I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
State Auditor Hector Balderas, a Democrat, was re-elected Tuesday as the state’s top financial watchdog.
Balderas had received 277,484 votes (54.1%), according to unofficial Secretary of State returns as of 11:10 p.m. Tuesday. His Republican challenger Errol Chavez had received 235,666 votes (45.9%).
A former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent, Chavez, 61, was diagnosed with brain cancer last month and was rushed to Houston, Texas, for emergency treatment during the final weeks of the campaign. He has not answered The Independent’s calls or e-mails over the past week and was reported to have effectively dropped out of the race.
Balderas, 37, is a former prosecutor and state legislator from Wagon Mound and Mora.
During his first term, Balderas investigated former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, who faces money laundering and fraud charges, and the infamous $3.3 million Jemez Mountain School District embezzlement case.
Over the past two years, Balderas reduced the number of at-risk government agencies and districts — those that had not submitted annual audits as required under state law — from nearly 100 to fewer than 30.
Balderas is expected to push the Legislature for more staff auditors and new legislation expanding his office’s ability to impose penalties to agencies that violate the state Audit Act or interfere with audits.
The audit agency has suffered budget cuts of 22 percent since Balderas took office, and now faces a budget crisis that could impact his ability to identify fraud and waste, he has said.
