Lawyers for the defendants who were indicted with Rebecca Vigil-Giron on dozens of felony counts said Thursday they will try to force Attorney General Gary King off the case, partly because one of their clients worked for King's predecessor for eight years.

Elizabeth "Daisy" Kupfer, now a lobbyist with her husband and co-defendant Joe Kupfer, had a $90,000 job as administrative services director forthe state Attorney General's Office during the tenure of Patricia Madrid. She retired on Dec. 31, 2006, the day before King took office.

Lawyers for the Kupfers and political consultant Armando Gutierrez said it would be a conflict of interest for the Attorney General's Office to prosecute the case. "There actually are quite a few conflicts of interest," said Jason Bowles, lawyer for Elizabeth Kupfer.

Vigil-Giron, in a statement released shortly before the indictments were announced Wednesday, noted that two lawyers who still work for the Attorney General's Office "guided me and approved all of my contracts over $200,000" — including the contract with Gutierrez, which is at the center of the indictments.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office declined Thursday to comment on the conflict-of-interest allegations.

It's not clear who would prosecute if a judge ruled King's office couldn't.

The Kupfers were contracted as consultants for co-defendant Gutierrez, who was hired by Vigil-Giron's office to produce voter-education television spots.

Federal and state audits say Gutierrez — a former Albuquerque resident who later moved to Corpus Christi, Texas — could only account for $2.6 million of the $6.3 million his company was paid. The indictments charge that the defendants conspired to create false public vouchers to divert part of that money, which came from the federal government as part of the Help America Vote Act.

Gutierrez's lawyer, J. Miles Hanisee, disputed the findings of the audit Thursday. Hanisee said part of his defense of Gutierrez will be to account for the money he received. Nearly half of that money, he noted went to buying ad time on television stations.

Gutierrez hired the Kupfers as consultants, Hanisee said, because he considered Joe Kupfer to be an expert in information that the federal government would require to be included in the voter-education ads.

According to the Secretary of State's Web site, the Kupfers' lobbying clients include the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Desert States Physical Therapy Network, the New Mexico Financial Services Association and Ruidoso Downs. The site also lists the city of Albuquerque as a client. But a spokeswoman for Mayor Martin Chávez said Thursday that the Kupfers' contract with the city expired in June. The decision to drop them was made late last year and has nothing to do with the Vigil-Giron case, Deborah James said.

Meanwhile, Vigil-Giron, who left the Secretary of State's Office at the end of 2006, will keep her $60,000 state job as a constituent liaison for the Labor and Industrial Division, officials said Thursday.

Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for Gov. Bill Richardson, told a reporter in an e-mail, "The Governor is extremely troubled by the indictment, but believes Rebecca Vigil Giron deserves her day in court."

Ken Ortiz, deputy secretary of the Workforce Solutions Department, said in a written statement, "The allegations contained in the indictments are serious, (but) they concern actions that are unrelated to her work with the department."

"As with other internal personnel matters, the Department will make no additional statements until it has had an opportunity to review the matter. Until that time, Ms. Vigil-Giron is expected to continue to fulfill her work duties," a statement from the department said.

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