Morris Chavez
‘I will fully cooperate with any and all investigations,’ Morris Chavez says
State Insurance Superintendent Morris J. Chavez has been placed on paid leave from his post, which oversees the state’s insurance industry, during a personnel investigation, the Albuquerque Journal is reporting.
The move was ordered Thursday by the Public Regulation Department’s Chief of Staff Daniel Mayfield.
Chavez told the Journal he expects “an expeditious (personnel) investigation” but would not elborate on the details.
“I will fully cooperate with any and all investigation the PRC will be doing and look forward to resolving any and all issues,” the Journal quoted Chavez as saying.
PRC commissioner Sandy Jones was quoted by the Journal as saying that the investigation is “strictly a personnel issue.”
“To protect everyone’s rights, we’re not going to comment. We are not going to discuss it,” Jones said.
Chavez was appointed to the post in 2006 after his predecessor, Eric Serna, resigned. Serna was involved in a scandal in which it was disclosed that a state government contractor had contributed $129,000 to a charity he headed.
In 2008, Serna’s deputy insurance superintendent, Joe Ruiz, was convicted of shaking down insurance companies and sentenced to four years in prison. His conviction was upheld by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals last month.