New Mexico State Republican House Leader Jim Townsend (R-Artesia) is spending time on social media this month criticizing Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for her ever-changing list of cabinet secretaries.
Earlier this week, Townsend took aim in a post to New Mexico House Republicans' Twitter account at Lujan Grisham's appointment of former state Supreme Court Justice Barbara J. Vigil to be secretary of the state's Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD).
New Mexico Republican House Leader Jim Townsend (R-Artesia)
| nmlegis.gov/
Lujan Grisham's administration has the wrong kind of consistency, Townsend said in the Twitter post.
"In order for any management system to work, you need consistency and the only thing consistent about @GovMLG's management is that she is constantly replacing staff." Townsend said.
The post linked to KOB4's news story about the new appointment, in which Vigil will be replacing current CYFD Secretary Brian Blalock, who is stepping down this month "to support his wife's pursuit of new work opportunities in California."
"I'm incredibly excited to announce this transition in leadership," Lujan Grisham said in the KOB4 news story. "Justice Vigil is a tremendously talented, incisive and well-respected public servant who has a depth and breadth of experience few in our state can match. We are lucky to have her, and I’m very grateful to her for her willingness to step back into the arena and take on a challenging opportunity for the benefit of children and families of New Mexico."
Vigil will step in as the new CYFD secretary on Oct. 1 while Children's Cabinet Secretary Mariana Padilla will be interim.
Townsend was not the only state Republican lawmaker to express somewhat less excitement over the latest Lujan Grisham cabinet secretary. In a separate statement issued by New Mexico House Republicans, State House Republican Caucus Chair Rebecca Dow (R-Truth or Consequences) said she was not surprised by Blalock's departure.
“I am not surprised that Secretary Blalock would resign," Dow said in the statement. "During the past two interim hearings, bipartisan lawmakers asked tough questions about how CYFD is protecting our most precious asset - our children. Blalock and his staff evaded every question with excuses and stall tactics, which is representative of what most families involved with CYFD face every day. We have had ample opportunity to reform CYFD and create a system with accountability and transparency that puts the children first instead of endless excuses."
Dow announced last month that she is running for governor.
Townsend also criticized Lujan Grisham earlier this month for the parade of cabinet secretaries following suspension of all five members of the Floyd School Board in Roosevelt County for allegedly pushing back on the New Mexico Public Education Department's COVID-19 safety orders, according to Las Cruces Sun News.
"It is unfortunate that we are just days away from schools reopening and all that we have seen from Lujan Grisham is that her administration is on their third education secretary and now they are imposing their politics on local school districts," Townsend said in an Aug. 4 post to the New Mexico House Republicans' Facebook page. "Instead of politicizing and headline-grabbing, I sure wish that the Governor and PED would have implemented a serious plan to address the learning gap and the myriad of other issues that have been exacerbated during COVID. Our school districts should not be used as pawns for Santa Fe bureaucrats; instead, every elected official should be doing everything in our power for the children of New Mexico."