New Mexico governor faces heat over unpaid burger bill
The Santa Fe Reporter originally reported the story.
— -- New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez found herself in a bit of a pickle today after she allegedly failed to pony up some dough for a meal she ordered at a local burger restaurant in Santa Fe.
Martinez, who was first elected as governor in 2010, did not pay her bill at the Five Star Burgers restaurant in Santa Fe, according to Robert Gonzales, the general manager of the restaurant.
“At about 1 p.m. [Governor Martinez] came in with a member of her security detail, they ordered and asked for separate checks,” said Gonzalez. He claimed that “when it came time to pay she crumpled hers up and threw it in the trash and left.”
In response to the accusation, Governor Martinez's office characterized the incident as a "honest misunderstanding."
“This is a supersized nothing-burger. The governor pays for her meals, including this one, and attempting to exploit an obviously honest misunderstanding just demonstrates how petty our politics have become," Martinez spokesperson Joseph Cueto wrote in a statement e-mailed to ABC News.
Gonzales, who did not file a police report, says he felt compelled to call out the governor's alleged actions.
“A lot of government officials feels like they are owed something,” Gonzales said, “I felt like it was a slap in the face, we’re a locally-owned, locally run business, and I thought it was my duty to stand up for it.”
This is not the first time Martinez's conduct in office has come under scrutiny.
In 2015, Martinez apologized after police had to be called to a hotel room where she and her staff were holding their annual holiday party.
Audio recordings later surfaced that showed the governor told the police there was no need to send officers to the hotel.
She later apologized in a statement, according the the Santa Fe New Mexican.
"I believe in people accepting responsibility and that is why I'm owning (up to) what happened, and I sincerely apologize," Martinez said in a statement about the incident.
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