Santa Fe's Sore Losers In Tantrum Mode
Politically frustrated and incompetent officials violate regulations and statutes
Most people are unaware of how bad things are for New Mexico, especially now that President Trump is back in office. In a state riddled with corruption at every level of government, things like accountability and compliance with the law don’t apply to elected officials.
Threatened with the possibility of legal consequences, for the first time in at least a hundred years, state leadership is mounting an open rebellion against the federal government.
Operating in full-on tantrum mode, these officials have no qualms about inflicting further harm on locals, especially if it might possibly help them get free of oversight, or score political points with their handlers.
In the past few weeks, two members of the NM House of Representatives, Joanne Ferrary and Liz Thomson, turned in a performance that’s currently making the rounds on social media.
This is from Ferrary’s campaign website:
And, this is from Thomson’s page on the legislature site:
Ferrary ran unopposed in the last election, thanks to the Dona Ana County Clerk’s removal of her opponent, on a flimsy claim of invalid signatures. Perhaps this emboldened her to openly defy protocol. Both Ferrary and Thomson have conducted themselves like petulant children during legislative committee meetings.
Interrupting other officials, refusing to follow procedure and obstructing the work at hand, Ferrary and Thomson have persistently abused their positions as committee chairs.
I’ve filed complaints with the state ethics commission, but we all know they aren’t likely to take action. If there are multiple complaints, it’s more difficult for them to sweep this egregious behavior under the rug.
This is how to file a complaint:
Violations of the law aren’t anything new for Santa Fe officials. Secretary of State Maggie Oliver violated the state election code multiple times during the last General Election.
This is Maggie, from the SOS webpage:
Thirty-four of these election code violations occurred directly because of SOS Oliver’s open defiance of the law.
This is 1-11-11. from the NM Election Handbook:
And, this is the SOS response to my public record request:
It was SOS Oliver’s legal responsibility to provide the forms to all 33 County Clerks. Since this did not happen, the Clerks are also in violation of the election code. No County Clerk objected to this deficiency.
This is just one example, out of many uncovered so far, where the New Mexico Secretary of State doesn’t bother to comply with election law. While this is a serious matter, state officials remain unresponsive to complaints and concerns from the public.
The Attorney General should be looking into these violations, but AG Torrez is too busy rebelling against the Trump administration to worry about election integrity.
In fact, he’s so heavily engaged in defiance of the fed, there’s actually a statement about it that pops up when you look at the NM DOJ website. Check it out:
This is AG Torrez, from the same website:
While AG Torrez busies himself with squandering state funds on retaliatory legal action against the Trump administration, local issues continue to go begging.
An example of this comes from my own recent experience with NM DOJ. In July of last year, having detected a pattern of fraud at the NM Department of Finance and Administration, during a public record search, I filed a complaint with the AG.
NM DOJ was unresponsive for many months. When they did finally contact me by email in December, their entire focus was on my public information requests. Finally, in February, they issued a nonsensical summary of a couple of requests and called it a day. This is an excerpt, which shows the dates:
With oversight like this, it’s not surprising that corruption thrives in Santa Fe. While various legislators, along with SOS Oliver, and AG Torrez, are an utter disgrace to New Mexico, they just don’t hold a candle to the Queen of Corruption herself, absentee Governor Grisham.
Grisham’s abuse of public funds goes above and beyond any other Governor who came before her. Constantly traveling out of state for UN Climate Conferences and to campaign for her political allies, Grisham violates the New Mexico Code of Conduct on a regular basis.
This is absentee Governor Grisham, posing with Representative Joanne Ferrary, in 2022:
Governor Grisham likes to play fast and loose with the records surrounding her copious travel expenses. She hides them here and there, using a number of different State agencies and departments to finance her luxury travel.
Every month, Grisham takes members of her family, friends and staff, along with a contingent of State Police Officers, on trips related to the UN and the national Democrat Party. None of this benefits NM.
When Grisham went to a Climate Change Conference in Australia, in October 2023, she tagged on a birthday trip to New Zealand. In an apparent attempt to legitimize this vacation within a vacation, Grisham paid her own hotel for that part of the trip.
However, she did not pay the costs for foreign security and chauffer services, and she did not pay the costs for State Police officers who accompanied her.
These are a couple of records from that trip:
The trip to Australia was not legitimate business, and the additional excursion to New Zealand wasn’t, either. This is just one example, out of dozens. Millions of dollars in travel expenses are being rubber-stamped, without any oversight.
Meanwhile, the absentee Governor has taken to legacy media outlets to proclaim her rebellion against President Trump’s Executive Orders. Abandoning her official duties in pursuit of greener pastures, Grisham uses public funds to advance a personal political agenda which puts her in violation of both State and Federal law. It’s no wonder she’s in full-on resistance to Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE.
If any of this ticks you off, reach out to the officials involved. Put them on notice: their days of bully tactics and corruption are coming to an end. Together, we are going to bring accountability to Santa Fe.
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Much Love,
Auntie B.