Governor sexually assaulted former staffer and paid for his silence

Albuquerque, NM — Today, Ronchetti for Governor released a new ad highlighting one of the most egregious offenses that Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has committed and swept under the rug — the sexual assault and harassment of a former staffer. 

In 2018, at a staff meeting, Michelle Lujan Grisham poured water on a gay staffer’s crotch, proceeded to grab his crotch, and questioned his manhood. When the governor was accused of sexual assault by the staffer in question, she used intimidation tactics first, then smeared him when he went public. But when he didn’t back down, she paid him $150,000 from her campaign bank account. She tried to do all of it quietly, by disguising her campaign expenditures as being for routine “legal services.” 

But trashing and silencing victims is very different from how the governor told New Mexicans these cases should be handled. In the wake of the Andrew Cuomo sexual harrassment scandal, Michelle Lujan Grisham stated “you believe the individual” because if you don’t, you’re “revictimizing” them. Governor Cuomo was forced to resign. 

However, the hypocrisy doesn’t end there. As part of the settlement, the governor forced her victim to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so he could never talk about the incident again in order to protect her politically. She did this despite the fact that she later signed House Bill 21 in 2020 outlawing non-disclosure agreements in sexual harrasment cases. Of course, the law conveniently exempted the NDA in her own sexual harassment case. 

Everyday New Mexicans would be fired if they did the same thing in their own jobs. Why should Governor Lujan Grisham be different?

Original source can be found here.