House Democrats pick temporary floor leader abqjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abqjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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In this 2019 photo, House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, listens as other members speak on the House floor. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journa)
SANTA FE House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton resigned Friday from the state House as law enforcement agents conduct a criminal investigation into possible kickbacks and violations of the Governmental Conduct Act.
In a resignation letter, Stapleton said she “unequivocally” denies the allegations against her but that it’s best for the state if she steps down.
“This is a decision that weighs heavily on me, and which I have made after a tremendous amount of consideration of the best interest of the People,” she said in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver.
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A search warrant affidavit prepared by the Attorney General’s Office and made public Wednesday details an investigation into “the alleged nefarious receipt of millions of dollars of public funds over a decade-long period by individuals, including at least one high-ranking elected official.”
The high-ranking official named in that affidavit is Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, the second most powerful member of the state House of Representatives.
Investigators from the Attorney General’s Office served search warrants on Stapleton’s home and her employer, the Albuquerque Public Schools, on Wednesday as part of a sweeping investigation into Stapleton’s financial relationship and possible kickback scheme with a district vendor that has been paid more than $5 million over more than a decade.
Lujan Grisham: House leader Stapleton should resign if indicted abqjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abqjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Searchlight New Mexico, a nonprofit investigative news organization. A longer, unedited version can be found at http://www.searchlightnm.org/
Attorney General Hector Balderas
Attorney General Hector Balderas’ relationship with a local law firm is under scrutiny amid allegations that Albuquerque-based attorney Marcus Rael Jr. used his influence with the attorney general to persuade Balderas to sign off on a multibillion-dollar utility merger.
The merger between a global energy giant and New Mexico’s largest utility could drastically changes electricity distribution in the state, with hundreds of millions of dollars for New Mexico utility customers hanging in the balance.