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mailingstate
NM
Campaign Endorsements
New Mexico Federation of Labor; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; Latino Victory Fund; American Federation of Teachers; New Mexico Professional Firefighters Association; Young Democrats of New Mexico; 314 Action (STEM), and others.
Occupation
New Mexico State Auditor
As the current State Auditor, I hold public entities and officials accountable for managing taxpayer funds and protecting taxpayer money from fraud, waste, and abuse. For example, my office has ensured that opioid settlement funds are being used properly and protected funding intended for mitigating natural disasters. Our office assisted small local public bodies like our acequias to become financially compliant and unlocked nearly $15 million in withheld capital outlay. I’ve spent my life in public service, both in Federal civil service and in elected public service. I served as Chairman of the Public Regulation Commission, Mayor of Espanola and city councilor in both Espanola and Santa Fe. I'm also a licensed professional engineer.
The New Mexico Office of the State Auditor (OSA) is a constitutionally established executive office independent and accountable only to the people of New Mexico. The OSA has two primary statutory (Audit Act) purposes: (1) to ensure that the financial affairs of every agency shall be thoroughly examined and audited each year and (2) require the financial affairs and transactions of an agency to be audited in whole or in part. These purposes grant the State Auditor the authority to conduct both annual financial and special audits. The OSA is the State financial watchdog that protects taxpayer money from fraud, waste, and abuse. It also helps to hold court-appointed conservators accountable for managing financial assets of protected persons.
When public entity audit reports are submitted late, the public entity does receive a formal audit finding for a late report. I use my professional judgement to determine the underlying causes of the late report and determine the best course of action to address the issues. This includes referring the entity to other agencies for additional actions and informing policy makers. When audit reports are chronically late, the OSA can step in as the auditor of last resort and directly assist the troubled entity to become financially compliant as was done for Mesalands Community College through annual and special audits.
The top three issues that we will investigate and/or examine: 1) Incoming, anonymous, and credible fraud, waste, and abuse complaints. We currently have over 300 active cases; 2) High-risk public entities that are chronically late in audit report submittals and have a severe lack of internal controls, resulting in adverse and repeat findings; and 3) In partnership with the District Court system, we also investigate conservatorships, based on a risk screening of annual financial reports. These conservatorships manage the financial assets of our most vulnerable.
