ALBUQUERQUE – For the second time in just a few weeks, Michelle Lujan Grisham is running an ad across New Mexico that simply doesn't square with her record. Lujan Grisham was already busted for claiming she was responsible for reducing opiate overdoses as Secretary of Health. An AP fact check blew that claim wide open, confirming that overdoses actually increased on Lujan Grisham's watch.
Now Lujan Grisham is running away from her long record of failing to support law enforcement officers. Her latest ad calls for "more police with the best technology" and takes credit for "millions of dollars for our police." But as an elected official, Lujan Grisham repeatedly refused to fund New Mexico law enforcement and used her position in Congress to try to stop a training program for the Albuquerque Police Department.
"How many times will Michelle Lujan Grisham get caught making false claims about her own record before she starts telling New Mexicans the truth?" asked RPNM Chairman Ryan Cangiolosi. "From the opioid crisis to the statewide crime wave, Michelle Lujan Grisham has repeatedly failed to stand up to keep New Mexicans safe. Her cynical ads only cement her status as a desperate politician who always seems to say one thing but do another."
- FACT: When the Bernalillo County Sheriff requested the county commission to approve the hiring of 20 new deputies, saying "Too many crimes don't get the investigation they deserve because there aren't enough deputies on the streets," Lujan Grisham only voted to approve five.
- When the commission kicked the can down the road on the additional 15 deputies, the Albuquerque Journal reported, "'Constituents ought to realize,'[Sheriff Dan Huston] said afterward, that 'I am not effectively able to protect them the way I should.'"
- FACT: Michelle Lujan Grisham lobbied the federal government to halt training at a federal facility the Albuquerque Police Department used for crisis training and hostage negotiation training.
- FACT: As a county commissioner, Lujan Grisham voted against full funding for the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department to operate helicopters that were also used to assist APD.