Secretary of State Mary Herrera said Monday that, unlike her predecessor, she won't be appearing in a new batch of television public service announcements concerning voting laws.

"I'm not here to get my face on the camera," she said in response to a reporter's question at a news conference, where she announced a competition for college students to produce PSAs aimed at informing people with disabilities about their rights under the federal Help America Vote Act.

Herrera said her office sought the opinions of disabled people to find out what they wanted to see in PSAs.

Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, who left office at the end of 2006, was criticized for appearing in several PSAs during her last term. In 2004, U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., called for a federal investigation of Vigil-Giron, charging she was using the ads to boost her name recognition.

The money Vigil-Giron spent on PSAs was nearly a third of the $19 million she received under HAVA, which she said was "a funded mandate."

In regard to Domenici's complaint, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission eventually cleared Vigil-Giron — who spent nearly $6 million in federal money on the ads during the 2004 and 2006 election cycles. However, last year, the EAC confirmed it was doing another investigation of Vigil-Giron's spending of HAVA money. That investigation has yet to be completed.

Vigil-Giron, currently a candidate for Congress in the First District in Albuquerque, defended her appearances in the PSAs in an interview Monday. "That was my job as secretary of state," she said, contending the ads were partly responsible for an increase in New Mexico voter turnout in 2004 and 2006.

"I'm proud that I did a great job," she said. "The detractors and critics are just a little mealy-mouthed because they aren't able to do the same job I did."

College students wishing to participate in the PSA competition have until 5 p.m. March 3 to submit a script and production budget. For more information, see www.kamazar.com/studentpsa.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.