Albuquerque’s KOB4 tears into Governor Lujan Grisham

May 21, 2021

Photo credit: Gabriela Campos, Santa Fe New Mexican via AP

“Where is the Governor?”

Those are just some of the local Albuquerque NBC affiliate’s words from last night’s newscast ripping Governor Lujan Grisham for ducking their request for an in-person interview FIVE times.

And they even provided the questions they wanted to ask ahead of time.

Watch the entire newscast blasting Lujan Grisham HERE, but check out the transcript below:

We’ve had more than 24 hours to digest – and see the ramifications of – the state report showing our department of workforce solutions overpaid at least 100 million bucks in unemployment benefits during this pandemic. And yet – we can’t get the Governor to have a conversation with us about what happened – and what’s next. Not for lack of trying. To be fair… the governor’s office did give us a very long and detailed statement about the unemployment problem. It starts off by referencing our coverage of the report during last night’s beat. And it goes back to what the department of workforce solutions chief told us. Yes, we overspent on benefits – but not as much as that state report suggested. There’s a bunch of other explanations as to why those numbers aren’t matching up – but it’s late, the statement is heavy – and we’ve got a lot to go over. And here’s the problem with statements. It’s not a conversation. We have questions. You have questions you want us to ask. That’s why we have crews with cameras. we still have zoom to do interviews. The invitation is still on the table.

Megan Abundis reached out to see if the governor would reconsider our interview offer. Megan… where is she on this? We tried to talk to her today. 5 times. 5 requests. But I only got as far as her spokespeople.

Here’s what we asked to talk about:

– her response to the hundreds of millions of dollars in unemployment overpayments.
-does she believe we can fairly recoup these millions of dollars?
-what she thought about some of the serious claims of threats and violence raised by the former workforce solutions secretary.
-where is she in appointing a new *permanent* workforce solutions secretary… and what is she looking for in that next person?

The only response we’ve received is not from the governor – but her spokespeople.

One statement – essentially saying for New Mexicans to bring their concerns and anger if necessary to the governor – and no one else.

We want that access, too – for you. So we asked, if she’s not available today – then when? And I didn’t get an answer the three times I put it to her staff.