SW New Mexico News

New Mexico's Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has been accused of sexual harassment, and a conservative publication is not satisfied with how the media is covering the scandal.

James Hallinan, a political operative and former employee of the governor's campaign, said in a number of bizarre tweets that he had been sexually assaulted by Lujan Grisham.

“She took a water bottle and dumped it on my crotch and then slapped and grabbed me in front of everybody,” Hallinan claimed. 

Former Lujan Grisham campaign worker James Hallinan | Facebook

Hallinan says this happened at a senior staff meeting in 2018. The governor's office categorically refutes the claim.

“These accusations of sexual assault are categorically false," Lujan Grisham Press Secretary Nora Sackett said in a statement. "No such incidents ever occurred, and Hallinan’s statements are bizarre and slanderous. The governor has never and would never conduct herself in the manner described.”

The New Mexico Political Journal is calling the controversy "Grisham-gate" and accusing the state's liberal-leaning major media outlets of not covering it as clearly or boldly as if it were a Republican facing the accusations. Hallinan is telling a first-hand story of a recent experience, and that differs from many of the accusations that are coming out in the broader media today, the Journal said. 

The conservative publication argues that New Mexico media works diligently to cover up or slant political news in a way that favors the Democratic party. It says that coverage of Gov. Grisham's campaign and tenure have been glowingly positive, whereas coverage of former Gov. Susana Martinez's was scathing, looking for or inventing controversy.

Sackett has said that Hallinan was unprofessional during his time with the governor's campaign, which is why he was not asked to be a part of her staff after Lujan Grisham won the election. Other state representatives who were at the meeting say they did not witness what Hallinan alleges took place.

 “If everybody wants to lie about what happened, then that’s their choice," Hallinan said. "Like I said, there was a lot of people in that room and this was only one instance.”