Attorney General Issues Clarification on Legislative Employment
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez issued a formal directive Monday to district attorneys across the state, clarifying that state legislators cannot hold standing positions within district attorney offices. This move responds to recent questions regarding the employment of lawmakers in prosecutorial roles, an issue that moved into the public eye following reports about state Representative Andrea Romero.
Romero, a Democrat representing Santa Fe, had held a part-time position at the First Judicial District Attorney's Office since May. First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies maintained the hire was legal, citing correspondence from the Attorney General’s office that suggested the arrangement was permissible. However, neither the representative nor the district attorney produced the referenced correspondence when asked for documentation.
Reinterpreting the Limits of Lawmaker Roles
Torrez explained that the confusion stems from a narrow 2024 opinion his office released. That earlier guidance addressed whether a lawmaker could serve as a special prosecutor, a role typically restricted to single, specified cases rather than continuous employment. The confusion appears tied to the brief tenure of state Representative Andrea Reeb, a Republican from Clovis, who worked as a special prosecutor during the involuntary manslaughter trial of Alec Baldwin.
But Torrez emphasized that being a special prosecutor for a discrete case is fundamentally different from holding an ongoing staff role. New Mexico statutes 2-1-3 and 2-1-4 prohibit lawmakers from receiving payment as state employees. These laws also prevent state officers, including district attorneys, from paying legislators for services rendered outside their official legislative duties. These specific statutes have remained on the books for more than eighty years.
The Path Forward for District Attorney Offices
Torrez wrote that his letter intends to provide a clear rule for all district offices to follow. While he acknowledged that his previous 2024 opinion might have been misinterpreted, he stated he does not plan to pursue criminal or civil sanctions against those who established these arrangements before this clarification. Still, the directive remains firm: any noncompliant employment must end without delay.
The Attorney General explicitly warned against using the 2024 opinion as a legal loophole. He wrote that a district attorney’s office may not recreate a staff position in substance and then claim the statutory bars are inapplicable just because the legislator’s duties involve intake, screening, or other functions that stop short of appearing in court. The appearance of a conflict of interest remains a serious concern for the state.
House Minority Whip Alan Martinez and Española resident Pablo Lujan filed ethics complaints following the news of Romero’s employment. Martinez had previously called on the Attorney General’s office to launch a criminal investigation into the matter. With this new, clear guidance from Torrez, the state now faces the challenge of unwinding these relationships to ensure compliance with long-standing separation-of-powers principles.