Pat Davis
Pat Davis is a former police officer and recovering politician. After serving two terms as an Albuquerque City Councilor, he became the founder and publisher of nm.news, a network of local community news outlets rebuilding community-based journalism across New Mexico.
From the Publisher: After a nearly 25-year run, The Independent News printed it’s last issue in 2022, just a few weeks after Covid-era health orders allowed local businesses to reopen to the public.
It’s long-time editor and owner, Leota Harriman, had kept her promise to her readers spread across more than 4,000 rural square miles and three counties to keep them connected during the largest health and business crisis of our lifetimes. But the crisis that consumed so many small businesses consumed hers, too.
With Leota’s blessing and help from the New Mexico Local News Fund, we were able to relaunch The Indy in 2023, first online then with limited print editions.
A Press Forward grant in 2024 helped us pay off debt and grow a digital newsletter. Sustainability coaching from LION Publishers helped rethink how we manage a team and revenue to restore more newsrooms.
By the spring of 2025, we were able to expand regular coverage online and in print back to Moriarty for the first time in three years.
Our summer-long series of reporting on fiscal mismanagement in the City of Moriarty underscores why we have worked so hard why having local, journalism in news deserts like Moriarty matters.
It did not take long for Connor Currier, fresh out of UNM’s School of Journalism in his first reporting job, and Kevin Hendricks, a 20 year veteran reporter in his first editor role, to hear the same rumors locals had long shared.
A city clerk’s warning about tax irregularities led us to find years of missing audits (what audits did exist were peppered with red flags) and more than $5 million in budget overspending (the state auditor has since launched a review of the city’s finances). Eventually, the new city clerk and mayor resigned in frustration, both divorcing themselves from the mess they labeled small town status quo and “rampant corruption.”
A 30-year city councilor chose not to seek re-election.
While we don’t claim that our reporting was directly responsible for all of those decisions, it can’t go unnoticed that these issues were not secrets inside city hall.
Current and former city employees have commented on our stories and social media feeds with praise for the return of local reporting that gave a platform for sharing documents and questions that told the story had a place to live outside of the influence of a broken political system.
The story was there all along. There was just no one there to tell it*.
Like most smaller towns in New Mexico, Moriarty will hold local elections in just a few weeks (look for our local voter guide out in print this Friday). Thanks to brave public officials who decided to challenge the status quo and a small town newspaper that pushed the story forward, voters will make a more informed choice when they choose their next elected leaders in November.
Connor, the reporter who started this series with us, has moved on to other adventures but a new journalist fellowship position funded by state legislators through the New Mexico Local News Fund and UNM’s School of Journalism has enabled us to make the reporter position in The Route 66 Indy a full-time and permanent addition to our team.
While it remains to be seen how the city’s next leaders will address a mountain of problems, I’m certain The Route 66 Independent will be here to keep them honest.
-Pat Davis, Publisher
*Sidebar: It can’t go unmentioned that while this community’s local newspaper was failing, there were still plenty of very well-paid and credentialed journalists in the neighborhood. The City of Moriarty is just 20 minutes and two stop signs down New Mexico Highway 41 from the entrance to Jeffrey Epstein’s sprawling Zorro Ranch. Dozens of national news outlets and reporters on expenses accounts have traveled historic Route 66, Moriarty’s main drag, on their way to the next big story.
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
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Moriarty’s mess
Reader feedback about our reporting
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 [former city clerk] 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
“My hope is that you guys just continue coming to the meetings, continue reporting. People have a right to know. I wish we could pack the council chambers every meeting, you know, but, but I think just reporting the real news and being truthful and transparent is helpful.”
— Outgoing Mayor Brandon Webb on the importance of returning The Independent to Moriarty