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Padilla pleads no contest to DWI, will keep job in Obama administration
Cindy Padilla
The former secretary of New Mexico’s Aging and Long-term Services Department will be starting a similar post in the Obama administration next month after recently pleading no contest to drunken driving.
Cindy Padilla, who was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in Santa Fe on Oct. 24, will start her job as deputy assistant secretary on aging in the U.S. Health and Humans Services Department “within a few weeks,” according to a department spokeswoman who spoke with the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Prosecutors say 48-year-old Padilla received a deferred sentence on Nov. 19 after she plead no contest to her first DWI offense. She had been arrested three days after accepting the post in D.C.
Two days after her arrest, Gov. Bill Richardson’s chief of staff, Brian Condit, asked Padilla to resign her state post.
St. Cyr is a contributing writer for this site and a reporter at 770KKOB.com. He can be reached at peter.stcyr@gmail.com.
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Ho Hummmm.. Just more La Politica corruption at work. It proves it is who you know and not what you do that gets you places in this 47 out of 50 state. Sad, another corrupt NM legacy for all to see.
I have two issues with this incident that do not sit well at all with me. The first is what another poster referred to as “ridiculously low BAC’s”. It’s getting even worse out there because officers are now no longer tied to the .08 threshold as they are permitted to go by “perceived incapacity”. That plus a massive marketing campaign, plus a quota, plus a possible chip on an officer’s shoulder equal crap. My other issue relates to judicial system’s polite treatment of the former cabinet secretary. I have never received a DWI, but knowing many who have I can tell you that the typical sentence handed down to a non connected person will more that consume your life for the better part of an entire year.
One other thing.. Another poster went on to preach about the integrity of appointee’s from the previous administration. I am offended that he thinks our memories are so short. Come on. Really?
I am proud to be a friend of Cindy Padilla. She is a woman of integrity and obviously others can recognize her integrity. I know she will do a great job anywhere she chooses to place her values and work ethic. I know others will see her passion, compassion and love for the human race. I am proud she will represent New Mexico with pride and dignity. AMAZING YOU ARE Cindy. Thanks for keeping your finger on the pulse of your best self. I am proud of you where ever you are and whatever you do.
Blessing’s to you my friend,
Mary Louise
Before you all burn this woman in effigy, you DO know that a 140lb woman can easily blow a 0.08BAC after two glasses of wine with dinner? On a breathylizer that is most likely been bouncing around in a police car, and has not been calibrated accurately, and would likely be found to be erroneous were a blood test given? And that field sobriety tests are notoriously inaccurate and subject to only the officer’s interpretation? And that its not yet illegal to drink alcoholic beverages in this country? Or be a Democrat?
Well, thanks to “Prohibitionist Mothers Against Alcohol Consumption”, unless you’re a teetotaler, you too, could fail to come in under the ridiculously low BAC’s we now have determined to be “Drunk Driving”. As a result, we pick up perfectly functioning drivers and ruin their professional and personal lives, while the true killers who don’t give a darn about what they’re doing keep on drinking, driving and killing. Are all the pro business folks out there ready to tell the restaurant association that they should stop serving alcohol in their establishments?
Karma is such a wonderful teacher. I Can’t wait for something like this to happen to all those who so willingly and unquestioningly hand over their civil liberties to the government, because they are foolish enough to believe it only happens if you deserve it. But don’t want to pay a single penny in taxes because government is too big.
Amazing levels of self deception are required to call oneself a conservative these days.
As a former deputy assistant secretary of commerce who served in the last administration, I can tell you that past administrations have always held high standards for those serving at the pleasure of the president. Neither any past cabinet secretary I know nor the Office of Presidential Personnel would have been so forgiving. Unlike the career civil servants, presidential appointees are reflections of the administration as a whole, and as “jivaro99″ has said, such appointees are expected to “lead by example.” If she embarrassed the Richardson/Denish administration enough for them to call for her resignation, then clearly it should embarrass the Obama administration. She should have voluntarily declined the appointment (just like her former boss Governor Richardson pulled out of consideration to be commerce secretary in light of the ongoing corruption scandals).
It is sad to see that these high standards have apparently been relaxed in the Obama administration. The irony is that this woman is going to serve at HHS, a department charged with protecting the health and welfare of our citizens, when she herself has endangered the lives of others by driving drunk.
If a person in office cannot lead by example, then they should be replaced. We have become a nation of ‘oh it’s just a little problem or mistake’. Where will it end? If we can’t hold our elected or appointed people to the stringent set of rules where have we led our nation?
“If you cannot take care of your own house, how can you be expected to serve the people?” I forget who asked this question, but it is true. Holding one to the stringent rules of conduct to hold a job or office is extremely important to the people they serve.
And yet another example is set in the political game in New Mexico. I know I would loose my job even with a DWI arrest. I guess it is now commonplace in this state for sitting government officials to hold office even while waiting out an indictment, no matter what the crime!