Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

From the Office of the Governor:

SANTA FE — The director of communications for the Office of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state government of New Mexico, Tripp Stelnicki, issued the following written statement this afternoon with respect to a lie disseminated by the state House Republican caucus earlier Tuesday:

“The state House Republican caucus earlier today issued a news release claiming to display ‘the governor’s closed-door “plan” to spend $1.75 billion’ – each word of that assertion is a lie.

“The document the caucus distributed is not the governor’s; it was not created by this office, nor anyone or any agency in this administration. The truth is, we don’t know who it belongs to. It’s not ours.

“Despite repeated Republican assertions to the contrary, the governor has not excluded Republicans or held any ‘closed-door’ anything on this subject. In fact, the governor has already invited Republican legislative leadership from both chambers to meet with her so they can convey whatever ideas and suggestions they might have about recovery funding.

“And the document does not represent the governor’s ‘plan’ for spending federal stimulus money. The governor and several of her representatives have said this publicly and often, and I will repeat it here: the governor’s plan for how the state may put federal stimulus funding to its best and most effective use on behalf of New Mexico workers and families will be distributed as soon as it is finalized.

“The House Republican caucus is entitled to their own views – no matter how out of step with New Mexico values, no matter how wildly divorced from the reality we all live in – but they are not entitled to blatant, lazy lies. Elected officials should be held to a much higher standard, especially when political disinformation and unchecked conspiracy theories have already caused so much violence and given rise to so much hate.”