New Mexico

On Wednesday, scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says she visited Española to hold a “roundtable on higher education with students, higher ed leaders, and elected officials.” There she touted her socialist plan for taxpayer-funded (not free) college. However, one thing was noticeably different in her wardrobe choice: her use of not just one — but TWO masks. She re-implemented her mask mandate in fear of the supposed“Delta” variant of the virus.

The double-masked governor in 2020 drove by Española in her taxpayer-funded chauffeur during her brutal lockdown where she scoffed at Española residents’ use of masks, even though she never even left her expensive ride to see first-hand if the residents were wearing masks. 

At the time, she said, “Last week, I traveled to Northern New Mexico, and in traveling to Northern New Mexico, I went through Española. I saw a lot of activity in Española and traveling through Main Street going North. I didn’t see a single mask, not one. Not in a parking lot, not in a grocery store that we passed, not at a convenience store, not at a gas station, not by someone in a car, not hanging on a rearview mirror, not on a wrist, not as people were walking, nowhere! Not one. The only masks I saw were in the car I was in, and we have to do better than that because if we don’t we cannot successfully introduce risk.”

She was later forced to apologize to the community after the Mayor of Española, Javier Sanchez, roasted her in a fiery letter for picking on the small Hispanic Northern New Mexico community. 

Mayor Sanchez wrote in the letter, “Are we truly to believe that the governor slowed down enough to see into our dark tinted windows to find no masks hanging from rear view mirrors? At this rate of condescension, I would be very surprised if the governor’s vehicle even slowed down to a rolling stop at the red lights. How empty those words sound coming from behind the windows of an air-conditioned vehicle while peering in at us like we are children who haven’t cleaned our rooms.” 

Lujan Grisham later wrote, “My comments were taken as a lack of respect for Española and the work the community has done to fight this virus. I apologize for making that impression. That was not my intent, and I take responsibility for the way my words were conveyed and heard.”

But her apology fell on deaf ears after her press secretary Nora Sackett bashed the Española mayor, accusing him of “hypocrisy” and bashing him as “self-righteous.” 

Now, it appears Lujan Grisham is attempting to make amends with the community — which votes predominantly Democrat — as she looks to cling onto power in the Governor’s Mansion. Her subtle two-masked approach to this may be another way to take another jab at Española for its perceived lack of compliance with her draconian mask mandates.