ALBUQUERQUE - Today, RPNM Chairman Steve Pearce released the following statement after Governor-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham announced her first three cabinet selections, all of whom previously served under Governor Bill Richardson.

"One of the reasons I ran for Governor was to prevent a return to the disastrous days of the corrupt Bill Richardson Administration," said Pearce. "During the campaign, Michelle Lujan Grisham dismissed those concerns, but today she proved that New Mexicans were right to worry. Her very first picks to lead state departments all held positions under Richardson. New Mexicans should ask how this 'new' administration can govern any differently if its leaders are the very same people who worked under Richardson as he ran our state into the ground."

Lujan Grisham's First Cabinet Picks All Come From Richardson Administration:

Sarah Cottrell Propst, the EMNRD Nominee, was Deputy Secretary of the Environment Department under Gov. Bill Richardson.

Olivia Padilla Jackson, the DFA Nominee, was Director of the State Board of Finance under Gov. Bill Richardson.

Dr. David Scrase, the Human Services Nominee, was chosen by Gov. Bill Richardson to be on Richardson's Health Coverage for New Mexicans Committee and his Insure New Mexico! committee to study the uninsured in New Mexico.