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Pat Davis
Pat Davis is a former police officer and recovering politician working to save local news for New Mexico. After serving two terms as an Albuquerque City Councilor, he became the founder and publisher of nm.news.
From the Publisher
Our summer-long series of reporting on fiscal mismanagement in the City of Moriarty underscores why we have worked so hard to restore independent, local journalism in news deserts like Moriarty which has been without a local newspaper since the original Independent News closed in 2022.
With the help from Press Forward and the New Mexico Local News Fund, we were able to relaunch The Independent in 2023. In the spring of 2025, we were able to expand our coverage back to Moriarty for the first time in three years. In the months since, both the city clerk and mayor have resigned citing concerns about longtime fiscal mismanagement. A longtime city councilor chose not to seek re-election. Our reporting highlighted years of audits that had raised concerns that, to date, had been unaddressed. The State Auditor’s Office has since begun an inquiry into the city’s fiscal policies.
While we don’t claim that our reporting was directly responsible for any of those actions, it can’t go unnoticed that these issues were not secrets inside city hall.
There was just no one to tell the story to the rest of us.
Now we’re back and we’re committing to rebuilding accountable local journalism where it is needed most.
If you have a story you think we’re missing, you can reach our editor, Kevin Hendricks, at kevin@newmexico.news or reach out on our new website at route66.news
-Pat Davis, Publisher
Reader feedback
I am writing in response to the article titled, “Moriarty clerk/treasurer resigns, cites ‘rampant corruption’ .” I have read the previous articles as well. It is good that these articles are being written so that the citizens of Moriarty are aware of what is happening in their own community.
Elected officials have the responsibility for the fiscal budget and to ensure that it is being spent for the needs of the community. In the past, Moriarty was a vibrant community, and now it has been run to the ground. There has been no forward movement, and the past successes have come to an end. The City is in dire need of new management.
I would like to thank Mayor Brandon Webb and former City Clerk/Treasurer Deborah Liu for their willingness to bring this all to light. This is a small community where family ties are strong… As citizens, duty is ours (to be engaged in every aspect of the community) but results are Gods said John Quincy Adams. Many people are praying for you!
Margie Olivas, former city employee
Thank you for the article on the City of Moriarty. I believe many residents in this town have suspected that things have not been handled correctly in a very long time. In my opinion, Moriarty has been oppressed from thriving and instead we seem to slowly be dying. This only confirms what we suspected. Decisions seem to have been made not on behalf of the citizens of Moriarty but possibly for personal gains; bringing us to this reckless and/or possible corruption of mismanagement of funds.
I am grateful to Ms. Liu for exposing everything that was found and to Mayor Webb for standing up for truth.
I pray and hope that people will be made accountable for the sake of the citizens of Moriarty. In God we trust!
-May Orona
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