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The Democratic governor of New Mexico is on the defensive after a report released this week detailed his office’s spending from a taxpayer-funded spending fund.
Records show Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham spent nearly $ 13,500 over a six-month period in 2020 on items such as groceries, dry cleaning and alcohol, the Sante Fe New Mexican reported.
The alcohol expenses included a purchase in September of more than $ 200 for five bottles of tequila, two bottles of vodka, two bottles of merlot and single bottles of whiskey and gin, according to the report.
In the same report, the newspaper revealed that Grisham was holding in-person staff meetings in the governor’s mansion at the same time as it urged the public not to mix up households in order to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
About half of the $ 13,500 went to food for members of the governor’s cabinet and staff at those meetings, Grisham spokesman Tripp Stelnicki told The Associated Press.
Republicans across the state were outraged by the governor’s use of taxpayer money.
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“I didn’t realize the governor was so underpaid that she had to use discretionary money for things she would have to pay for herself,” the New Mexican’s minority whip told the New Mexican. the state, Rod Montoya, a Republican. “Lawmakers are all here to do our jobs, and we do it with per diems.”
“I didn’t realize the governor was so underpaid that she had to use discretionary money for things she would have to pay for herself.”
“This is not what taxpayers’ money should be spent on,” New Mexico minority parliamentary leader Jim Townsend of Artesia told the newspaper. “At a time when people are suffering across the state, using their taxes to buy Wagyu beef must be a little disenchanting for a lot of people.
“I think that’s just more of an indication of the problem we had, and the governor had, in connecting us with people,” he added.
“This is not what taxpayers’ money should be spent on.”
After the newspaper’s report was released, Grisham addressed the issue on Friday at a virtual press conference.
“I don’t want New Mexicans to feel like I’m not taking their struggles seriously,” Grisham told reporters.
“I don’t want New Mexicans to feel like they don’t take their struggles seriously.”
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. (Associated press)
Grisham said she had not personally made the purchases. Instead, they were made by a “woman who works here [who] is a rock star, ”reported the New Mexican.
On Thursday, Stelnicki explained the $ 200 liquor purchase. He said it was for a planned holiday party that was ultimately canceled. He claimed that the bottles of alcohol purchased were not opened.
The spending came despite a state law enacted in 2019 that set new limits on the use of the governor’s discretionary funds. This law was signed by Grisham’s predecessor, former Governor Susana Martinez, a Republican who also criticized the way her office spent money, reported the New Mexican.
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Grisham, 61, from New Mexico who is in his first term as governor after serving in the United States House and before that as state health secretary, has taken the heat of companies because of its restrictions on coronaviruses.
In December, sources told Fox News she turned down an offer for a job as Home Secretary in the Biden administration.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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