Lawmaker accused of 'pay to play' for directing $100K to DA's Office before landing job | Elections | santafenewmexican.com
Lawmaker accused of 'pay to play' for directing $100K to DA's Office before landing job | Elections | santafenewmexican.com # Lawmaker accused of 'pay to play' for directing $100K to DA's Office before landing job - By Daniel J.
santafenewmexican.com · Daniel J. Chacón and Clara Bates dchacon@sfnewmexican.com cbates@sfnewmexican.com · September 8, 2026
Lawmaker accused of 'pay to play' for directing $100K to DA's Office before landing job | Elections | santafenewmexican.com
# Lawmaker accused of 'pay to play' for directing $100K to DA's Office before landing job
- By Daniel J. Chacón and Clara Bates dchacon@sfnewmexican.com cbates@sfnewmexican.com - Sep 8, 2026 - 1 hr ago - 0
Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, speaks on the House floor on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. Gabriela Campos/New Mexican file photo
A state House member who has been embroiled in controversy over a government job she took with the First Judicial District Attorney's Office is facing more scrutiny over $100,000 in state money she directed to the prosecutor's office months before landing the job.
Records show Rep. Andrea Romero, a Santa Fe Democrat, used her capital outlay to dole out $50,000 for equipment and $50,000 for vehicles to the District Attorney's Office.
Other members of the Santa Fe County delegation also contributed portions of their capital outlay for the same purposes to the tune of $325,000 total for furniture, cubicles and information technology and $225,000 total to purchase and equip vehicles for the office under a bill Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed in March.
However, Romero's allocations have sparked criticism because she took a job with the District Attorney's Office almost two months later in May while simultaneously serving as a member of the New Mexico Legislature. This has resulted in separate ethics and disciplinary complaints against Romero, who has since stepped down from the part-time position.
"New Mexicans need to ask a simple question: did Representative Romero send $100,000 in taxpayer money to an office that turned around and put her on the payroll a few months later?" Senate Minority Leader Bill Sharer R-Farmington, said Tuesday in a statement.
"That is the definition of pay to play," he added. "Whether or not it violated the letter of the law, it is exactly the kind of self-dealing our ethics laws exist to prevent, and it's exactly why voters have lost trust in this Legislature policing itself."
The truth commission's interim report released last month drew criticism from the panel’s two Republican members, who claimed a reference to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland, who flew on a jet Epstein helped charter while she was running for lieutenant governor in 2014, was removed at the last minute.
Romero has also attracted scrutiny for using a public relations firm working for the commission to issue a statement defending herself for working for the prosecutor's office. The PR firm quit shortly thereafter.
Sharer had previously filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission alleging Romero improperly used taxpayer funds appropriated to the truth commission to pay a contractor to conduct research and draft press and social media statements to manage the political fallout from her employment at the District Attorney’s Office. Now, he has filed an addendum to his existing ethics complaint against Romero requesting a formal review of the timeline between the capital outlay and her subsequent employment.
"Misusing Truth Commission funds, taking a state job the Attorney General says was unlawful, covering up known connections between Deb Haaland and Jeffrey Epstein, and now sponsoring six-figure appropriations for the very office that hired her months later. New Mexicans deserve to know whether their representative was working for them or for herself," he added.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez opined late last month that Romero could not work for the prosecutor's office while serving as a lawmaker. Romero and the District Attorney's Office contended they were relying on guidance from Torrez's office in believing Romero's hire in May to be lawful. In a statement issued by the former truth commission public relations firm, Romero called the controversy "an attempt to disrupt the work of our Survivor Truth Commission that seeks justice for the many young people who were harmed by Jeffrey Epstein and his co-collaborators in our state."
Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.
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