Former president Shepard sues WNMU, lawmakers and state auditor

Western New Mexico University’s former president, Joseph Shepard, is suing the university and several present and former state officials alleging that they conspired to “destroy his reputation” after he raised questions about a $1 million state budget appropriation for a charter school located on the university campus.

The complaint alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy to cover up corruption and to punish Shepard through media disclosures, ethics investigations and the termination of his faculty position following his departure as president.

“No one should be able to take the vast resources of the State and turn them against someone else for the purpose of vengeance and destroying that person simply because he spoke the truth,” Shepard said in a written statement.

Shepard, who was WNMU’s president from 2011 until his departure in January, is seeking damages under New Mexico’s Whistleblower Act as well as the state’s RICO statute, which could triple any damages won in court.

The lawsuit names the university as a defendant along with Regent Vice Chair John Wertheim; state Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee; state Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, the Senate president pro tempore; State Auditor Joseph Maestas; and Siah Correa Hemphill, a former Democratic state senator from Silver City. Shepard, who now resides in Rio Arriba County, filed the lawsuit in Grant County.

Stewart declined to comment, saying she had not yet been served with the lawsuit. Muñoz did not immediately respond to queries from the Journal.

“Western New Mexico University does not comment on personnel matters or on issues related to pending litigation,”the university said in a statement.

Separately, Shepard is pursuing a claim for breach of contract against the university for voiding a separation agreement approved by the former regents in December. He is also seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed in June by the New Mexico State Ethics Commission that alleged Shepard had improperly altered a campus construction project for his personal benefit.

A pending lawsuit by state Attorney General Raúl Torrez challenges the legality of the separation agreement, which included a $1.9 million severance payment and a $200,000 contract to teach courses for WNMU’s business school.

In the lawsuit Shepard filed last week, he alleges that Munoz and Correa Hemphill, who sat on the Finance Committee, conspired to funnel $1 million to the university for “experiential learning supports” that was actually intended for the Aldo Leopold Charter School, which is located on WNMU’s campus, without disclosing the Silver City senator’s previous employment at the school or the enrollment of her children there.

The lawsuit alleges that Shepard objected to the appropriation because it did not name the school and was not transparent or consistent with a memorandum of understanding between the university and the charter school. Shepard said he attempted on multiple occasions to report the appropriation as potential fraud.

As a result, Shepard says he became the target of a “smear campaign.”

The lawsuit includes a sworn affidavit by Tony Trujillo, a lobbyist for WNMU in Santa Fe, stating Munoz informed him in 2023 “he was going to go after Mr. Shepard” and that he would call for a forensic audit.

Correa Hemphill pushed back on the claims in a statement for the Journal.

“As a state senator whose district includes Western New Mexico University, it was my job to ensure transparency and accountability, and that includes asking why Dr. Shepherd was spending public money for first class travel and expensive furniture,” Correa Hemphill said. “It is disheartening that, out of his position as president, Dr. Shepherd is misrepresenting facts in a lawsuit to attack my credibility. The truth is that his claims are based on legislative funding that he asked for himself, and I trust the court system to set this straight.

“For now, though, I invite the community and media to help ensure that the facts are presented accurately. We all share a common goal of strengthening WNMU and the community.”

The lawsuit alleges expenses from Shepard’s presidential account were shared with the press at the direction of Stewart and Correa Hemphill, culminating in news coverage of Shepard’s spending on furnishings for the university-owned presidential residence and travel expenses. That reporting also revealed that Shepard’s wife, former CIA operative and congressional candidate Valerie Plame, had been issued a university purchasing card though she was not an employee.

Shepard alleges both he and Plame were defamed by the news reports, which were followed by probes from the State Ethics Commission, state Auditor’s Office and the state Higher Education Department. Controversy over Shepard’s separation agreement prompted the attorney general to act, while Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked the entire board of regents to resign.

In July, the new board declared the separation agreement invalid, claiming that the former regents had violated New Mexico’s Open Meetings Act.

The lawsuit alleges regent Wertheim and auditor Maestas were part of a conspiracy to use their authority to cover for false attacks.

Maestas’ office said it had not been formally served with the lawsuit and would respond in court, declining to comment further on pending litigation.

Last month, Maestas presented the results of a special audit into the university’s spending during Shepard’s tenure. While the report detailed improper expenditures, weak internal controls and potentially wasteful spending, it reported no evidence of fraud, misappropriation of public funds or corruption.

In a news release, Shepard’s attorney, A. Blair Dunn, said the defendants had misused their authority and public funds to injure Shepard.

“Few things do more damage to shake the public’s confidence in government than the misappropriation of taxpayer money and the use of government power to attack a person who stands up to that corruption,” Dunn wrote.