Activist files complaint over New Mexico governor's expense

John Block, a conservative activist and editor of online publication Pinon Post, said in his complaint filed last Thursday that the payment to Erin Grisham’s business was not a permitted campaign expense because he said it was for cosmetology, not media preparation.

According to Beauty By Erin Grisham’s website, the business is “a freelance hair and makeup artist” service.

Block cited a state campaign finance guide published in 2019 that listed hair, nail and makeup services as personal – and not campaign – expenses.

“No public servant in New Mexico should be above the law regardless of what office they may occupy,” Block said in the complaint.

A Lujan Grisham campaign spokesperson said that the media preparation spending was justified and related to her appearances before the Democratic National Convention last year.

“These routine political expenses were for the governor’s speech and 14 other events she addressed for the Democratic National Convention in August 2020,” said Jared Leopold. “This type of event preparation expense is a common and necessary political expenditure for politicians of both parties.”

Leopold said that Lujan Grisham’s predecessor, Republican Susana Martinez, reported a similar campaign expenditure for “styling” in 2010. He called the ethics complaint “frivolous and sexist.”

Regulations issued by the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office allow campaign funds to be spent for purposes “reasonably attributable to the candidate’s campaign” but not for personal or living expenses.

A spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, which shares jurisdiction with the State Ethics Commission over campaign rules and complaints, said he couldn’t comment until there’s a ruling, the Albuquerque Journal reported.