New Mexico
Otero County commissioner elected to lead New Mexico Republican Party • Source New Mexico
Members of the New Mexico Republican Party over the weekend elected Otero County commissioner Amy Barela as their statewide party chair.
Barela got 157 votes in the party’s convention on Saturday in Truth or Consequences, more than all four of the other candidates combined.
Barela did not respond to a request for comment on her win on Monday morning. In an interview before the convention, she said she has an “aggressive plan” to flip New Mexico red by registering more voters and building the party from the bottom up.
She said that includes “correctly messaging” to all New Mexicans about “what we’re trying to do: help lower prices with good legislation, and lower regulation so that we have businesses attracted to New Mexico.”
She added that the party should ensure it supports elected officials with those same ideas. “I would like to update the party platform, but that’s going to take the new elected officials to work on that,” she said.
Barela is the District 2 commissioner for Otero County in southern New Mexico. Her district includes the northern part of Alamogordo, Tularosa, Holloman Air Force Base and lands bordering the Mescalero Apache Reservation.
President-elect Donald Trump in November won Otero County by a 27-point margin.
Barela was the state party’s first vice chair. That role is now filled by Roswell City Attorney Hessel Yntema, who won with 69% of the vote in a three-way race against Gary Person and Leanna Derrick.
Sandoval County Republican Party Chair Mike Nelson won second vice chair of the statewide party with 41% of the vote in a three-way race with Andrea Moore and Craig Degenhardt.
In the only contested race for a congressional district party vice chair seat, congressional candidate Sharon Clahchischilliage beat Española City Councilor Sam LeDoux.
Outgoing chairman Steve Pearce said the party has “a strong and committed team of leaders and fighters who will continue the hard work of turning New Mexico red for the long term.”
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LAS CRUCES, N.M. — An ‘imposter nurse’ in Las Cruces is facing 34 charges after nearly causing the death of a patient and illegally giving medications to patients under 18 years old.
A Doña Ana County grand jury indicted Margarita Gonzalez. She is accused of assuming the identities of nurses in Texas to get hired at four nursing facilities in Las Cruces:
- Village at Northrise
- Las Cruces Wellness and Rehabilitation
- Peak Behavioral Health
- Matrix Home Care
The New Mexico Department of Justice’s Medicaid Fraud and Elder Abuse Bureau investigated and discovered instances where Gonzalez illegally gave injections and dispensed prescriptions, including narcotics to eight inpatient residents under 18 years old.
An investigation also found Gonzalez was also about to allegedly give “an incorrect insulin dose” to a patient that they claim could’ve killed the patient if another nurse hadn’t caught the error.
Several facilities fired Gonzalez over patient safety concerns and an observed lack of knowledge.
“Impersonating a healthcare provider is a reckless and selfish crime that subjects those most vulnerable to risk of serious injury or death,” Attorney General Raúl Torrez said. “I will not tolerate those who risk the safety of patients or cause danger and unnecessary confusion within the healthcare system. These charges should keep anyone attempting to pose as a healthcare provider on notice: we will find you, and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law to protect New Mexicans.”
Gonzalez’s charges include identity theft, nursing without a license, abuse of a resident, distribution of controlled substances to a minor and fraud totaling over $25,000.
If convicted on all counts, Gonzalez could face up to 100 years in prison.
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