Sparks fly after judge issues order in lawsuit targeting universal child care program – Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham blasted a Republican gubernatorial candidate for touting a preliminary legal victory in his lawsuit challenging one of the governor’s signature achievements — state-subsidized child care for all New Mexico families.
In a blistering statement, the Democratic governor, who is stepping down at the end of this year after two terms in office, accused Duke Rodriguez of misrepresenting an order by a state judge.
The order gave Early Childhood Education and Care Department Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky a 30-day deadline to show why rules governing the universal child care program — launched last year by the governor — should not be struck down.
“A third-tier Republican candidate for governor — who lives in Arizona — is using a frivolous lawsuit in a despicable attempt to mislead New Mexico families and generate headlines for a campaign that is going nowhere,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement late Tuesday.
Rodriguez, who is one of three GOP candidates vying for the party’s nomination in this year’s open race for governor, filed the lawsuit challenging the universal child care initiative this month.
In his lawsuit, Rodriguez specifically argued the governor’s administration illegally launched the state-subsidized child care program before getting approval from the Legislature to do so.
District Court Judge Elaine Lujan did not rule on the merits of the lawsuit in her order this week but directed the Lujan Grisham administration to either file a timely response or halt enforcement of the program.
Groginsky, who was appointed by the governor in 2019 to lead the state’s new early childhood department, said her agency was already working on a response and expressed confidence the state would ultimately prevail in the case.
“Families should rest assured that we remain fully committed to protecting access to the services they need and rely on,” Groginsky said. “We will not waver in our mission to make quality child care accessible to families across New Mexico.”
That statement was released several hours after Rodriguez claimed the judge had ordered the state to “shut down” its illegal child care program. He also said the order represented a victory for transparency in state government.
“I filed this suit because New Mexicans deserve more from their government,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “With the court’s order in hand, the governor can now do the right thing and start over, or she can continue to create chaos for families.”
Rodriguez, a former state Cabinet secretary who founded New Mexico’s largest cannabis company, has faced legal challenges of his own during this year’s electoral cycle.
Specifically, he has weathered two separate lawsuits challenging his eligibility to run for governor due to a residency requirement in the state Constitution.
Rodriguez, who owns houses in both Albuquerque and Scottsdale, Arizona, voted in both the 2022 and 2024 general elections in Arizona, where he first registered to vote in 2001, according to Maricopa County records obtained by the Journal.
But he has brushed off the residency concerns, saying he is eligible to run for governor and has resided continuously in New Mexico for more than 50 years.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez’s lawsuit targeting the universal child care program is his latest in a series of court challenges against the Lujan Grisham administration. The outgoing governor and Rodriguez actually served together as Cabinet secretaries in former Gov. Gary Johnson’s administration.
New Mexico’s first-of-its-kind universal child care program drew national attention after it was announced last fall — including a mention on “Saturday Night Live” — and the state published the rules governing the program in October.
Lawmakers then approved a bill codifying the program in state law and setting financial safeguards — including possible copays and wait lists — during this year’s 30-day session. That law is set to take effect May 20 and authorizes up to $700 million to be taken from an early childhood trust fund over the next five years to help pay for universal child care.
The other two Republicans running for governor in the June primary, outgoing Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull and small business owner Doug Turner of Albuquerque, have not weighed in directly on Rodriguez’s lawsuit targeting the universal child care program.
That prompted state Democratic Party chairwoman Sara Attleson to issue a “challenge” Wednesday by calling on Hull and Turner to clarify their stances on the issue.
New Mexico House commission hires Albuquerque firm in Epstein probe - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
The bipartisan New Mexico House investigatory subcommittee tasked with documenting the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s activity at his Santa Fe County Zorro Ranch property has hired an Albuquerque law firm to assist in the investigation.
The committee on Tuesday announced the appointment of Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway, P.C., a law firm with offices in both New Mexico and Texas, to serve as the special counsel. According to the state’s request for proposals for the work, the firm will provide legal services for the commission, gather evidence for its Epstein investigation and manage any collaborations with the New Mexico Department of Justice.
Shawna Casebier, the director of the Legislative Counsel Service, told Source NM Wednesday that 10 firms sought the contract for the subcommittee. The contract caps payments to the law firm for its services at $750,000.
In a news release, the commission said the appointment of special counsel ensures that investigation will be “thorough, transparent and legally sound,” and that public meetings will be scheduled later in the year.
“The Truth Commission has a responsibility to pursue the facts with care and credibility,” subcommittee chair state Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) said in a statement. “Engaging experienced legal counsel ensures that our work is conducted with the rigor and independence necessary to build public trust and deliver meaningful accountability.”
The subcommittee was established unanimously by the New Mexico House in the most recent legislative session. It has a budget of $2 million from a 2023 settlement with the state and several financial services companies for failing to identify the abuses at the ranch.
Attorney Joshua Conaway, a partner at the firm with more than two decades of experience, said in a statement the subcommittee’s work “is both significant and sensitive, and we are committed to helping ensure that its efforts are conducted with integrity, diligence, and respect for all involved.”
A call to Conaway Wednesday was not immediately returned.
In February, NMDOJ announced it was reviving an investigation into Epstein and Zorro Ranch. Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas previously told Source NM his office was investigating Epstein until federal prosecutors in 2019 asked him to shelve the query. Earlier this month, NMDOJ investigators searched the sprawling 7,500-acre property that Epstein bought from former New Mexico Gov. Bruce King in the 1990s.
The commission is scheduled to make an interim report on the investigation to the House of Representatives by July 31, and a final report by the end of 2026.
10 current and former Mexican officials accused in US indictment of aiding drug trafficking - By Megan Janetsky, Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeister, Associated Press
The governor of Sinaloa and nine other current and former Mexican officials were charged with drug trafficking and weapons offenses in a U.S. indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York, accused of aiding in the massive importation of illicit narcotics into the United States.
Some officials were members of Mexico's progressive ruling party, Morena, posing a political conundrum for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as she seeks to offset mounting pressures from the Trump administration. Some of those politicians called the indictment a political attack on their party.
U.S. federal officials announced the charges in a news release. None of the defendants were in custody, but Mexico's government said shortly afterward that it had received multiple extradition requests from the U.S. without identifying those requested. It did not say how it would respond.
Morena party members indicted
The 10 people charged in Manhattan federal court are current and former government or law enforcement officials in Sinaloa, including Rubén Rocha Moya, 76, who has been governor of Mexico's Sinaloa state since November 2021.
Charges against Moya included narcotics importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices, along with another conspiracy count. If convicted, he could face life in prison or a mandatory minimum of 40 years behind bars.
Rocha was a staunch ally of Sheinbaum's mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The governor enthusiastically backed the ex-president's "Hugs, Not Bullets" policy, which involved avoiding direct confrontation with powerful drug cartels. López Obrador built a political platform by railing against endemic corruption plaguing Mexican politics.
Rocha, the highest profile official charged, said he "categorically and completely rejects" the accusations as baseless and called them an "attack" on Mexico's ruling party and its leaders.
"It is part of a perverse strategy to violate (Mexico's) constitutional order, specifically on national sovereignty, " he wrote in a post on X on Wednesday afternoon. "We will show them that this slander doesn't have any sort of foundation."
Later in the day, he told reporters that he planned to stay in Sinaloa and wasn't worried.
Ties to Sinaloa Cartel
Some of those named, according to the indictment, have themselves participated in the Sinaloa Cartel's campaign of violence and retribution.
Those charged included a Mexican senator, a Sinaloa state deputy attorney general, a former Sinaloa secretary of public security, a former deputy director of the Sinaloa State Police and the mayor of Culiacan.
According to the indictment, the defendants shielded cartel leaders from investigation, arrest, and prosecution, fed the cartel with sensitive law enforcement and military information, directed members of state and local law enforcement agencies to protect drug loads and let the cartel commit brutal drug-related violence without consequence. In return, it said, the defendants received millions of dollars in drug money.
The indictment alleged that they were closely aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel faction known as "Los Chapitos," which is run by the sons of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the ex-cartel leader now serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.
Authorities said the defendants played critical roles in helping the cartel ship fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico into the U.S. The Sinaloa Cartel is among eight Latin American crime groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.
"As the indictment lays bare, the Sinaloa Cartel, and other drug trafficking organizations like it, would not operate as freely or successfully without corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials on their payroll," U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a release.
The indictment of Rocha, who was born in the same town as "El Chapo," was particularly notable because the governor was embroiled in a scandal in 2024 involving the Sinaloa Cartel. His name was published in a letter written by a then-Sinaloa Cartel capo who was kidnapped by leaders of a rival faction of the cartel and handed off to law enforcement in the U.S. In the letter, the capo said that when he was kidnapped he believed he was on his way to meet with Rocha.
In the years since, the cartel's two warring factions have ravaged the northern Mexican state in their struggle for territorial control.
Among those indicted, at least three officials — Rocha, the mayor of Sinaloa's capital, and a senator — were affiliated with Sheinbaum's party, Morena. A number of other officials held positions unaffiliated with Mexican parties.
It's not the first time the U.S. has brought drug trafficking charges against ranking Mexican officials. Genaro García Luna — a former Mexican public security secretary under former President Felipe Calderón — was convicted by a U.S. court and sentenced to 38 years in prison after he was accused of taking bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. He denied the allegations and is appealing his conviction.
Another balancing act for Sheinbaum
The indictment unsealed Wednesday come after U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson last week said that the U.S. administration would launch an anti-corruption campaign targeting Mexican officials he said were linked to organized crime.
"Corruption not only hinders progress, it distorts it. It increases costs, weakens competition, and erodes the trust upon which markets depend. It is not a problem without victims," Johnson said.
Sheinbaum responded Monday by saying her government has not seen "any evidence" of the charges of corruption.
"Any investigation in the United States against any person in Mexico must have evidence reviewed by the (Mexican) Attorney General's Office," Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum's government has already detained several local officials across Mexico in its ongoing crackdown against the cartels, fueled by pressure by the Trump administration.
The indictment has once again forced the Mexican leader to walk a political tightrope, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Washington-based Brookings Institution who specializes in organized crime.
If Sheinbaum doesn't go after Rocha, it will put strain on relations with the U.S. ahead of renegotiations of a free-trade agreement with the U.S. crucial to the Mexican economy, the analyst said. If she does arrest him, "it carries tremendous consequences for her politically" ahead of next year's midterm elections in Mexico.
"Is she going to move to arrest Gov. Rocha and the other eight indicted politicians and attempt to extradite him to the United States? This is certainly what the United States wants," Felbab-Brown said.
___
This story has been corrected to show the scandal that embroiled Rocha was in 2024, not 2023.
Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers María Verza and Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed.
Los Lunas community members are upset about proposed road extensions - Valencia County News-Bulletin
A public meeting in Los Lunas Thursday will focus on a controversial road extension proposal in the El Cerro community.
The Valencia County News-Bulletin reports around 160 people from the area gathered earlier this month to organize against the construction of a four-lane highway that could cut through the heart of their community.
The plans would involve continuing the current Los Lunas Boulevard project, which is now underway, so it connects to the Manzano Expressway.
The community has begun mobilizing, researching the project, gathering public records, and focusing on public outreach.
In a Valencia County commission meeting held on February 18th, the public raised concerns about the loss of open spaces, trees, and backyards, increased traffic, and removal of homes.
The Mid-Region Council of Governments estimates that the project could push over 13,000 vehicles on average onto the new east side extension every weekday.
Valencia County Grant Director Jeremias Silva said the project is nowhere near being finalized. The grant he proposes allocates $750,000 for evaluating the east side road extension.
The public meeting at Ann Parish Elementary in Los Lunas starts at 6 pm Thursday.