New Mexico News
| MEET MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM, DEMOCRAT |
| Posted by () on May 21 2008 at 3:57 PM |
Michelle Lujan Grisham was raised in Santa Fe in a family that traces its American roots back to the conquistadors.
Her father was a traveling dentist who specialized in the care of the disabled, and her mother took care of the youngest in the family, Kimberly, who was severely disabled.
Her 20-year public service career, she says, has been driven by her upbringing.
"I think that I am tolerant in a way that's productive, and I have zero tolerance for abusive, neglectful practices," Grisham said.
Just out of University of New Mexico law school, Grisham fell into a job at the State Bar Association, running its Lawyer Referral for the Elderly program.
She became a sharp critic of state services for the elderly and that spurred then-Gov. Bruce King to appoint her, at age 31, to run the state's Agency on Aging. She was an activist, getting granny cams into nursing homes and publishing the 10 best and 10 worst nursing homes. She held the job through three governors, Democrat and Republican.
In the summer of 2004, Gov. Bill Richardson decided to promote Grisham to the Cabinet-level position of secretary of health.
He offered her the job on a Friday and that Saturday her husband, Gregory, suffered a brain aneurysm while jogging. He died the next day and Grisham went to work at the agency three weeks later.
In her new job, she pushed an aggressive agenda, and some agency employees complained about micromanagement during her three-year tenure.
"I pushed people really hard to make sure that at the end of the day our priority was our constituents and the public," she said.
After she left the Richardson administration last June, Grisham traveled, spent time with her daughters, and dealt with some delayed emotional issues around her husband's death. She also thought about the future, which led her into this race.
"The question was: Can I step away from public service?" Grisham said. "The answer clearly is no. I love it. I'm good at it. I'm passionate about it. And I think that those are the kinds of people who can make a difference in Washington."
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