NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A high-ranking official with the state’s Early Childhood Education and Care Department claims she could soon lose her job after blowing the whistle on what she says were illegal transfers of public funds within the agency.
Carmel Pacheco-Aragon has served as the agency’s chief financial officer since 2022. She was placed on administrative leave last month and is now suing the department, alleging retaliation. Her attorney, Jacob Candelaria is the managing attorney for Candelaria Law and served as a Democratic and Decline to State Senator for nearly ten years.
“In my ten years of being in the legislature, the most egregious violations of state finance law I have seen in my career. Bar none,” Candelaria said.
The allegations unfold after one of the defining moments of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration, when she announced New Mexico will have the nation’s first Universal Free Childcare Program on September 8, 2025. This was roughly four months prior to when she signed a bill officializing it’s finance structure for the next five years.
Pacheco-Aragon is now suing the agency, claiming she faced retaliation after raising concerns about what she says were illegal financial actions. Pacheco-Aragon claims the governor’s announcement about the program caught her, and other top financial staff, completely off guard; and they were left scrambling to figure out how to fund it through the end of June, or fiscal year 2026.
“From that point on, our...
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