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.