Chief adviser to Gov. Bill Richardson, Cindy Padilla, was asked to resign after an arrest under suspicion of DWI on Oct 24.

Padilla handed in her official resignation on the 26th. The announcement came just 5 days after Gov. Richardson had announced Padilla was selected for a position with the Obama Administration. Padilla had served as the Secretary of Aging and Long-Term Services in New Mexico. She is still slated to become the principal deputy assistant secretary in the Administration on Aging pending the resolution of her charges.

Padilla was asked to resign by Richardson's Chief of Staff, Brian Condit, because the New Mexico Governor has a zero tolerance policy for DWI arrests within his Administration. He has made DWI enforcement a primary point on his agenda, and he does not want to taint this agenda.

Padilla was arrested on Oct. 24th in Santa Fe. She was pulled over and questioned whether she had been drinking, to which the adviser responded she'd had one margarita earlier in the evening. However, officers say she failed a field sobriety test and provided a sample that set her BAC at .08%, exactly the legal limit in the state of New Mexico.

She has asked to post pone her federal position until at least after her pretrial meeting is held on Dec. 9.