Gov.-elect Susana Martinez on Friday nominated former state treasurer candidate Demesia Padilla to be her administration’s taxation and revenue secretary.
Padilla, a certified public accountant, is currently chairwoman of the Bernalillo County Audit Committee. Since 2007, she has served as a commissioner on the New Mexico Gaming Control Board.
“Demesia is a proven expert in the administration of the state’s tax code, and I’m confident that she would oversee a taxation and revenue office that would provide quality customer service to New Mexico taxpayers,” Martinez said in a news release. “Together, she and I will promote reforms to our tax code to make it more understandable, business friendly and fair.”
Martinez added that one of Padilla’s top priorities, as the secretary overseeing the Motor Vehicle Division, will be to push for legislation that would “prohibit the issuance of driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and to revoke those licenses that have already been issued.”
Padilla said she accepts the challenge “to ensure that the people of New Mexico are served by a taxation and revenue department that is transparent, fair and efficient.”
“That will be my charge, and I intend to deliver on it,” she said.
Padilla ran unsuccessfully against Democrat James B. Lewis for state treasurer in 2006.