The Susana Martinez holiday party at the Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe that ended with complaints to police after moving to a second location cost taxpayers nearly $8,000 according to a report by a local TV station.
The governor’s party took place on Dec. 13 at a ballroom at the Eldorado Hotel and was for the governor’s office.
According to KRQE-TV, that party came from the governor’s budget and cost $7,900. That is state money that is allocated by the State Legislature for the governor.
NM Political Report filed a public records request for all funds expended for the party, but so far hasn’t received any information .
The controversy at the party began after a move up to a hotel room paid for by someone from the governor’s legal department
The hotel front desk called police at 1:30 a.m. after security had warned the room multiple times about noise complaints coming from Room 465. The hotel asked for those making the noise to be escorted from the property. When Martinez got wind that police had been called, she had the front desk call police again and spoke to two dispatchers.
She insisted that reports that bottles were being thrown from the room’s balcony happened hours before and that she and six others were in the room, including her disabled sister, were having “pizza and cokes.”
She said that nobody threw bottles while she was in the room but that maybe someone did throw bottles six hours before she arrived. She later told media that people in the room threw snowballs, not bottles.
No one from Martinez’s office spoke to NM Political Report despite multiple attempts to get in contact with her spokesman.
When police arrived, a security guard and police officer said Martinez appeared inebriated according to new audio released on Tuesday. In the new audio, Martinez said that the person who threw bottles was kicked out.