Criminal history, faith and 'movidas': Rio Arriba County election for commission seat heats up
TRUCHAS — Gesturing from a weathered road Monday, Barney Trujillo launched into a speech about how he feels the roads and parks in this idyllic, rural region have lapsed since he departed public office a little under a decade ago.
What Trujillo hopes to accomplish is a political revival: The Chimayó resident was convicted in 2021 of violating the state’s procurement code after he failed to disclose contributions to an Española school board member’s campaign when he received a $50,000 annual marketing contract with Española Public Schools. In dramatic fashion, his home was raided by investigators with the Attorney General’s Office in 2017 and he served nine months on probation.
This week, he spoke confidently as the nearby mountain ridges loomed, wearing a blazer in full campaign mode.
“There’s going to be some people who use that against me, but the reality is the majority of the residents in this district know I was effective,” said Trujillo, who was previously a commissioner for eight years in the 2010s. “That’s the way my campaign is. It’s aggressive. I’m not going to let up on what I see that’s wrong with the county.”
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