SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – New Mexico’s disgraced former secretary of state has until Wednesday to accept a sentence that combines a month in jail with a five-year-long mea culpa involving in-person apologies to campaign donors and appearances before school children across the state.
Dianna Duran, once among the state’s highest-ranking elected officials, has pleaded guilty to felony embezzlement charges for siphoning money from her election account to fuel a gambling addiction, though she can still withdraw her pleas because the sentence delivered Monday included jail time.
The case that has led to calls for an overhaul of New Mexico’s campaign finance and ethics laws.
District Judge T. Glenn Ellington told a packed courtroom in Santa Fe that Duran’s sentence was designed to go beyond simple punishment or mercy to provide personal rehabilitation and restore public faith in officials holding public office.
Duran must hand-deliver letters of apology to political donors, write another letter to the citizens of New Mexico, perform thousands of hours of community service and make at least four public appearances each month for the next three years to share her story with school children and civic groups.