Mayor of New Mexico town signed contracts while drunk, city now sued for non-payment

Created: August 04, 2011 11:22 | Last updated: July 31, 2020 00:00

Martin Resendiz, the Mayor of Sunland Park, a community of around 15,000 people near Las Cruces, admitted to signing contracts with a San Diego–based parking design firm while drunk. The deal, totaling more than $1 million, was penned at a local restaurant, the Albuquerque Journal reports. Now the company, Synthesis +, is suing the city for nonpayment. The Mayor says the contracts were never valid since the City Council did not approve them.

“The day I signed … I had way too much to drink. It was after 5 p.m. and I signed it (the contracts) and I didn’t know what I was signing,” Resendiz wrote in response to questions from Synthesis+ lawyers. “My sister had to pick me up.”

“Again, this was after two or three hours of us drinking, not exactly the best time to do business, not exactly the best time to read over legal documents, which he (Soltero) did not portray at any time to be legal documents,” Resendiz said in a deposition.

Soltero is a Synthesis+ executive; the drinking happened at Ardovino’s Restaurant in Sunland Park.

According to multiple reports, Resendiz, the Democratic Mayor of the city since 2008, is planning to challenge Republican Rep. Steve Pearce in 2012.