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Friday, November 06, 2009
Cabinet Official Charged in DWI
By Vic Vela
Journal Northern Bureau
SANTA FE — A state government department head who was recently appointed to a federal post in the Obama administration has been charged with DWI.
Cindy Padilla resigned as secretary of the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department on Oct. 26, prompted by her drunken-driving arrest two days earlier in Santa Fe, Gov. Bill Richardson's office said.
Now Padilla's new federal job — principal deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Administration on Aging — also is in question. She has asked that her start date be postponed, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Attempts to reach Padilla were unsuccessful Thursday.
Padilla, 48, was stopped early Oct. 24 at a downtown intersection, according to Santa Fe police Sgt. Jason Wagner.
In a Breathalyzer test, Padilla's blood alcohol content was shown to be 0.08 percent, exactly the state's presumed level of intoxication.
Wagner said Padilla was pulled over for speeding at 12:14 a.m. as she was driving a silver-colored coupe south on Guadalupe Street at Montezuma Street.
Padilla was allegedly traveling 30 mph in a 25-mph zone before the officer — who was performing a speed enforcement operation — stopped her. Padilla's tire struck the curb as she was pulling over, Wagner said.
The officer "detected an odor of alcohol" and asked Padilla whether she had been drinking. Padilla said she had a margarita at El Farol Restaurant and Lounge on Canyon Road.
Padilla performed roadside sobriety tests and agreed to the Breathalyzer screening, according to the sergeant. She was booked into the Santa Fe County jail after her arrest and was released from custody less than 2 1/2 hours later, according to online jail records.
Three days before her arrest, Richardson's office announced that Padilla had accepted the federal position, and she was set to begin her new post in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 16.
However, HHS spokeswoman Vicki Rivas-Vazquez said Thursday that Padilla has "requested that her start date be postponed until the issue is resolved."
Asked whether a DWI conviction would affect Padilla's job status, Rivas-Vazquez said, "It's a pending case, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment on that."
Padilla was named secretary of the state's Aging and Long-Term Services Department two years ago and was confirmed by the state Senate in February 2008.
She came to the department from the New Mexico Environment Department, where her most recent position had been deputy secretary.
Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia said that Richardson chief of staff Brian Condit asked Padilla to resign from her position after learning of her arrest.
Ray-Garcia said, "The governor has a zero-tolerance policy (on DWI)."
Padilla's appearance for her court arraignment — on Wednesday at Santa Fe Municipal Court — was waived, according to the court. A judge there entered a not guilty plea for the defendant, and a $500 bond was set.
Padilla is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial conference Dec. 9.
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