The top law enforcement position in the state is one of New Mexico’s most coveted elected offices but so far, only two Democrats and no Republicans have indicated they’ll run for New Mexico Attorney General.
Current State Auditor Hector Balderas and former Public Regulation Commission member Jason Marks have thrown their hats into the ring and figure to square off next [...]

A year ago, a series of embarrassing scandals involving sex, lies and videotape made the New Mexico border town of Sunland Park the target of plenty of jokes, but there isn’t much for state taxpayers to laugh about as the bill for monitoring the border town’s finances pile up.
On the one-year anniversary of the announcement [...]

Government entities be warned: Fail to submit an audit to the state and say good-bye to some of that state money you want.
In Part 1 of our investigation into agencies, school districts, communities and other entities that haven’t turned in proper audits of taxpayer dollars they’ve received or spent, New Mexico Watchdog focused on the [...]

The Questa School Board is still in time out.
On Monday (Dec. 17), the secretary-designate of the New Mexico Public Education Department, Hanna Skandera, ruled the board — which has essentially rendered itself paralyzed by infighting — has been suspended until new members are sworn in after a school board election scheduled in February..
The board has [...]

Sunland Park may have elected a guy who could not step foot in City Hall because he was facing exortion charges over a secret videotape showing his opponent getting a lapdance from a topless woman.
It may have once had another mayor who admitted to being drunk while signing city contracts.
It may have a city employee [...]

Tom Clifford doesn’t want to freak anybody out but the secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) warns that a number of muncipalities in New Mexico are skating on the same kind of fiscal thin ice that Sunland Park fell through.
In an interview with Capitol Report New Mexico, Clifford gave details of the [...]

New Mexico state auditor Hector Balderas says fraud is so severe in the border town of Sunland Park that the state should take over and run things for now and New Mexico’s secretary for the Department of Finance and Administration has suspended two Sunland Park employees, charging them with mismanagement of public funds.
Late Monday afternoon [...]

And the charges just keep on comin’ for Sunland Park’s Daniel Salinas. The count is now up to 33.
The man who used to be the mayor pro tem of the New Mexico border town and actually won election to the mayor’s office in March but was denied taking office due to extortion, bribery and election [...]

Some 10 days after being selected as the mayor of Sunland Park, 24-year-old Javier Perea stepped down — for now — from the position on Friday (April 27) after the office of Attorney General Gary King declared that the border town’s city council violated the state’s Open Meetings Act when it selected Perea.
Back on April [...]

Sunland Park’s new, 24-year-old mayor took the oath of office today (April 23).
But this is Sunland Park so nothing goes smoothly.
It turns out that the city council may have violated the state’s Open Meetings Act when it selected young Mr. Javier Perea to take over the mayoral duties in the troubled border town.
From the Albuquerque [...]