Created: March 03, 2021 07:27 PM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- An audit of an entire year’s worth of expenditures reveals the governor’s contingency fund was used to pay for thousands of tax dollars in groceries, liquor, dry cleaning and shoe and boot repairs. The new revelations have prompted Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office to concede “more was purchased than what was necessary.”
What is the appropriate use of this fund?
In recent years, each New Mexico governor has been appropriated a contingency fund to use at his or her discretion. But in 2018, a new law signed by Gov. Susana Martinez created new requirements and limitations of the fund. The law states, “Money in the fund shall not be used to pay or supplement the salary of the governor or any state employee or as perquisites or allowances for state employees. In other words, a governor can’t create a food allowance or clothing allowance with this fund. A perquisite is an item or thing rega