Jan. 22—The executive director of a new and little-known state agency is facing an ethics complaint after using her government email to encourage employees to lobby legislators on the office’s behalf but without specifically instructing them to disclose their roles.

Beth Gillia, head of the New Mexico Office of Family Representation and Advocacy, sent an email Sunday urging “interested parties,” including both state and contract employees, to contact members of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee in support of the agency’s budget and a proposed tax on the sale of firearms and ammunition. Proceeds of the proposed tax would benefit the agency.

“We need Commission Members and interested Parties to take an active role in supporting and promoting the Office of Family Representation and Advocacy,” she wrote in an attachment with talking points.

The agency, overseen by a 13-member commission, was created by the Legislature in 2022 to provide legal representation to children and parents involved in abuse and neglect cases. The office’s official start date was July 2023. Gillia was hired as the agency’s executive director six months prior, in January 2023.

Maralyn Beck, founder of the New Mexico Child First Network, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of children in the state’s foster care system, contacted Gillia and the commission’s chair and vice chair via email less than two hours after Gillia’s email went out.

Beck wrote Gillia’s email had been forwarded to her “several times” from recipients of the original email who felt an ethics complaint should be filed “for encouraging state and contract employees to lobby” on the agency’s behalf without disclosing their relationship to the agency.

“It is unclear in the lobbying document … if you want your employees and paid staff to reach out to HAFC on behalf of themselves personally or in their official and state-funded positions,” Beck wrote. “There is also the concern that if a contract employee reaches out to HAFC on behalf of OFRA, can they bill for that time and get paid for doing so?”

Beck concluded by writing she will be filing a formal complaint with the State Ethics Commission, which was copied in her email to Gillia, and also sharing her concerns with members of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.

“Politics has no business in child welfare, and this is disappointing,” Beck said. “I hope our legislators take this seriously and ask hard questions about the future of this agency and its impact on our most vulnerable children and families in New Mexico.”

In a statement, Gillia defended her actions.

“As Director of a new state agency dedicated to providing the highest quality legal representation to children and parents involved in the child and family welfare system, I am statutorily responsible for representing and advocating for the office and its clients,” Gillia said. “This includes advocacy to ensure that the Office of Family Representation and Advocacy is adequately funded to perform the services envisioned by the Legislature when it created the Office, which includes communicating by email with individuals who have voluntarily subscribed to our email list.”

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.