Senate GOP Leader: No One Is Above the Law, Not Even the Senate's Highest-Ranking Democrat: Mimi Stewart
Santa Fe, NM — Senate Republican Leader Bill Sharer (R-Farmington) today condemned newly released police body camera video showing that Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) invoked her position as one of New Mexico's most powerful Democrats with Santa Fe police officers in a seemingly successful attempt to receive preferential treatment after driving over a pedestrian's foot, fracturing it, as she left a reception at the governor's mansion in January 2024.
According to the video, obtained by the Santa Fe New Mexican, Stewart told officers she was the president of the State Senate, said she had called the Governor's Office, and told them state police would be handling the matter so she could "go home." One officer relayed to his supervisor that she had asked the Governor's Office to send state police. Despite striking and injuring a pedestrian with her car, Stewart was nonetheless released at the scene without so much as a citation. Even more shocking is that the police report makes no mention of her title or her call to the Governor's Office, and the incident itself remained unreported to the public for more than two and a half years.
"If you hit a pedestrian with your car and broke his foot, would you tell the officers how powerful you are, say you've called the Governor's Office, and be sent home with no citation?" asked Leader Sharer. "Do everyday New Mexicans have that option? Of course not. But she made the call anyway, because in New Mexico's Democrat Corruption Culture, knowing the right person is how problems seemingly disappear."
Sen. Stewart has said she did not receive special treatment. Leader Sharer said her own words on video suggest otherwise.
"No one in New Mexico is above the law, and that includes the most powerful member of the State Senate," Leader Sharer said. "Why was the Governor's Office involved in a routine traffic incident? Who called state police, and what was said? Why did it take this long for New Mexicans to find out? These are questions Senator Stewart and the Governor owe the public."
Leader Sharer said the video fits a pattern he has described as a "Democrat Corruption Culture." Stewart was previously found by a legislative ethics subcommittee to have treated a staffer in an "unprofessional, inappropriate, and unacceptable" manner, and a separate ethics complaint from a fellow Democrat Senator was withdrawn, presumably after that lawmaker was pressured to resolve the matter secretly.
"First it was a staffer being screamed at, then a complaint quietly made to disappear, and now this," Leader Sharer said. "When the rules are enforced differently for those who run the Capitol, the public loses faith in everything. Senator Stewart should step down as President Pro Tem, and the Senate should hold her accountable."
With early voting underway, Leader Sharer renewed his call on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland to renounce Stewart's endorsement and return any money Stewart has contributed to her campaign.
"I am again calling on Deb Haaland to remove this endorsement from her website and social media today and return any funds, and I am calling on every candidate on the ballot, Democrat, Republican, or Independent, to do the same," Leader Sharer said. "Voters deserve candidates who refuse to associate with politicians that believe they are above the law."
