{"id":1493667,"date":"2022-05-26T16:59:39","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T20:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1493667"},"modified":"2022-05-26T16:59:55","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T20:59:55","slug":"new-mexico-gov-michelle-lujan-grisham-used-taxpayer-dollars-to-fund-mansion-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-mexico-gov-michelle-lujan-grisham-used-taxpayer-dollars-to-fund-mansion-party\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham Used Taxpayer Dollars To Fund Mansion Party"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-mexico-gov-michelle-lujan-grisham-used-taxpayer-dollars-to-fund-mansion-party%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1493667&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Michelle-Lujan-Grisham.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>New Mexico Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham once again used state tax dollars to fund an party at the governor\u2019s mansion in October, the Santa Fe New Mexican <a href=\"https:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/news\/local_news\/governor-s-mansion-used-state-funds-for-party-costs\/article_61356ef8-dab1-11ec-a7df-5b45cadd2776.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDocuments obtained under a public records request show New Mexicans for Michelle, the governor\u2019s campaign committee, issued the state a $1,837 check in December to pay for expenses stemming from a Democratic Governors Association party hosted by Lujan Grisham in Santa Fe,\u201d the local paper reported. \u201cThe reimbursement appeared in the governor\u2019s campaign finance reports as a \u2018campaign event.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grisham served as chair of the DGA at the time of the political event held on the taxpayer dime.<\/p>\n<p>While Grisham\u2019s office did not immediately respond to The Federalist\u2019s request for comment, Kendall Witmer, a spokeswoman for the governor\u2019s re-election effort, told the New Mexican in a statement, \u201cthe campaign transparently and expeditiously reimbursed the state for an event hosted by the Governor as chair of the Democratic Governors Association.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The money fronted by the governor\u2019s contingency fund included $890 worth of dinnerware alone, according to the New Mexico paper. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe contingency fund does allow for use [of the expense account] to host dignitaries and other guests from any political party,\u201d wrote Grisham spokeswoman Maddy Hayden in an email to the New Mexican.<\/p>\n<p>Rules surrounding use of the contingency fund, however, are obscure, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saonm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Risk-Review_Governors-Contingency-Fund-071421.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> from the state auditor\u2019s office last summer. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cStatutory authority remains ambiguous without definitions concerning what constitutes \u2018expenses directly connected with obligations of the elected office of governor,\u2019 which could be broadly interpreted, or what could be considered \u2018perquisites or allowances for state employees,&#8217;\u201d read the report. \u201cAs a result, the New Mexico State Legislature may wish to review the matter and consider whether further statutory clarification is necessary with respect to the Fund.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The report was published months after Grisham was caught <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kob.com\/archive\/4-investigates-review-of-expenses-reveals-governor-spending-most-of-her-discretionary-fund-on-groceries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spending thousands<\/a> from the account for a series of high-priced groceries at the governor\u2019s mansion including tuna steaks, Wagyu beef, and top sirloin, with hundreds more spent on alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>Inappropriate use of the contingency fund is far from the only <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/05\/25\/scandals-mount-for-new-mexico-gov-michelle-lujan-grisham\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">scandal<\/a> to plague the incumbent governor up for re-election this November. <\/p>\n<p>In October, new financial disclosures <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/10\/13\/new-mexico-gov-michelle-lujan-grisham-pays-150k-in-crotch-grabbing-claim-settlement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revealed<\/a> Grisham paid out a total of $150,000 to settle a sexual harassment claim from an ex-campaign spokesman. During the pandemic, Grisham also became the mascot of Democratic hypocrisy on Covid lockdowns when she opened a jewelry store for an expensive purchase while businesses declared \u201cnon-essential\u201d were closed. Meanwhile, the governor\u2019s transparency practices have faced scrutiny for <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/06\/03\/transparency-scandal-intensifies-around-new-mexico-gov-michelle-lujan-grisham\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">use<\/a> of encrypted messaging apps to circumvent public oversight. <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Mexico Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham once again used state tax dollars to fund an party at the governor\u2019s mansion in October, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1493667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1493667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1493667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1493667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1493667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}