Defunding saga deepens, as state board denies Gallup DA’s emergency funding request

SANTA FE — Two weeks after having her office defunded under a new budget bill, McKinley County District Attorney Bernadine Martin tried unsuccessfully to get a state board to provide a financial lifeline.

The embattled district attorney said Tuesday her office currently has no gas cards, no internet and is unable to pay contract attorneys, while adding employees are worried about whether they’ll receive their next paychecks.

“We are people, we’re not politics,” Martin said during a meeting of the state Board of Finance at the Capitol, while pointing out her Gallup-based district is primarily Native American and among the poorest in New Mexico.

While expressing concern about the situation, several Board of Finance members said granting the requested $3.8 million — or even a smaller amount of money — could set a dangerous precedent in disputes involving elected officials and the Legislature.

“It’s not our issue to deal with, I feel strongly about that,” said former state senator Michael Sanchez, the appointed secretary of the seven-member board.

After several hours of discussion, the board voted 3-1 not to provide an emergency bailout, instead directing Martin to meet with San Juan County District Attorney Jack Fortner in the coming days, preferably under the guidance of a professional mediator.

Three board members were not present for the vote, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Lt. Gov. Howie Morales.

The $10.8 billion budget bill passed by state lawmakers that took effect July 1 effectively defunded Martin’s office due to concern over low prosecution rates and high caseloads. In its final version, the budget earmarked $1.9 million for Fortner, the district attorney in neighboring San Juan County, to prosecute cases in McKinley County, while also providing a similar amount of money for contract attorneys to be hired in the district.

But the rare step of stripping state funds for an elected official has led to legal uncertainty and high-stakes turf battles, if not outright chaos.

In an attempt to halt the defunding, Martin filed an unsuccessful Supreme Court petition and a separate lawsuit in Santa Fe-based district court that is still pending. At the same time, state Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office has launched an investigation into whether the district attorney can be removed from office for mismanagement.

State Treasurer Laura Montoya, a Board of Finance member by virtue of her elected office, expressed concern about the possibility of employees in the McKinley County District Attorney’s office losing their jobs.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Montoya said at one point during Tuesday’s meeting.

She proposed authorizing a smaller amount of funding — either $250,000 or $500,000 — to keep Martin’s office afloat until the dispute can be resolved, but that proposal failed due to a lack of support by other board members.

The Board of Finance typically authorizes state bond sales, university construction projects and public property transfers, but the board also has the authority to provide emergency funding to governmental entities.

Fortner, who attended Tuesday’s meeting virtually, said his attempts to informally resolve the standoff with Martin have not been successful so far.

“I’ve repeatedly asked for her to cooperate so we can make this work,” Fortner told the Journal.

He said Martin has essentially asked him to give her the funding his office received to prosecute cases in McKinley County, which Fortner said goes against legislative intent. But he said he was open to the idea of mediation to resolve the standoff, adding he had directed his staff on Tuesday to file a motion to compel such a discussion.

For her part, Martin did not respond to requests for comment following Tuesday’s hearing, but said during the meeting she has no plans to relinquish her legal authority.

“The idea that San Juan County can come in and take over cases (in McKinley County) is ludicrous,” she said. “I won’t allow it to happen.”

Martin, who is the state’s first female Navajo district attorney, was reelected last year as the top prosecutor for the second division of the 11th Judicial District.

She acknowledged during the Tuesday meeting her largely rural District Attorney’s Office has struggled to attract applicants for attorney positions, but said McKinley County also has a shortage of doctors and public defenders.

“Gallup just has an issue with professionals,” said Martin, who also cited high rates of fentanyl use in the western New Mexico city.