Less than a year after leaving Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Cabinet, former Tourism Secretary Jen Paul Schroer has turned her insider status into lucrative consulting work, landing more than $232,000 in state contracts without ever facing a competitive bidding process.
According to records obtained through the state’s sunshine portal and inspection requests, Schroer’s newly launched firm, JJS & Associates, has secured contracts with the Public Education Department (PED), the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD), and the Department of Cultural Affairs. The payments include $24,000 from PED, $64,911 from CYFD, and $16,228 from Cultural Affairs. Additional contracts already awarded or pending for fiscal year 2026 would bring the total haul to well over $232,000.
Critics say this reveals a cozy arrangement that skirts procurement safeguards designed to protect taxpayers. “Good to know the rules so you can go around them,” Senate GOP Floor Leader William Sharer of Farmington remarked after learning of the deals.
Under New Mexico’s procurement code, contracts over $60,000 require competitive bidding. But Schroer’s deals conveniently came in just under that threshold before gross receipts tax was added, allowing them to be issued directly. Joe Vigil, a spokesman for the General Services Department, admitted the contracts were structured this way, saying, “The contracts fell under the threshold of $60,000, then GRT was added for a total of $64,000.”
This technicality raises questions about whether the governor’s administration is playing games with taxpayer money. Schroer, who was making nearly $200,000 a year as a Cabinet secretary just months before leaving government, stepped down from the Aging and Long-Term Services Department in September 2024. By December, she already had a $64,000 contract with CYFD in hand.
Schroer defends her actions, saying she hired private legal counsel and that the contracts “went through a rigorous procurement process” with “multiple layers of oversight.” However, when pressed, the state’s Department of Justice could not confirm its alleged involvement in approving the deals.
CYFD praised Schroer’s work, claiming she “exceeded national benchmarks in foster family recruitment” and attracted 1,200 job candidates. PED likewise insisted the contracts followed procurement rules, though the agency refused to answer follow-up questions.
The Governor’s Office is also brushing off concerns. Spokeswoman Jodi McGinnis Porter insisted, “There is nothing inappropriate about former Secretary Schroer having contracts with state agencies.”
But for many New Mexicans, the optics are hard to ignore: yet another political insider cashing in on her connections with Lujan Grisham’s administration. With contracts carefully structured to avoid scrutiny and more public dollars on the way, critics say this is less about serving New Mexicans and more about taking care of the governor’s inner circle.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats like George Muñoz of Gallup defended Schroer, shrugging off concerns. “If that’s the best they can find, or they know her work, I would say maybe it’s good,” he said.
For taxpayers, however, the episode highlights a troubling pattern under Lujan Grisham: bending the rules, rewarding loyalists, and treating state coffers like a revolving door for political allies.
Nothing new here. Lujan Grisham is the type that doesn’t care about anyone that elected her or the ones that didn’t. She only cares about the coffers of money that come from the New Mexican taxpayers because she feels that it is there for her and her goonies. Schroer is just another one of the theives that work for the democrat party here in this state. They have always gotten away with it and feel that always will. Wake up New Mexico. These people care nothing for us. Only for how rich they can become because of us. PERIOD!!!