N.M. to pay Pearce legal fees in July

Attorneys for the state of New Mexico promised Thursday to pay more than $133,000 in outstanding legal fees to Republican gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce at the beginning of the new fiscal year, which begins July 1.

“We will request immediately that [the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration] issue this payment, and expect that DFA can issue this payment within one week of the new fiscal year,” lawyers in the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office wrote in a letter to Pearce’s legal team.

The fees stem from the settlement of a lawsuit that Pearce filed against after Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, told Pearce that state law restricted the amount of money he could transfer from his congressional campaign to run for state office. A judge saw differently and ruled in Pearce’s favor.

As part of a settlement, the state agreed to pay about $133,000 in legal fees, but an issue over who would pay the money delayed payment, prompting attorneys for Pearce to issue a demand letter. In addition to Toulouse Oliver, the Attorney General’s Office and the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office were named in the lawsuit.

A response letter from the state said, “Although all of these attorney’s fees ultimately will be paid by the State — and thus, the public — we have agreed upon the following allocation of fees among our agency budgets: the Secretary of State will pay 45%, the Attorney General 40%, and the [5th Judicial] District Attorney 15%.”

“It’s disgraceful that Steve Pearce is forcing New Mexico taxpayers to pick up his political campaign tab,” James Hallinan, a spokesman for Attorney General Hector Balderas, a Democrat, said in an email. “However, the Attorney General has agreed to pay a portion of the attorney’s fees for the Office of District Attorney [Dianna] Luce to prevent any disruptions in local law enforcement services given the DA’s severe budgetary constraints.”