| Notes |
Meet the AG
Hector Balderas is serving his second term as New Mexico’s Attorney General and is a Certified Fraud Examiner. As the chief law enforcement officer and chief civil officer for the State of New Mexico, Hector has transformed the Office of the Attorney General to focus on keeping our children and families safe, empowering New Mexican families and small businesses for financial success, and protecting New Mexico’s pristine environment.
As Attorney General, Balderas transformed the Special Prosecutions Division, Special Investigations Division, New Mexico Human Trafficking Task Force, and expanded the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in a successful effort to combat the most dangerous offenders, violent sexual predators, and corrupt politicians. Balderas has secured convictions for victims of unspeakable acts of sexual and other violence around the state, and secured the first state level conviction of a statewide elected official and another against a former legislator. Balderas’ Criminal Appeals Division has also obtained several landmark Supreme Court opinions that have kept New Mexico’s most violent criminals in prison.
Attorney General Balderas has achieved unprecedented victories for New Mexicans in civil courts by securing the largest Tobacco Settlement payment in state history and tens of millions of dollars in settlements from large corporations for preying on New Mexicans. Balderas is also aggressively litigating against the opioid industry and made New Mexico the first state to sue opioid distributors, in addition to manufacturers, for inundating New Mexico with highly addictive opioids that have devastated the state for decades.
After law school Hector became a Bernalillo County Assistant District Attorney, was elected to a seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives at age 29, and then served two terms as New Mexico’s State Auditor. As State Auditor, Balderas had oversight of $60 billion in assets collectively held by over 1,000 government entities in New Mexico. He immediately pursued an aggressive agenda designed to protect taxpayer funds and hold government agencies accountable. During his time as State Auditor, Hector’s effort to target corruption yielded historic results. His special audits and investigations exposed rampant financial mismanagement of taxpayer funds throughout many government agencies and schools. |