Martinez Used Border Security Money for Staff Bonuses, Gifts
Press Release
Martinez Burns Border Security Money -- Luxury Take-Home SUVs, Custom Office Furniture, Resorts & Wall Street-Style Bonuses to Staff
Martinez Also Steered No-Bid Contracts to Her Staff and Their Relatives
Susana Martinez claims she will be tough on government spending but apparently doesn't practice what she preaches -- using her state budget and Federal Border Security Money to shower her staff with Wall Street style bonuses, buy take-home SUVs, remodel her office with custom-designed furniture and treat her staff to junkets at resorts and dinners at upscale restaurants.
In addition, on at least 5 occasions she steered contracts to staffers and relatives of staffers in her office, including a $300,000-$400,000 software contract to the brother-in-law of Janetta Hicks, a top Martinez deputy who also got a $60,000 no-bid deal from the 3rd Judicial District Attorney's Office for her office supply company.
"Just what New Mexico needs, a governor who spends like a drunken sailor," Denish said. "These times call for fiscal responsibility and I am proud to have reverted more than $300,000 back to New Mexico's taxpayers by under-spending my budget. Susana Martinez treated the 3rd Judicial District budget like a personal charge account, living the high life on the taxpayer's dime. Her talk is just that -- talk. When it comes to fiscal responsibility, she's a hypocrite, plain and simple."
Below is just some of the wasteful spending in Martinez's office with your taxpayer dollars. Even federal border security money that should have been used to secure the border was spent on the following:
* $100,000 to buy luxury take-home SUVs for Susana Martinez & her favorite staff.
* $22,000 to remodel her office with custom-designed furniture.
* $477,000 in Wall-Street style bonuses to political supporters and favorite staffers.
* $60,000 no-bid contract to her Deputy District Attorney, friend and political contributor
* A software contract given to her deputy's brother-in-law and his company totaling between $300,000 and $400,000.
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