Santa Fe, NM — Senate Republican Leader Bill Sharer (R-Farmington) today revealed thatRepresentative Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) personally sponsored two separate capital outlay appropriations, totaling $100,000, for the First Judicial District Attorney's Office during the 2026 legislative session, just months before she began working a paid position at that same office in May.
According to the state's official capital outlay records, Romero sponsored $50,000 for "1st Jud Dist Attorney Equip Prchs" and another $50,000 for "1st Jud Dist Attorney Veh Prchs," both approved and signed into law as part of the 2026 capital outlay bill. Rep. Romero has already been the subject of a separate ethics complaint filed by Senator Sharer alleging she misused Truth Commission funds to hire a PR contractor to manage political fallout after her employment with the DA's office became public, as well as complaints from House Republican Whip Alan Martinez and private citizens over the legality of that employment itself.
"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?" said Leader Sharer. "That is the definition of pay to play. 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."
Leader Sharer said he has requested that the addendum to his existing ethics complaint against Romero include a formal review of the timeline between these appropriations and her subsequent employment.
"This isn't a one-time lapse in judgment," Sharer said. "It's a pattern of corruption. 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."
Leader Sharer renewed his call for Romero to step down immediately as chair of the Survivor Truth Commission and resign her seat in the Legislature.
"Every day Representative Romero remains in these positions is a day New Mexicans are asked to trust someone who has repeatedly shown she will use her office for personal benefit," Leader Sharer said. "She should step down from the Truth Commission and resign from the Legislature. New Mexicans deserve better."
