NM Gov. has her own version of social justice--spending taxpayer money on booze, groceries

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) got caught with her hand in the cookie jar and the tequila bottle after she spent about $13,500 of taxpayers' money for alcohol, dry cleaning, groceries, and who knows what else. The cash came from a taxpayer-supported expense fund, according to the Sante Fe New Mexican.

The booze bill included more than $200 spent in September for: 5 bottles of tequila; 2 bottles of vodka; 2 bottles of Merlot, and single bottles of whiskey and gin, the report said.

The governor also hosted in-person staff meetings at the governor's mansion while simultaneously warning the taxpaying public to avoid mixing households to suppress the spread of the coronavirus. Sounds familiar?f

About half the $13,500, spent over six months, went toward food for the governor’s Cabinet members and staffers during those meetings, Grisham spokesman Tripp

Stelnicki told The Associated Press. 

Although Democrats seemed fine with the governor's spending, state Republicans were quite outraged over her spending of taxpayer's money.

"I didn’t realize the governor was so underpaid that she has to use discretionary money for things that she should be paying for herself," state House Minority Whip Rod Montoya, a Republican, told the New Mexican. "Legislators are all up here doing our job, and we’re doing it on per diem."

Other state Republicans were also vocal about Grisham's spending like a drunken sailor in a whorehouse, which is not intended as an insult to sailors nor to sex workers.

After the New Mexican’s report appeared, Grisham addressed the matter Friday in a virtual news conference.

"I don’t want New Mexicans to feel like I don’t take seriously their hardship," Grisham told reporters and said that she didn't personally make the purchases.

Grisham, 61, is a native of New Mexico and is in her first term as governor after serving in the U.S. House and prior to that as the state’s health secretary. She has taken heat from businesses because of her coronavirus restrictions that she is willing to overlook when it comes to her own behavior.

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