The Democratic governor of New Mexico is on the defensive after a report this week detailed her office’s spending on a taxpayer-supported spending fund.
Records show that Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham spent nearly $ 13,500 over a six-month period in 2020 on items like groceries, dry cleaning and alcohol, reported Sante Fe New Mexican.
Spending on drinks included a September purchase of more than $ 200 for five bottles of tequila, two bottles of vodka, two bottles of Merlot and individual bottles of whiskey and gin, the report said.
In the same report, the newspaper reported that Grisham was holding personal meetings at the governor’s mansion, while urging the public not to mix families to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
About half of the $ 13,500 went to feed the governor’s cabinet members and officials during those meetings, Grisham spokesman Tripp Stelnicki told the Associated Press.
State Republicans were outraged by the governor’s use of taxpayer money.
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“I didn’t know that the governor was so poorly paid that she had to use discretionary money for things she was supposed to pay for herself,” a Republican from the House of Representatives told New Mexican Whip Rod Montoya. “Legislators are all here doing our job, and we are doing it through daily rates.”
“I didn’t know that the governor was so poorly paid that he had to use discretionary money for things he was supposed to pay for himself.”
“This is not what taxes should be spent for,” Jim Townsend, a minority leader in the New Mexico City Chamber of Artesia, told the newspaper. “At a time when people are suffering across the state, using tax money to buy Wagyu meat must be a little disenchanting for many people.
“I think it’s just another indication of the problem that we had, and the governor had to connect with people,” he added.
“That’s not what taxes should be spent for.”
After the newspaper report appeared, Grisham addressed the issue on Friday during a virtual news conference.
“I don’t want the new Mexicans to feel that I don’t take their difficulties seriously,” Grisham told reporters.
“I don’t want the new Mexicans to feel that I don’t take their difficulties seriously.”
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. (Associated Press)
Grisham said he did not make the purchases personally. Instead, they were made by a “woman who works here [who] is a rock star, “reported New Mexican.
On Thursday, Stelnicki explained the purchase of the $ 200 drink. He said it was for a planned holiday party that ended up being canceled. He claimed that the alcohol bottles he bought remained unopened.
The spending came despite a state law enacted in 2019 that set new limits on the use of the governor’s discretionary funds. The law was signed by Grisham’s predecessor, former governor Susana Martinez, a Republican who also received criticism for how her office spent money, New Mexico reported.
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Grisham, 61, a New Mexico native who is in her first term as governor after serving in the U.S. House and before that as the state health secretary, has been criticized by companies for her restrictions on the coronavirus.
In December, sources told Fox News that she declined an offer to serve as secretary of the interior in the Biden government.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.