Politics

All the most corrupt NM politicians of all time

2 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

New Mexico has produced plenty of political scandal, but not every accusation belongs on a “most corrupt” list. This ranking is based on the hardest public record available: convictions, guilty pleas, no-contest pleas, prison sentences, dollar amounts, office held, and betrayal of public trust.

And yes, because this is New Mexico politics, Democrats dominate the list.

1. Albert B. Fall — Republican U.S. senator, Interior secretary, Teapot Dome crook

No New Mexico corruption list can start anywhere else. Albert B. Fall, one of New Mexico’s first U.S. senators and later President Warren Harding’s Interior secretary, became the central figure in the Teapot Dome scandal after secretly leasing federal oil reserves to private oilmen. Fall became the first former Cabinet official in American history to go to prison, making him not just a New Mexico disgrace, but a national symbol of government corruption.

2. Manny Aragon — Democrat Senate boss, courthouse scam convict

Former Senate President Pro Tem Manny Aragon was once one of the most powerful Democrats in New Mexico. He later pleaded guilty in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse scandal, a scheme prosecutors said involved inflated and false invoices used to steal millions in taxpayer money. Aragon was sentenced to 5½ years in federal prison, fined $750,000, and ordered to pay restitution.

3. Sheryl Williams Stapleton — Democrat House leader, APS corruption convict

Former House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton rocketed up the list after a federal jury convicted her on dozens of charges tied to a scheme involving Albuquerque Public Schools funds. The once-powerful Democrat was convicted in a case involving allegations that millions meant for education programs were diverted through a friend’s company in exchange for kickbacks.

4. Michael Montoya — Democrat state treasurer, admitted bribe-taker

Former Democratic State Treasurer Michael Montoya helped define one of the ugliest chapters in New Mexico financial corruption. He pleaded guilty to a federal extortion charge and later to a state racketeering charge, admitting he had taken bribes dating back to the 1990s. When the office charged with guarding public money becomes a corruption factory, it earns a top spot.

5. Robert Vigil — Democrat state treasurer, attempted extortion convict

Robert Vigil, another Democratic state treasurer, continued the Treasurer’s Office disgrace. He resigned in 2005 and was later sentenced to 37 months in prison after being convicted of attempted extortion. The Vigil-Montoya era did lasting damage to public trust in New Mexico’s handling of state funds.

6. Phil Griego — Democrat state senator, state-building payday scandal

Former Democratic Sen. Phil Griego was convicted on corruption charges involving the sale of a state-owned building in Santa Fe. Prosecutors said Griego used his position as a lawmaker to guide the sale through the Legislature while failing to properly disclose his financial interest as a broker. He was convicted of five counts, including bribery, fraud, and unlawful interest in a public contract, and later sentenced to 18 months in prison.

7. Dianna Duran — Republican secretary of state, campaign-cash scandal

Former Republican Secretary of State Dianna Duran makes the list because her office was supposed to police campaign finance. Instead, she pleaded guilty to charges including felony embezzlement, money laundering, and campaign reporting violations after allegations involving personal use of campaign funds. She resigned and later served a 30-day jail sentence.

8. Ken Schultz — former Albuquerque mayor, Metro Courthouse go-between

Former Albuquerque Mayor Ken Schultz was not in office when the Metropolitan Courthouse scandal unfolded, but his political stature and role in the scheme put him on the list. Federal prosecutors said Schultz, then a lobbyist, helped contribute to the theft of more than $900,000 tied to the courthouse’s architectural services portion. He pleaded guilty and cooperated in the case.

9. Jerome Block Jr. — Democrat PRC commissioner, public-card and campaign-fund disgrace

Former Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr., an Española Democrat, resigned after pleading guilty to multiple felonies. His case involved fraudulent use of a state-issued gasoline card, identity theft, campaign-finance violations, and embezzlement connected to public campaign money. For a regulator overseeing utilities and other major public interests, the scandal was especially embarrassing.

10. Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos — former Democrat lawmaker, housing authority scandal figure

Former state lawmaker Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos rounds out the list for his role in New Mexico’s housing authority mess. Gallegos, former head of the Region III Housing Authority, pleaded no contest to four misdemeanors after being indicted on fraud, embezzlement, and conspiracy allegations tied to housing-project bond funds. The case did not end with the kind of prison sentence seen in other scandals, but the affordable-housing collapse remains one of New Mexico’s most infamous examples of political cronyism.

Honorable mentions: pre-statehood corruption

Before New Mexico even became a state, the territory was already notorious for political corruption, land-grant schemes, and insider control. The biggest pre-statehood honorable mention is the Santa Fe Ring — the powerful territorial machine tied to lawyers, politicians, land speculators, and businessmen such as former U.S. Sens. Thomas B. Catron and Stephen B. Elkins, who used political influence, legal maneuvering, and land-grant disputes to consolidate enormous power and wealth.

The U.S. House history office calls the Santa Fe Ring “the first and perhaps the most notable political machine in New Mexico’s history,” while UNM Press notes the Ring became famous for “public corruption” and dispossessing land holders. The territorial era also included scandals tied to Spanish and Mexican land grants, a confirmation process the New Mexico Department of Justice says was widely viewed as mired in “confusion, corruption” and lacking due process.

The Colfax County War and Maxwell Land Grant fight likewise exposed the ugly mix of violence, political cronyism, and land speculation that shaped territorial New Mexico before statehood. Because many of these figures operated before modern criminal statutes, campaign-finance laws, and public-corruption enforcement, they are harder to rank against later convicted officials — but no serious list of New Mexico corruption can ignore the Santa Fe Ring and the territorial land-grab culture that set the tone long before 1912.

The pattern

This list is not balanced for the sake of balance. It is weighted toward the documented record. New Mexico’s worst corruption scandals have repeatedly involved powerful Democrats controlling government money, public contracts, school funds, state buildings, and insider networks. Republicans are not absent — Fall and Duran absolutely belong here — but the modern state-level corruption hall of shame is overwhelmingly filled by Democrats.

The lesson is obvious: one-party dominance, weak transparency laws, and cozy political networks create exactly the kind of environment where insiders believe they can get rich, cover their tracks, and count on friends in power to look the other way.

Sometimes juries finally catch up.

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Babylon Bee says NM law ‘spoils the joke’

9 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

The Babylon Bee is taking New Mexico to court over a state law that requires warning labels on certain AI-generated political content, arguing the mandate threatens political satire by forcing comedians to explain the joke before readers can laugh.

The Christian satire site filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against New Mexico officials, with backing from Alliance Defending Freedom, challenging provisions of House Bill 182, the 2024 law that amended the state’s Campaign Reporting Act to regulate what it calls “materially deceptive media.”

The law requires covered political advertisements that use artificial intelligence to generate or manipulate images, video, or audio to include a prominent disclaimer stating that the content was created or altered by AI.

Supporters of the law have framed it as a safeguard against deepfakes and election misinformation. But The Babylon Bee says New Mexico crossed a constitutional line by dragging satire, parody, cartoons, memes, and political comedy into the disclaimer regime.

The lawsuit argues that the state’s forced label does not merely disclose technical information — it changes the message.

According to the complaint, the disclaimer “alters the content” of the satire by telling viewers upfront that the communication is satirical or parodic, stripping it of its intended effect. The lawsuit puts it more bluntly: HB 182 “spoils the joke as it begins.”

Seth Dillon, CEO of The Babylon Bee, told Fox News Digital the problem is not just about bad comedy policy. It is about compelled speech.

“New Mexico is stuffing words into our mouths,” Dillon said, arguing the state is forcing the Bee to say something it otherwise would not say.

That gets to the heart of the challenge. Political satire works because it imitates, exaggerates, mocks, and surprises. A state-mandated warning label announcing that something is artificially generated or manipulated can defeat the entire point, especially when the audience is meant to understand the absurdity through context.

The Bee recently posted an AI-generated satirical travel advertisement mocking Democratic-run New Mexico and state Supreme Court Justice David K. Thomson, who is on the November ballot. In the parody, an AI-generated Thomson says the court rules “against the Second Amendment, the First Amendment or any other amendment that lets people do things.”

The Bee says it plans to continue producing AI-assisted satire about candidates and ballot questions in New Mexico, but does not want to publish under the state’s required label.

Dillon said the site is not backing down.

“The concern is real, but we don’t censor ourselves,” Dillon told Fox. “If a joke we want to tell is likely to violate the law, we’ll tell it, anyway — both because we have a right to, and we refuse to do the tyrant’s work for him.”

The lawsuit names members of the New Mexico Ethics Commission, which enforces the challenged provisions, as defendants. The Bee and ADF are asking the court to block enforcement.

ADF Chief Legal Counsel Jim Campbell told Fox that the case is about protecting core political speech.

“The government cannot decide which political speech is allowed,” Campbell said, warning that when officials control acceptable political speech, “dissent disappears.”

The law itself contains a carveout for satire or parody only if the required disclaimer is included. In other words, New Mexico says parody may be safe from violation — but only if the speaker first labels it in the precise way the state commands.

Even New Mexico’s own Democratic officials have acknowledged legal problems with that setup.

When Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed HB 182, she wrote that portions of the legislation were ambiguous and could “pose legal issues.” In July 2025, Attorney General Raúl Torrez issued an advisory opinion concluding the disclaimer requirement for satire and parody was “likely unconstitutional on its face.”

Torrez’s opinion explained that satire and parody, by definition, are not likely to mislead a reasonable viewer into believing they reflect actual facts. Therefore, he wrote, there is insufficient justification for forcing disclaimers on those forms of political expression.

The New Mexico Ethics Commission dismissed the lawsuit in a statement to Fox, calling the pre-enforcement challenge “baseless.” The commission said it has never enforced the AI disclaimer requirements against political parody or satire.

“While the Babylon Bee has a First Amendment right to mock New Mexico,” the commission said, “it does not have a right to extract attorneys’ fees from the State.”

That response may not solve the constitutional problem. A law does not have to be enforced repeatedly before speakers can argue it chills protected speech, especially when fines and legal penalties are sitting on the books.

The case also places New Mexico inside a growing national fight over artificial intelligence, elections, and free speech. States are increasingly trying to police deepfakes and AI-generated campaign content. But the danger, critics argue, is that broad “anti-misinformation” laws can easily become tools for regulating jokes, memes, and dissent.

Alliance Defending Freedom has represented The Babylon Bee in similar challenges in California and Hawaii, where courts ruled against state restrictions on political satire and deepfakes.

Now New Mexico’s law is next in the crosshairs.

The question before the court is not whether voters should know when AI is being used deceptively in politics. The question is whether the government can force political comedians to slap a warning label on satire — even when the warning destroys the point of the speech.

For The Babylon Bee, the answer is simple: government-mandated joke explanations are not transparency.

They are censorship by another name.

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GOP members say Epstein probe was rigged to protect Haaland

13 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Republican members of the New Mexico House’s Epstein-related special subcommittee are blasting the panel’s process after they say a reference to Democrat gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland’s 2014 flight aboard an Epstein-connected aircraft was removed from the interim report without their knowledge or approval.

Reps. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, and Bill Hall, R-Farmington, said Monday that they have “grave reservations” about Chair Andrea Romero’s handling of the panel’s first interim report, citing unilateral changes, shifting drafts, lack of notice to Republican members, and the unexplained removal of information they say all four members had agreed to include.

The panel has repeatedly been branded by Democrats and allies as a “truth commission,” but it is not an independent commission. It is a special committee of the New Mexico House of Representatives created by House Resolution 1 during the 2026 legislative session. HR 1 directed the speaker to appoint a four-member House special committee, with two majority-party members and two minority-party members, to investigate Zorro Ranch and related allegations of criminal activity and determine whether legislation or other legislative action is needed.

That distinction is now central to the Republican complaint: if the so-called commission is merely being used to protect politically inconvenient Democrats, then the process itself is becoming the story.

According to a press release from the House Republican Leadership Office, Reeb and Hall were “shocked” to learn from Senate Republican Leader Bill Sharer’s August 10 press release that the final interim report omitted mention of Haaland’s September 8, 2014 flight aboard an Epstein-connected aircraft.

The Republicans say the Haaland reference was verified by documents made public under the federal Epstein Files Transparency Act, specifically EFTA00310528.

They also say that on August 4, all four members of the House panel agreed to include the reference to Haaland’s flight in the report. But sometime before the report’s release on August 5, the reference was removed without Reeb’s or Hall’s knowledge or approval.

“It is concerning that reference to Haaland’s connection to Epstein appears to have been unilaterally removed from the final interim report,” Hall said.

The allegation lands at a politically sensitive moment. Haaland, a former congresswoman and Biden administration Interior secretary, is running for governor of New Mexico. Any reference to her appearing in an Epstein-related report would be politically explosive, even if the underlying fact involved an Epstein-connected aircraft rather than an allegation of wrongdoing.

That is precisely why Republicans say the omission raises questions.

“This commission is supposed to be about finding the truth, wherever it leads,” Reeb said. “It raises concerns about how decisions are being made when verified information all four members agreed to include is removed.”

Reeb went further, saying, “Deb Haaland is linked to an Epstein-related flight. The only justifiable reason to remove Haaland’s name from the report is to protect her from any political fallout while she is campaigning to be New Mexico’s next governor. This is unacceptable.”

She added, “We must be able to assure the public that political considerations are not influencing what is included, or excluded, from this investigation.”

The process concerns go beyond the Haaland omission.

According to Reeb and Hall, members received what was presented as a final draft around 11:30 p.m. on August 4. But they say Romero continued directing special counsel to make changes into the following morning, including changes made without Republican knowledge or approval.

Then, at 8:06 a.m. on August 5, an embargoed copy of the updated report was distributed to the media without prior notice to the Republican members, the GOP release says. Reeb and Hall say the chaotic process prevented them from reviewing the final report before the August 5 committee hearing.

The timing is notable because HR 1 required the committee to furnish an interim report to House leadership on or before July 31, 2026, with a final report due by December 31.

The report was released days later, on August 5, the same day New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the U.S. Department of Justice over access to unredacted Epstein-related records. 

The interim report itself has already faced criticism for delivering few concrete findings despite months of work, subpoenas, outside legal help, and access to large volumes of records. Reuters reported the report found evidence to date that Epstein abused at least five women and girls at Zorro Ranch between 1996 and 2012, while noting several subpoenas were refused or ignored. 

But the new Republican criticism is different. It is not merely that the report was thin. It is that the process may have been manipulated to sanitize politically damaging information about Haaland.

Reeb and Hall are now calling for greater transparency over changes to draft reports and for all members to be included in major decisions going forward. They say they remain committed to the work, but only if it operates as a truly bipartisan process.

That should not be a high bar.

If this House subcommittee is supposed to investigate Epstein’s New Mexico ties without fear or favor, then politically inconvenient names cannot disappear from the final draft in the dark of night.

Otherwise, the so-called “truth commission” risks looking less like a serious investigation and more like a taxpayer-funded political shield for Deb Haaland.

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New Mexico’s Epstein file fight just got uglier

11 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is escalating his fight with the U.S. Department of Justice over Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch files, filing a federal lawsuit that seeks access to unredacted investigative records tied to Epstein’s alleged crimes in New Mexico.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, names U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and the U.S. Department of Justice as defendants. Torrez’s office says the federal government is unlawfully blocking New Mexico’s renewed criminal investigation into abuse, trafficking, and other sex-related crimes allegedly connected to Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch outside Santa Fe.

But the renewed demand raises the same disturbing question Piñon Post previously reported: exactly how far does Torrez want the federal government to go in turning over raw Epstein materials that may include victim identities, graphic evidence, sealed information, and child sexual abuse material?

The state’s lawsuit asks the court to force USDOJ to provide access to “unredacted Epstein files and related unreleased materials” or, at minimum, require the department to reconsider the request under its own Touhy regulations.

“New Mexico has a duty to protect survivors and investigate crimes committed in our state so that perpetrators can be held accountable,” Torrez said in the press release announcing the suit. “We asked the Department of Justice to cooperate by providing access to records that may be critical to identifying victims, witnesses, and additional criminal conduct at Zorro Ranch. Their delay is actively hurting our criminal investigation and delaying justice Epstein survivors deserve.”

According to the complaint, Epstein and his network engaged in “widespread trafficking and sexual abuse of young girls,” including victims in New Mexico. The lawsuit says Epstein purchased Zorro Ranch in 1993 and repeatedly visited the state until his death in 2019.

The complaint also says the publicly released Epstein files contain more than 13,000 references to Zorro Ranch and 5,000 references to New Mexico as locations where victims were allegedly trafficked, groomed, and assaulted.

Torrez’s office argues that federal prosecutors told New Mexico in 2019 to stand down from its own investigation while the federal government pursued Epstein-related matters. The state claims DOJ promised cooperation later, but never delivered the information New Mexico says it needs to pursue potential state charges.

The complaint says New Mexico reopened its Zorro Ranch investigation in February and conducted the first law enforcement search of the ranch on March 9.

But the lawsuit also confirms the sensitive nature of the records at issue. The state’s own complaint notes that the Epstein Files Transparency Act permits federal officials to withhold or redact categories of information from public disclosure, including victims’ personally identifiable information, child sexual abuse materials, materials that could jeopardize an active investigation, images of death or physical abuse, and classified national security information.

That is exactly why the fight is not as simple as Torrez and New Mexico Democrats suggest.

The dispute is not merely about “transparency.” It is about whether a state attorney general should be given access to raw Epstein materials that federal officials say are protected by court orders, privacy laws, and victim safeguards.

Piñon Post previously reported that unredacted Epstein records can contain the most sensitive material imaginable: names, addresses, identifying details, witness information, sealed investigative records, graphic evidence, and potentially child sexual abuse material — commonly called child pornography.

Torrez’s office says it wants the information for law enforcement purposes, not public release. But federal officials have already warned that the demand for unredacted material may collide with legal protections designed to prevent victims from being exposed again.

In earlier reporting, a DOJ spokesperson rejected New Mexico’s claims and said, “Federal law, court orders and privacy protections for victims and witnesses do not allow us to release millions of unredacted documents, regardless of any deadline set by NMDOJ.”

The spokesperson added, “To capitulate to their demands would be to break federal law. Is that what the NM AG is suggesting?”

Torrez is now asking a federal court to answer that question.

The state’s complaint argues that DOJ is hiding behind privacy objections and protective orders while refusing to assist the only active state criminal investigation into Epstein’s alleged New Mexico conduct. It claims DOJ’s refusal is “arbitrary and capricious,” an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law.

The filing also accuses DOJ of betraying survivors, saying federal officials “secretly negotiated” Epstein’s infamous non-prosecution agreement years ago and later failed to properly protect survivor information when materials were made public.

That point undercuts the federal government, but it also underscores the danger of mishandling raw Epstein records. The complaint itself alleges DOJ previously posted “detailed, unredacted personal information about survivors,” including contact information and nude images.

The reality is that much of this mess long predates the current Trump administration. Federal handling of Epstein records stretches across multiple administrations, including the Biden/Garland era and earlier. If prior DOJ officials redacted, withheld, failed to gather, or failed to preserve material, the current administration cannot magically recreate what federal bureaucrats never properly collected or safely prepared for disclosure.

And if the material still exists but is shielded by court orders or victim protections, then Torrez is asking the court to force a legal confrontation over some of the most sensitive evidence in modern criminal history.

New Mexico deserves answers about what happened at Zorro Ranch. Survivors deserve justice. Anyone who aided, enabled, trafficked, abused, or covered up Epstein’s crimes should be held accountable.

But that does not mean officials should bulldoze protections for victims or demand sweeping access to raw files that may contain child sexual abuse material and graphic evidence involving minors.

Torrez’s lawsuit may be framed as a fight for justice. It may also be a test of whether political pressure will be used to pry open files the law has long treated as too sensitive for broad disclosure.

The court will now decide whether DOJ must turn over the unredacted Epstein materials — or whether New Mexico’s demand goes too far.

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NM judge slaps Meta with $567M child safety fund

17 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Meta has been ordered to pay $567 million into a New Mexico abatement fund after a judge found the company’s platforms contributed to the youth mental health crisis in the state, marking another major blow to Big Tech in a growing wave of child safety litigation.

The order, reported by CNBC, follows an earlier finding that Meta willfully violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act. The company had already been hit with $375 million in civil penalties earlier this year. The new $567 million abatement fund brings the total price tag in the case to nearly $1 billion.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid wrote that Meta’s platforms were a “significant contributing factor” to the “current mental health crisis among New Mexico’s youth,” according to the report.

The fund is intended to address alleged harm tied to the use of Meta’s platforms by young people in New Mexico. Most of the money — $420 million — is designated for treatment. The rest is slated for awareness and prevention, screening, referrals, coordination, implementation, quality improvement, and evaluation.

The case has become one of the most consequential state-level fights against social media companies, which are increasingly facing lawsuits over claims that their products harm children, expose minors to predators, and worsen mental health problems.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued Meta in 2023 after his office conducted an undercover investigation involving a fake profile for a 13-year-old girl. Torrez previously said the account was quickly flooded with sexualized content and solicitations from predators.

The ruling gives Torrez one of the biggest wins yet in his campaign against Meta, though the order appears to fall short of the sweeping product overhaul his office initially sought.

Before the second phase of the trial, Torrez had pushed for major changes to how Meta does business in New Mexico, including stronger age-verification technology, changes to recommendation systems, and other child safety modifications.

In a statement, Torrez said the judgment holds Meta accountable for harm to “our children, our families, and our schools” and forces “real changes” in New Mexico.

Meta disagreed sharply with the ruling and said it will appeal.

The company said it works to keep users safe and remains confident in its child safety record. Meta also accused critics of advancing “claims that misrepresent the facts.”

The order does require Meta to continue improving age assurance models and tools in New Mexico, including the use of artificial intelligence. The company must also attempt to create a model within two years that can better identify users under age 13.

Other required steps include making it easier to report underage users and partnering with schools or a child safety organization to create a portal where administrators can flag suspected accounts belonging to children under 13.

But the judge did not force Meta to change its algorithms, a major limitation in the ruling. Biedscheid found that mandating algorithm changes could run into Section 230 and First Amendment concerns.

The court also did not require Meta to end support for end-to-end encryption on Facebook. The judge further found that WhatsApp was not part of the public nuisance being addressed, noting that predators and harmful content are not recommended to adolescents on that platform in the same way.

That split result is important.

On one hand, New Mexico secured a massive monetary remedy and new child-safety requirements against one of the world’s most powerful technology companies. On the other hand, Meta avoided some of the most aggressive remedies that could have reshaped the company’s core products in the state.

The ruling comes as social media companies face what some legal experts have described as a “Big Tobacco” moment. Just as tobacco companies were once forced to confront claims that they misled the public about health risks, tech giants are now being challenged over whether they designed addictive products while downplaying risks to children.

For New Mexico, the case also highlights a grim reality: the state’s youth mental health system is already strained. The judge cited testimony from professionals in fields including health care and noted that New Mexico lacks enough programs and services to meet the needs of troubled youth allegedly harmed by social media.

Meta disclosed in a financial filing that the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office had indicated it could seek up to $62.85 billion in penalties in the case, meaning the legal battle may not be over.

The company’s appeal will likely test how far states can go in using public nuisance and consumer protection laws against social media platforms. It will also raise broader questions about free speech, platform liability, parental responsibility, child exploitation, and whether courts can force tech companies to redesign products used by millions of people.

For now, New Mexico has landed a major judgment against Meta.

But the biggest fight — whether Big Tech can be forced to fundamentally change how it interacts with children — is still far from over.

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Epstein committee gets $750K legal contract, delivers 119 pages of nothing

14 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

A taxpayer-funded New Mexico House special committee created to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s activities at Zorro Ranch has released its long-awaited interim report — and after months of work, a large outside legal team, 20 subpoenas, and access to more than 100,000 records, the panel produced virtually nothing New Mexicans did not already know.

Despite repeatedly branding itself as the “New Mexico Survivors’ Truth Commission,” the panel is not an independent commission. Its own report acknowledges that it is formally a special committee of the New Mexico House of Representatives, created through House Resolution 1 during the 2026 legislative session.

The distinction matters because the panel has attempted to surround itself with the trappings of a sweeping international “truth commission,” even devoting pages of its report to United Nations concepts typically used after dictatorships, armed conflicts, and widespread human-rights atrocities.

What New Mexicans actually received was a 119-page government-produced book report.

The report summarizes Epstein’s history, describes the acreage and buildings at Zorro Ranch, catalogs employees, recounts publicly available flight logs (but omitted the flight log where Democrat gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland used his jet), discusses internet connections at the property, lists telephone systems, and repeats information already contained in federal court filings, media reports, and millions of pages released through the federal Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The seriousness of Epstein’s abuse and the suffering of his victims are beyond dispute. But that does not excuse government officials from accountability for how they spend public resources — particularly when they use those survivors’ experiences to justify an expensive investigation that has so far delivered no charges, no identified new perpetrator, no completed financial analysis, and no meaningful legislative proposal, as promised when attempting to pass it. According to Source New Mexico in February:

Some members also wanted to know whether the subcommittee intends to prevent future activity such as has been alleged to have occurred at Zorro Ranch.

“Do you believe that this legislation could, in the future, help us hold these people and various actors from being able to be in a haven in New Mexico, from procuring our land and doing these horrifying things here,” state Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo) asked Romero.

Romero said whatever the commission learns, “we can also propose specific policies that can help close loops that were open for these crimes to take place or nefarious actions to take place.”

The committee hired the law firm Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway P.C. under a contract worth up to $750,000 through December 31, 2026. The investigation includes six attorneys and seven paralegals working at least part time. The report also acknowledges that the legal team used artificial intelligence tools to navigate the documentary record.

For that substantial commitment of public resources, the committee issued 20 subpoenas and says it obtained more than 100,000 records. Ten subpoena recipients fully complied, two partially complied, and eight refused or did not respond.

Yet the committee’s own disclaimer admits the allegations and information in the document “are not findings.” It further concedes that the interim report “offers no final findings” and merely intends to identify themes and pose additional questions.

That is an extraordinary admission after months of work.

The committee’s mandate was to determine whether legislation or other legislative action was necessary to punish crime, protect children and vulnerable people, improve access to civil justice, safeguard public resources, and establish accountability.

The interim report does none of those things.

It proposes no major bill. It identifies no clear statutory deficiency. It announces no referral resulting in criminal charges. It establishes no new compensation mechanism for survivors. It names no previously unknown New Mexico official who knowingly facilitated Epstein’s crimes.

Instead, the document repeats conclusions that had already been widely reported: Epstein abused women and girls, powerful people remained within his orbit, and law enforcement authorities failed to fully investigate what happened in New Mexico.

The committee says evidence supports the conclusion that Epstein abused at least five women and girls at Zorro Ranch between 1996 and 2012. But those accounts were largely taken from preexisting FBI records, court documents, survivor statements, and the federal prosecution of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell — not newly uncovered evidence produced by the special committee.

The report also discusses an unverified tip claiming two bodies were buried at the ranch. But a March 2026 search conducted by the New Mexico Department of Justice using cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar found no human remains.

On possible financial crimes, the panel reached no conclusion whatsoever. It says bank records remain incomplete and expressly “defers reporting” on whether Epstein or anyone else engaged in financial irregularities in New Mexico.

Even the report’s concluding “observations” amount to little more than statements of the obvious.

The first is that Epstein retained power and influence after becoming a registered sex offender. The second is that he conducted his operation largely in plain sight. The third is that New Mexico law enforcement played a passive role while authorities elsewhere handled the case.

Those points may be true, but none required a sprawling special committee, a $750,000 legal-services contract, and a glossy 119-page report to establish.

The committee also missed its own statutory deadline. HR-1 required the interim report to be furnished by July 31, 2026. The report is dated August 5.

After all the buildup, the final page does not present an accountability plan or even a concrete roadmap. It simply says the committee will keep reviewing records, issuing subpoenas, and interviewing witnesses.

In other words: stay tuned, keep spending, and perhaps the next report will contain the actual investigation.

New Mexicans deserved better than a costly compilation of publicly available Epstein material dressed up as a landmark government inquiry. Survivors deserved a serious pursuit of identifiable perpetrators, institutional accountability, and specific reforms — not another government body using their trauma to justify bureaucracy, consultants, and months of political theater.

The crimes were real. The government failures were real.

But this special committee’s first major product is little more than an expensive nothing-burger. Read the report for yourself here.

Epstein committee gets $750K legal contract, delivers 119 pages of nothing Read More »

Vasquez hitches campaign to anti-ICE radical to attack former cop

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U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez has hitched his reelection campaign to a full-blown radical anti-ICE activist in a new left-wing video attacking Republican congressional candidate Greg Cunningham, a former Marine, police officer, and undercover detective.

The video, posted directly by Vasquez on X and credited to Courier New Mexico, features Ben Montoya, a they/them activist and podcast producer whose uncovered public posts show a long history of anti-ICE rhetoric, anti-police commentary, anti-prison activism, anti-capitalist views, and profane attacks on conservatives.

The video attempts to smear Cunningham by tying him to Legacy Church in Albuquerque, Charlie Kirk, and traditional Christian beliefs on marriage and gender. It opens by calling Cunningham the “megachurch pastor’s pick” and a “MAGA-backed candidate” trying to flip New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.

The Courier video claims Cunningham was inspired to run after a speech by the conservative now-slain activist Charlie Kirk at Legacy Church. It then displays language from the church’s website stating that “God created male and female” and that the church only sanctions marriage between “a man and a woman.”

From there, the video warns that abortion and “LGBTQ” rights are “protected in New Mexico” but “face challenges from candidates aligned with churches that oppose them.”

But there is a glaring problem with the attack: the video does not show Cunningham saying he is “anti-gay,” nor does it provide evidence that he is targeting gay New Mexicans. Instead, it leans on supposed guilt by association, taking a church’s statement of faith and using it to portray Cunningham as extreme.

That smear becomes even more revealing when looking at the person Vasquez chose to amplify.

Posts and profile information uncovered from Montoya’s public accounts show the Courier New Mexico personality using they/them pronouns and listing #BlackLivesMatter on X. Montoya’s linked Tumblr profile includes the slogans “Free Palestine” and “F**k ICE.”

That was not a one-off.

This January, Montoya proposed an anti-ICE protest being held in Albuquerque, calling for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In July 2020, Montoya reposted a claim about ICE policy affecting international students and added the hashtag “#AbolishICE.” On the same day, Montoya quoted a Santa Fe New Mexican story about migrants on a hunger strike and added “#AbolishICE” and “#AbolishPrisons.”

Montoya wrote that migrants “were on a dayslong hunger strike when guards entered their prison dormitory in full riot gear — gas masks, shields and canisters of pepper spray,” then tied the post to abolitionist slogans.

In another uncovered post, Montoya reacted to a story about immigration enforcement by writing, “Another revolting story that I had no idea of until today. This f**king country…”

Montoya also attacked civilian border-security efforts in New Mexico, writing, “I can’t think of a bigger waste of time than pointing a big a** gun at nothing for days.” In the same thread, Montoya described the border crisis narrative as a “manufactured ‘crisis at the border’” and accused border-security activists of acting under “white supremacist” logic.

The pattern goes beyond immigration enforcement.

Montoya promoted abolitionist policing ideas, including #8ToAbolition, a framework that rejects ordinary police reform and pushes toward dismantling policing and prisons as currently structured.

In posts about the 2020 shooting of Rodney Applewhite by New Mexico State Police, Montoya wrote, “His name was Rodney Applewhite,” adding that he was “murdered by NM state police because of a ‘traffic stop.’” Montoya also amplified language claiming Applewhite was “lynched by state police.”

Even while acknowledging in a thread that Applewhite fled a traffic stop, drove dangerously, and tried to grab an officer’s gun, Montoya rejected the idea that the shooting was justified and wrote, “Black lives f**king matter and police must be held accountable for every life they’ve taken.”

That is the radical voice Vasquez chose to elevate in an attack on Cunningham — a former law enforcement officer.

Montoya’s broader online presence also shows the same ideological worldview. One uncovered post promoted Democracy Now as “independent media that is critical of military industrial complex and capitalism.” Another response to NPR’s Throughline suggested an episode on “the symbiotic relationship between mass incarceration and capitalism.”

Other posts show open hostility toward President Donald Trump. One post simply read, “F**K DONALD TRUMP.” Another post reacted to Trump’s 2020 Republican National Convention imagery by claiming it felt “like a literal horror movie” and sharing the line, “Fascism has indeed arrived draped in a flag.”

This is not a neutral messenger. This is an activist with a documented history of hard-left, anti-ICE, anti-police, anti-prison, anti-capitalist rhetoric.

And that is exactly why Vasquez’s decision to promote the video matters.

Vasquez has spent years trying to run from his own anti-law-enforcement baggage. During the 2020 Black Lives Matter era, Vasquez appeared in a local television interview at a protest and said, “We need serious police reform in this country.” He then added, “It’s not just about defunding police, it’s about defunding a system that privileges white people over everyone else.”

The interview became even more controversial after reporting identified Vasquez as the masked man in the clip, despite the interview being attributed to another name at the time. His campaign later said the name issue came from the station and that he declined to give his name because he wanted the focus on protest organizers.

But the words were his.

Vasquez also has a record of since-deleted posts that mirror the same activist language Montoya has used. CNN’s KFile reported that Vasquez deleted progressive tweets attacking oil and gas, rationalizing rioting, and comparing Trump’s America to the Ku Klux Klan.

In one deleted tweet, Vasquez wrote, “The tip of the spear of a white supremacist system ends in state sanctioned, cold-blooded murder of black individuals.” He continued by saying there was “so much to undo” and “shift power structures,” adding, “That’s why the cars and buildings are burning.”

Ironically, it is Vasquez who has spewed racism, calling a black man a “n—er,” according to a police report.

That language lines up almost perfectly with Montoya’s worldview: police as an arm of a racist system, ICE as something to abolish, prisons as oppressive, capitalism as tied to incarceration, and Christians as dangerous extremists.

Vasquez later tried to clean up the record, saying he opposed defunding the police and claiming he supported police funding while on the Las Cruces City Council. But his past statements continue to follow him for a reason.

Now, he is not just being judged by an old clip. He is actively promoting a new attack from a radical left-wing activist whose record reinforces the very worldview Vasquez claims not to hold.

Cunningham’s background could not be more different. Cunningham is a former Recon Marine, police officer, and undercover detective who has campaigned on public safety, service, border security, and support for law enforcement.

The Courier video’s attack on Cunningham is therefore not just about one Republican candidate. It is part of a broader left-wing strategy: make Christian beliefs sound hateful, make law-and-order candidates sound dangerous, and let anti-police activists do the talking.

That, mixed with Montoya’s posts mocking Jesus, saying God being “killed” would be “quite the payoff,” and Christians in general also play into this deep anti-Christian sentiment spewed by the Courier. 

Courier New Mexico is part of Courier Newsroom, a national progressive dark money media network that expanded into New Mexico in 2026. Axios has described Courier as a news group with a “progressive perspective,” and Courier itself describes its model as “values-driven” media. The group, which is funded by billionaire George Soros, has been accused in the past of being “driven by political agendas intended to manipulate unwitting readers” and labeled “pink slime journalism.”

So when Vasquez posts Courier’s video, he is not sharing some neutral fact-check. He is amplifying a progressive media hit featuring an activist with a long paper trail of radical rhetoric.

That raises a simple question for voters in southern New Mexico: Why is Gabe Vasquez using a they/them, “F**k ICE,” #AbolishICE activist to attack a former police detective?

“My wife Jennifer and I have built our life around faith, family and service. Gabe Vasquez and his friends are attacking me for my faith because they’re getting desperate. And every New Mexican can see right through it,” Cunningham told the Piñon Post.

“The truth is, Gabe isn’t just attacking me. He’s attacking every person of faith who wants to make their community a better place. This isn’t going to slow us down. We have a mission to accomplish.”

For a congressman still trying to convince voters he is not anti-police, Vasquez just made that job much harder.

He could have defended his record. He could have debated Cunningham on the border, crime, inflation, energy, or public safety.

Instead, Vasquez boosted a radical left-wing attack from a person whose own posts show hostility toward ICE, prisons, police, Trump supporters, capitalism, and traditional values.

That says far more about Gabe Vasquez than it does about Greg Cunningham.

Editor’s note: All noted references have been saved by the Piñon Post with timestamps, screenshots, URL links, and other metadata to ensure their preservation.

Vasquez hitches campaign to anti-ICE radical to attack former cop Read More »

Disgraced Dem leader Stapleton’s trial opens with stunning defense

14 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Former New Mexico House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton’s federal corruption trial opened this week with a stunning defense: she may have taken money that did not belong to her, but her attorney argued she did not steal from taxpayers.

Stapleton, once one of the most powerful Democrats in the New Mexico Legislature, is facing a 37-count federal indictment tied to allegations that she helped steer roughly $3.2 million in federal vocational training money to a company run by longtime friend and co-defendant Joseph Johnson, then received more than $1 million in kickbacks.

Her attorney, Ryan Villa, told jurors Tuesday that Stapleton is “not 100% innocent,” according to the Santa Fe New Mexican, but argued she is not guilty of the federal charges prosecutors brought against her.

Yes, Villa acknowledged, Stapleton took money that was not hers and failed to report it on her taxes. But he argued she took the money from Johnson’s company and a nonprofit they ran — not from taxpayers.

“She is not guilty of bribery, fraud or money laundering,” Villa told jurors.

Villa insisted there was no “pay to play,” no “quid pro quo,” and no evidence that Stapleton and Johnson carried out a long-running scheme to defraud the federal government or Albuquerque Public Schools.

He told jurors the real question was not simply whether Stapleton took money, but “who did she take money from?”

Johnson’s attorney, Nicole Moss, offered a similar finger-pointing defense, telling jurors Johnson was also innocent and that the public received the software Albuquerque Public Schools paid for through Robotics Management Learning Systems.

Moss described Johnson as a hardworking businessman who was allegedly betrayed by “one of his oldest friends” while distracted by the death of his young son.

“The victim here, the person who was cheated by Ms. Stapleton, was Mr. Johnson,” Moss said.

In other words, both defendants appear to agree on one thing: there was no conspiracy between them. Stapleton’s defense says she took from Johnson’s operation, not taxpayers. Johnson’s defense says he was the one cheated by Stapleton.

But federal prosecutors are telling jurors a much different story — and the defense argument has a major problem.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Federici alleged the two longtime friends struck a “corrupt bargain” that “kept millions flowing” to Johnson’s company. Prosecutors say Stapleton, in her role as career and technical education director for APS, helped direct federal education funds toward Johnson’s company and moved invoices through the procurement process.

In return, Federici said, Robotics Management Learning Systems provided Stapleton with blank company checks that she used as she wished.

Prosecutors said roughly 95% of the money in the Robotics bank account came from federal education funds obtained through APS contracts. They also alleged the company received about $3.4 million from APS and federal vocational training funds, with approximately 73% of that total treated as profit.

According to Federici, Stapleton and Johnson split that profit, each walking away with about $1 million for personal use. Stapleton allegedly failed to report any of it on financial disclosures required by her positions as a state legislator and APS administrator.

That is where the “she stole from her friend, not taxpayers” argument starts to collapse. If prosecutors are right that the money entering Robotics was overwhelmingly taxpayer-funded, then the public money did not become irrelevant simply because it passed through Johnson’s company before allegedly ending up in Stapleton’s hands.

The case also comes against the backdrop of years of prior Piñon Post reporting that raised questions about both Stapleton and Johnson long before opening statements began.

Piñon Post previously reported that Robotics Management Learning Systems was registered at a Washington, D.C., address tied to Johnson and his National Corrections and Rehabilitation Corporation, and that Johnson was also listed as president of Ujima Foundation, another entity prosecutors have tied to the alleged scheme.

The prior exclusive reporting also documented that Stapleton and Johnson’s relationship stretches back decades, including shared political circles at New Mexico State University, NAACP connections, and later Rainbow Coalition ties.

Johnson’s own past has not been clean of controversy. Piñon Post previously reported that during the Toney Anaya years, Johnson was charged by state prosecutors with felony counts including bribery, fraud, conspiracy, illegal kickbacks, and racketeering after a scandal involving a state-contracted mental health center. The charges were ultimately dismissed after a key witness recanted, and Johnson later returned to government as Anaya’s chief of staff.

Piñon Post also reported on other Johnson business controversies, including a HUD report finding that a Johnson-linked company in Virginia had “inappropriately spent” nearly half a million dollars in hospital operating funds on questionable contracts, board compensation, country-club dues, travel, entertainment, and housing unrelated to hospital operations.

Stapleton’s public career also came with years of questions. In 2011, KRQE’s Larry Barker reported Stapleton “pocketed more than $100,000 — money she didn’t earn — from APS over the years while serving in the legislature,” with APS later changing rules rather than forcing repayment. She was also accused by a former Martin Luther King Jr. Commission executive director of coercing a no-bid contract involving eRead, though Stapleton denied involvement.

Now, in federal court, Stapleton’s defense is not claiming she did nothing wrong. It is claiming the wrong she did was not the federal corruption scheme prosecutors allege.

The trial is expected to continue through Aug. 14, with prosecutors listing dozens of potential witnesses. Stapleton also faces a separate state case set for trial in October, where she is accused of 28 crimes, including violating ethical principles of public service, soliciting or receiving an illegal kickback, and engaging in an official act for personal financial gain.

Both Stapleton and Johnson are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

But the opening defense pitch — that money was taken, just not from taxpayers — may be a difficult sell when prosecutors say the cash trail began with federal education money meant for students.

Disgraced Dem leader Stapleton’s trial opens with stunning defense Read More »

Luján’s fundraising panic gets weird fast

22 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján’s campaign appears to be in full-blown manufactured fundraising panic mode, sending a barrage of increasingly dramatic emails warning supporters that Democrats could “throw in the towel,” “kiss their chances” of taking the Senate goodbye, and even claiming survey data could become “invalid” if recipients do not respond fast enough.

The string of emails, sent over several days around the campaign’s end-of-month fundraising deadline, shows just how frantic Democrat campaign messaging has become as Luján seeks reelection and national Democrats look for a path back to the Senate majority.

The pleas began with the usual manufactured urgency, but quickly veered into absurd territory.

On July 28, Luján’s campaign sent an “URGENT DEMOCRATIC POLLING” email asking the supposedly critical political question: “DO YOU RECYCLE?”

The email appeared falsely personalized to the recipient, claiming the person had been selected for a local recycling survey and was “representing” Santa Fe Democrats. It said the campaign was reaching out because of “concerning data in Santa Fe regarding low recycling rates.”

“We’re in the midst of a MASSIVE environmental crisis,” the email warned, adding that the campaign still needed “[331] responses to reach statistical significance.”

Two days later, the same recycling-themed email appeared again, with the same “DO YOU RECYCLE?” question and the same claim that 331 responses were needed.

By July 29, the tone had shifted from recycling panic to Senate doom.

“I don’t know what to say,” one email began.

“We’re 2 DAYS away from our end-of-month fundraising deadline. If we don’t hit our goal, we won’t be able to flip the Senate blue. We won’t be able to fight Trump’s agenda,” the email warned.

Then came the highlighted line: “But no one — I mean no one — has donated.”

The campaign claimed “our future is on the line,” along with “the fate of Social Security and Medicare” and even “gas prices.” The email then asked whether the recipient had “anything to spare to help STOP Trump,” warning that Democrats had “only 24 hours left” — despite the same email saying the deadline was two days away.

On July 30, Luján’s campaign claimed it was still “[447] donations short” of its goal.

“If I don’t hit my end-of-month goal, Democrats can kiss their chances at retaking the Senate goodbye,” the email stated. It claimed “the GOP is SWARMING New Mexico” and warned, “If Democrats don’t take back the Senate, MAGA wins.”

The campaign then escalated further: “And if MAGA wins, Trump gets to bulldoze his agenda through Congress. The future of Social Security, Medicare, and gas prices will all be uncertain.”

But perhaps the most bizarre emails involved MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) host Rachel Maddow.

On July 30, Luján’s campaign sent an email with the subject line “GOODBYE, RACHEL MADDOW.” The email claimed, “Trump managed to get Stephen Colbert fired. And now, he’s calling for MSNBC to FIRE Rachel Maddow!” The email couldn’t even get Maddow’s network name correct.

The campaign said it had launched an “URGENT Viewership Poll” to “PROVE massive grassroots support for Rachel Maddow” and demanded the recipient submit a response “in the next 30 minutes.”

A follow-up email the next day, titled “FWD: Rachel Maddow FIRED?!” said the campaign was “RACING to prove that top Democrats support Rachel Maddow” and needed a “98% response rate.”

The campaign warned that Maddow had “courageously EXPOSED Trump and MAGA’s corruption time after time” and that Trump would “LOVE to say goodbye to brave journalists like Rachel Maddow who speak truth to power.”

By July 31, deadline-day panic reached its peak.

“This is the final time we’ll ask you to donate $9 to help RE-ELECT Ben Ray Luján,” the email began, before admitting, “As of this morning, we’re still DANGEROUSLY short of our goal.”

The campaign warned that if Democrats “lose here it’s OVER” and said it had emailed supporters “over and over” because “if things don’t turn around, we’ll have to pack our bags and throw in the towel.”

Then came the “Harsh Reality” section, claiming “The GOP is swarming New Mexico” and that “Donald Trump is trying to RIG elections after his administration FAILED the American people.”

The same email claimed that if the campaign raised “20,000 Senate Memberships” before midnight, Democrats could “END Trump’s razor-thin Senate Majority.” If they succeeded, it declared, “the rest of his corrupt presidency is TOAST!”

The deadline apparently did not end the begging.

On Aug. 1, Luján’s campaign sent another email “humbly asking” for support, claiming there were “less than 4 months until one of the biggest elections of our lifetimes” and saying it needed 2,000 supporters before a new deadline “TONIGHT.”

That same day, another falsely personalized email claimed the campaign had “some concern that many Democrats may have switched parties since the last election.” It asked the recipient to confirm whether they were still a Democrat or “now a Republican,” saying it needed “10 local responses” for its data to be valid.

By Sunday morning, the panic returned to Social Security.

An Aug. 2 email with the subject line “[gutted] what Trump did to Social Security” claimed Democrats were fighting “tooth and nail to SAVE Social Security from Trump’s cuts,” but warned, “the worst has happened.”

It then told the recipient that the survey “needs to begin within 5 minutes of opening this email” or “our data from your state will be INVALID.”

Taken together, the emails show a campaign relying on a steady diet of panic, guilt, fake deadlines, falsely personalized “polls,” and apocalyptic Trump warnings to shake loose cash and clicks.

Whether the campaign actually missed its July deadline is unclear from the emails alone. But the fact that the pleas continued after the deadline — with new urgent demands, new polls, and new warnings — suggests Luján’s campaign was not exactly projecting confidence.

For a longtime incumbent Democrat in New Mexico, the message to supporters was unmistakable: panic now, donate fast, or Rachel Maddow, Social Security, gas prices, recycling, and the entire Senate may apparently be doomed.

However, the panic about supposed failures to meet fundraising goals is completely false, as the last FEC filing at the end of June shows $4,396,754.26 cash on hand for Lujan, with disbursements from the campaign since last year of $2,443,667.94 — hardly a place to “panic.” Republican Larry Marker is the GOP name to take on Lujan.

Luján’s fundraising panic gets weird fast Read More »

Haaland hits panic button after poll shows gov’s race tightening

23 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Democrat Deb Haaland’s campaign is sounding the alarm after a Republican-backed poll showed New Mexico’s race for governor far closer than many political insiders expected.

In a fundraising email sent Thursday afternoon, Haaland told supporters she had “just got our newest poll,” calling it “a tough one.”

“It shows us trailing by 6 points,” the email stated.

The message was tied to an urgent end-of-month fundraising push, asking supporters to chip in before a deadline “tomorrow at midnight” to help the campaign hit a $50,000 goal. The email also included a graphic showing a “Republican opponent” at 49%, Haaland at 43%, and 8% undecided.

The poll referenced in the email appears to be the same McLaughlin & Associates survey released by Republican Gregg Hull’s campaign. That poll, conducted July 13-15 among 400 likely New Mexico general election voters, initially showed Haaland narrowly ahead of Hull, 46% to 45%, with 9% undecided — a statistical tie within the poll’s 4.9% margin of error.

But after voters were given more information, Hull’s campaign says the race shifted to a 49% to 43% Hull lead, the number Haaland’s own fundraising email appears to have seized on.

That means saying Haaland is simply “losing” is not the full picture. The initial ballot showed her technically ahead by one point, though statistically tied. The six-point Hull advantage came on the informed ballot, after voters learned more about the candidates.

Still, the tone of Haaland’s email suggests her campaign is taking the poll seriously.

“MAGA donors have already poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into this race, and this poll will only encourage them to spend even more trying to buy this election, flip New Mexico red, and bring Donald Trump’s extreme agenda to our state,” the email warned.

“This is an all-hands-on-deck moment,” the campaign added, asking grassroots supporters to “step up right now.”

The poll comes shortly after Haaland won the June Democratic primary in a blowout and as many national observers have treated New Mexico as a safe bet for Democrats. Sabato’s Crystal Ball recently moved the race from “Likely Democratic” to “Safe Democratic,” arguing that Haaland appeared well-positioned to keep the governor’s mansion in Democrat hands.

But Hull’s campaign is trying to use the new numbers to argue the race is far from over.

“Gregg Hull is currently a more likeable candidate for governor over the polarizing Deb Haaland,” McLaughlin & Associates wrote in its polling memo, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican’s report.

“With the right resources, it’s clear that Gregg Hull can win the election,” the memo stated.

Hull also posted a campaign graphic declaring the race a “statistical tie” on the initial ballot and claiming he leads by six points on the informed ballot.

The graphic, branded with Hull’s campaign logo and the slogan “Experience Matters. Leadership That Works,” shows Hull at 45% and Haaland at 46% on the initial ballot, with 9% undecided. On the informed ballot, it shows Hull at 49%, Haaland at 43%, and 8% undecided.

Hull used the poll to ask supporters for donations, writing that the race is close because voters have not yet fully heard his story.

“This race isn’t close because New Mexicans want more of the same — it’s close because we haven’t finished telling my story yet,” Hull wrote in a fundraising email.

Haaland’s campaign appears to be making the opposite argument: that Republicans will use the poll to raise money, nationalize the race, and attack her with outside spending.

The poll also lands at a messy moment for Democrats. Haaland’s original running mate, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor but later dropped out, forcing party insiders to choose a replacement. Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard narrowly won that insider vote this week after a scramble inside the Democratic Party.

Now, Haaland’s campaign is trying to turn a Republican poll into a fundraising emergency.

Whether the survey proves to be a true warning sign or merely a Republican internal poll designed to boost Hull’s fundraising, one thing is clear: Haaland’s team is no longer acting like New Mexico’s governor race is a sleepy coronation.

The race national Democrats hoped to label “safe” is suddenly being treated by Haaland’s own campaign as an “all-hands-on-deck” fight.

Haaland hits panic button after poll shows gov’s race tightening Read More »

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