Sen. Mary Jane Garcia Double Dips Reimbursements Campaign Funds Illegally Cover Legislative Session

State Senator Mary Jane Gacia

NewsNM: Swickard - interestingly the local daily news media in Senator Garcia's district normally speak out against breaking the rules except, it would seem, for politicians they endorse. So, why does Senator Garcia not have to follow the rules? Disclosure: I am friends with her opponent, Lee Cotter, but would not give him a pass on following the rules. From NM WatchDog.org By Jim Scarantino - State Senator Mary Jane Garcia has paid herself thousands of dollars in cash from her campaign funds for expenses for attending legislative committee meetings while receiving payments from the State of New Mexico to cover those same expenses. The Dona Ana Democrat has also paid herself thousands of dollars for attending sessions of the Legislature even though state law explicitly prohibits the use of campaign funds for that purpose. She once claimed per diem for attending a committee meeting in Las Cruces on a day her campaign expense report has her staying at a motel in Santa Fe. This is New Mexico Watchdog’s second audit of legislators’ expenses in which we compare their campaign expenditure reports archived with the Secretary of State against the records of their per diem and mileage requests, maintained by the Legislative Council Services. In our first of these reports we showed how Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, Democrat of Albuquerque, had been improperly spending campaign funds on massages and spinal treatments and how he was charging the state for round trip mileage to Santa Fe in his personal car when in fact he had been a passenger on the Rail Runner using tickets purchased from his campaign funds. According to campaign expenditure reports we examined going back to late 2009, Sen. Garcia has been paying herself in cash either immediately before, the day of or after attending interim legislative committee meetings. Her campaign reports record these cash payments as “committee work expenses” and then identify the committee meetings she attended by name of the committee and the location where the committee meeting was held.Even though Garcia has given herself campaign cash to cover the expenses of attending committee meetings, she has also taken per diem reimbursement from the state for the same expenses, effectively getting reimbursed twice Read more

Sen. Mary Jane Garcia Double Dips Reimbursements Campaign Funds Illegally Cover Legislative Session