for his work.

Chuck West's contracts were questioned earlier this year when Steve Simmons, a freelance photographer who also publishes the bi-monthly View Camera magazine, claimed that Fabian West in 2008 rejected his photo spread proposal — about a spring cattle roundup — then gave a similar assignment to her husband. Simmons had done assignments for New Mexico Magazine in the past.

"To say this smells is being gracious," Simmons wrote in a February e-mail to Fabian West. "It appears that you took my idea, dropped me and gave this assignment to your husband. There is no ethics in this at all."

Fabian West said that's not what happened. She said Simmons pitched a story about a ranch family in Northern New Mexico and one in the south. She said she told him the magazine staff had discussed a story about a "dude" cattle drive and that Simmons said he'd be interested in that also.

Shortly after that discussion, Fabian West requested some stock photos of a rodeo from Simmons. He supplied the photos.

But sometime after that, the check to Simmons, for about $200, apparently got lost in the mail.

Fabian West and magazine publisher Ethel Hess said Simmons made some angry phone calls about the check to various magazine staffers. Hess described voice mails left by Simmons as "vile," while Fabian West said Simmons screamed at employees. A Feb. 22 memo from magazine editor Tricia Ware says that Simmons had threatened to physically assault Lopez — which prompted a staff safety-training session.

Asked Wednesday whether Simmons threatened him, Lopez said, "He was harassing. That's as far as I'll go."

Simmons in an interview Tuesday denied he ever threatened anyone, saying the accusations were an attempt to justify West hiring her husband.

Fabian West said because of those calls she decided she wasn't comfortable working with Simmons. When the magazine finally decided to do a cattle-drive story — which was published earlier this year — Chuck West got the assignment. According to state records, he was paid $1,066 for the job.

In an e-mail to Lopez, Fabian West wrote, "The photographer must be willing to spend 6 days on horseback and be able to shoot from horseback, spend 6 days sleeping on the ground — for a 2-day rate. My choices were somewhat limited. My husband is a professional working photographer with experience working on cattle ranches and photographing cowboy life."

She said that she showed some of her husband's previous work to staff and they agreed with the choice.

Simmons said in an interview Tuesday that there are several photographers in the state capable of shooting a cattle drive.

Simmons confronted Fabian West in February about the cattle-drive story. He also talked to another magazine staffer. In her e-mail to attorney Lopez, Fabian West said she was "afraid to pick up her phone," even though she goes on to say that Simmons was "not irate" when he spoke with the other magazine employee.

Simmons' e-mail and calls prompted Ware to write her memo, which said the front door to the magazine offices would be locked and that employees should let phone calls from unknown numbers go to voice mail.

Simmons didn't show up, and there was no incident at the magazine.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com">sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.