Rehm blasts Occupy movement, takes shot at Egolf, causes sparks on House floor
Posted by rnikolewski in News on January 27th, 2012
Brian Egolf (standing) talks to Bill Rehm on the House floor, 1/27/02
State Rep. Bill Rehm (R-Albuquerque) took to the House floor Friday (Jan. 27) and made his first comments since a female guest of his received an eye injury after members of the Occupy movement burst into a dinner hosted by a conservative political organization back on Wednesday night at the Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe.
Rehm reamed out the hotel staff for what he said was their being most concerned about ”clean[ing] the crime scene before police arrived,” inferred that Rep. Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe) had some idea what the protesters would do and even questioned whether the city of Santa Fe provides a safe enough environment to act as the home of the legislature.
But Rehm saved his harshest words for members of the Occupy movement.
“One attacker was taking crime scene tape and stringing it over the dinner patrons and their chairs,” Rehm said. “At the same time another group of protesters were forcing their way in by a side door. This was not a protest but a well-coordinated, planned assault.”
Rehm then raised some questions about one of his legislative colleagues.
He didn’t mention Egolf by name but every member of the House knew Rehm was talking about the liberal state rep who has often gone on social media outlets promoting “the 99 percent” and spoke at an “Occupy the Roundhouse” demonstration on the opening day of the current 30-day session.
“One member of the legislature was seen meeting with the Occupy persons at the [hotel] bar just prior to dinner but left just prior to the dinner,” Rehm said. “One must ask why. For what purpose was this meeting? Why didn’t they stay for dinner? Did they know a reason why not to stay?”
After Rehm made his remarks, Egolf approached Rehm and they had a somewhat animated conversation at Rehm’s desk on the House floor.
After the House adjorned for the day, Egolf talked to reporters and fired back:
Rehm finished his remarks by asking, “Is Santa Fe a safe setting for the legislature? Or should we seek another city?”
That caused Speaker of the House Ben Luján (D-Nambé) — whose district is in Santa Fe County — to say, “I resent that. The city of Santa Fe is definitely safe.”
Police reports have been filed after Wednesday night’s incident and on the Senate floor Thursday Sen. Bill Payne (R-Albuquerque) called for prosecution of those involved in the outburst.
Click here to get more details of the incident on Wednesday night, including some video of the protest.
Late Friday afternoon, Jeff Haas of Occupy Santa Fe released a statement to the media saying the protesters had been victimized. The news release said in part:
Four women and two men committed to nonviolent civil disobedience interrupted the dinner to hold members accountable for their anti-immigrant, anti-union and anti-environment policies, while Crime Scene tape was dispersed around the tables. Protesters sought to distribute Paper programs parodying ALEC’s agenda. When one was attacked, some programs unintentionally flew from the protester’s hand. The resulting injury was unfortunate, and totally unintended. OSF is glad to hear the victim is recovering. By contrast ALEC members choked two women protesters with their own scarves while simultaneously punching them in the back, one by Representative Kintigh of Roswell. Following them to the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, an ALEC member punched a male protester in the face, and shoved another male protester to the wall in a chokehold. Four security guards from the El Dorado Hotel contained the violent ALEC legislative member. A 68-year-old photographer filed a complaint that night after she was manhandled and injured in an effort to take her camera. ALEC members are attempting to cover up their violent response to the protesters in the El Dorado, deflecting responsibility on protesters, hotel security, and state police. This is a continuation of ALEC’s political maneuvering, one of corruption, dominance, and deceit.
Click here to read the entire news release.
NM Gov appoints openly gay man to PRC: Sexual orientation was ‘completely irrelevant’
Posted by rnikolewski in News on January 27th, 2012
Doug Howe, PRC Commissioner
From blogger Heath Haussamen comes news that the newly-appointed member of the Public Regulations Commission, Doug Howe, is an openly gay man and Republican Gov. Susana Martinez knew about Howe’s sexual orientation and it “was not a factor in his selection.”
Throughout that process, Martinez said she would select the most qualified person to replace the scandal-plagued Democrat Jerome Block Jr., who pleaded guilty to multiple felonies and resigned in September. Martinez chose Howe, an energy consultant for 30 years who has been a college professor, businessman and executive in a Fortune 500 company, from a list of applicants that included dozens of Democrats and Republicans…
Spokesman Scott Darnell echoed those sentiments this week, saying Martinez knew Howe was gay but it “was not a factor in his selection.”
In an interview, Howe said he believes Martinez viewed his sexual orientation as “completely irrelevant.” He said she and her staff seemed to be seeking a commissioner who could help clean up the scandal-plagued PRC, and to challenge the Legislature to join that effort.
Read the entire post by clicking here.
Howe recently announced he would offer himself for election when his appointed term is up but on Thursday (Jan. 27) told the Santa Fe New Mexican that he had changed his mind, saying: “I don’t think the governor put me here to learn how to be a politician. I think she put me here to try to help make this a better institution.”
You’ll get to see video of the Stapleton incident on Monday
Posted by rnikolewski in News on January 27th, 2012
Sheryl Williams Stapleton at news conference, 12/15/11
Yielding to media outlets and open-government organizations, the Legislative Council Service says it will release security video of Democratic Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton shouting at Republican colleague Nora Espinoza during a break at a committee meeting hearing last month.
The video — which was recorded without audio — had been withheld from the public by LCS director Raul Burciaga, who insisted the videotapes “are not public records,” and since they came during a lunch break at the Legislative Education Study Committee they “really don’t relate to public business.”
But media organizations such as the Albuquerque Journal and KRQE-TV as well as New Mexico Foundation for Open Government filed complaints, saying that since the incident happened on public property in a state capitol building funded by public dollars the video should be released.
In a letter to media organizations on Friday (Jan. 27), Burciaga said he stands by his decision but to “avoid a prolonged and expensive legal proceeding,” the LCS will release the video to media outlets on Monday (Jan. 30).
We’ll be there and post the video as soon as we get it.
Burciaga’s decision comes one day after a report on KRQE-TV in which a reporter for the station was allowed to view the security tape — but not allowed to put it on the air. Click here for that story.
For background on the Stapleton incident on Dec. 14, click here.
Going toe to toe: Hector Balderas vs. Pat Lyons
Posted by rnikolewski in News on January 27th, 2012
State Auditor Hector Balderas says Public Regulation Commission chairman Pat Lyons should resign. Lyons says Balderas is just trying to bolster his campaign for the US Senate by going after him.
The tension between the two elected officials spilled over Thursday (Jan. 26).
From Trip Jennings of the Santa Fe New Mexican:
State Auditor Hector Balderas on Thursday called for Public Regulation Commission Chairman Pat Lyons to step down because of what Balderas said was an improper use of a state vehicle.
Lyons’ use of a Ford F-250 truck for approximately 65 days, potentially violating the rules of a federal program, resulted in more than $1,100 of questionable costs to the public, Balderas said.
The call for Lyon to resign coincided with Thursday’s release of a special audit of the scandal-plagued Public Regulation Commission that found sloppy record-keeping at the agency…“What you have is an incompetent attorney who is trying to do a state auditor’s job,” Lyons said of Balderas. “He’s made it personal going after me.”
Balderas shot back, saying Lyons “is in denial and does not believe accountability applies to him.”
You can read the rest of the story – as well as read the special audit — by clicking here.
Back in September, Capitol Report New Mexico recorded interviews with Lyons and Balderas about their charges and counter-charges. Click here to watch the exchange.
Speaking of the troubled Public Regulation Commission, former commissioner Jerome Block Jr. is expected to be sentenced on Friday (Jan. 27) in Santa Fe district court after his well-documented problems with election laws and misuse of PRC gas cards.
Democrats table driver’s license bill in committee … but it ain’t over UPDATE: Possible strategy
Posted by rnikolewski in News on January 26th, 2012
House Labor and Human Resources Committee hears driver's license bill debate, 1/26/12
As widely expected, on Thursday (Jan. 26) Democrats in the House Labor and Human Resources Committee tabled a bill introduced by Rep. Andy Nuñez(I-Hatch) that would rescind the eight-year-old law in New Mexico that allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses but Nuñez told reporters after the hearing that he’ll try to blast the bill through the House floor Friday.
On a party-line 5-4 vote, Democrats voted to table House Bill 103 and then issued their own substitute bill that was aimed at limiting driver’s licenses to foreign nationals, require additional identification and impose new penalties on violators from outside the US. The substitute bill passed — again on a 5-4 vote with all Democrats voting yes and all the Republicans on the committee voting no.
Nuñez said afterwards that he doesn’t approve of the compromise bill, telling reporters, “I was elected as a lawmaker, not a lawbreaker. If I go along with this illegal thing, I’m breaking the law.”
While the Democrats on the panel agreed that something should be done about those who use the current law for fraudulent purposes, they said the Nuñez bill as written — and strongly supported by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez – goes too far. “We want to make sure we don’t adopt any legislation that leaves anybody behind,” Rep. Rick Miera (D-Albuquerque).
So what happens next? The compromise bill is slated to move on to the House Judiciary Committee next.
But there is plenty of manuevering on both sides. Nuñez confirmed he’ll try to bring his original bill to the House floor as early as tomorrow — but Democrats may try to bring Thursday’s compromise bill to the floor first. But is there enough support — even from Democrats, who hold a 3-seat majority in the House – to do that?
The plain-spoken Nuñez laid it all out (or at least some of it) to reporters after the commitee meeting:
Update 1/27: Nuñez did not attempt to “blast” his original bill onto the House floor on Friday. There was talk that Nuñez and Republicans might try to kill the committee report as it was announced but according to sources at the Legislative Council, killing the committee report that contained the compromise bill passed by Democrats Thursday would have also killed the original bill that Nuñez introduced. The bill goes next to House Judiciary and it seems the strategy might be to amend the bill back to its original version in that committee — and try to coax a couple Dems in Judiciary to go along with it. We’ll see what happens.
Guest of NM state rep suffers eye injury during Occupy protest in Santa Fe UPDATE: Video of incident posted
Posted by rnikolewski in News on January 26th, 2012
Rep. Bill Rehm (R-Albuquerque)
Occupy protesters came under fire at the Roundhouse on Thursday (Jan. 26) after a handful of them burst into a dinner for state legislators at the Eldorado Hotel on Wednesday night, shouting political slogans, trying to rope off the diners with crime scene tape and throwing protest material that ended up hitting the female guest of state Rep. Bill Rehm(R-Albuquerque) in the eye, possibly causing some damage.
The protesters were angry that a number of New Mexico lawmakers — some Democrats but mostly Republicans — were taking part in the dinner, which was hosted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization that calls for smaller government but is targeted by many on the left as a tool of corporate America.
According to lawmakers who attended the dinner, a protest was held outside the hotel prior to the dinner, with the demonstrators loudly insisting that the legislators skip the dinner. About 70 people were in a private room at the Old House Restaurant at the Eldorado when, according to lawmakers interviewed by Capitol Report New Mexico, about five or six protesters burst in, shouting and grabbing yellow police tape “as if this was a crime scene, I guess,” one legislator said and then started throwing 5 x 8 cards — “they were fake invitations of some sort,” one witness said — and one of the cards struck Rep. Rehm’s guest in the eye.
Witnesses say the woman throwing the card was “in her late 20s, a slender, white female” and was hustled out of the room by Rep. Dennis Kintigh (R-Roswell), who is a former FBI agent.
Update: There’s some video of the incident on YouTube. (Hat tip to Steve Terrell.) The photographer got there a bit late but you can see a little bit of what happenend, including a woman being hustled away saying, “ALEC killed indigenous people!” Here it is:
Rep. Terry McMillan (R-Las Cruces) who is also a doctor, tended to the injured guest, who may have injured her cornea. A spokeswoman for the state Republican Party who spoke to Rehm Thursday morning said doctors are “monitoring it [the injured eye], it’s under observation, things seem to be going in the right direction.”
Rehm did not talk to reporters Thursday but one of his House colleagues said “he’s understandably upset” and Capitol Report New Mexico learned that Rehm is expected to say something about the incident from the House floor on Friday.
Santa Fe Police were notified of the incident and a criminal complaint was reportedly filed. Once we get access to the incident report, we’ll post it.
“To some parts of this society,” Kintigh said Thursday morning, “the right to peaceably assemble is only for a certain political philosophy and not for others … I think that is fundamentally wrong.”
Capitol Report New Mexico talked to one of the attendees at the dinner, Rep. Paul Bandy (R-Aztec), who expressed his concerns about the rhetoric and political environment in Santa Fe during this 30-day session:
Prior to the dinner, members of the Occupy Santa Fe Movement had distributed a notice on the Internet, encouraging protesters to come to the Eldorado, saying that “Twenty-three NM legislators are active members of ALEC and promote and introduce ALEC’s reactionary and racist legislation.”
Nine days ago, Occupy protesters briefly interrupted the State of the State address by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.
On the floor of the House Thursday morning, Rep. Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe), who took part in an “Occupy the Roundhouse” demonstration in front of the Roundhouse on Jan. 17, said the incident at the Eldorado is not representative of the Occupy movement. “This is not acceptable … we can disagree without being disagreeable … I had nothing to do with that [incident] but I think it’s appropriate to say this … let’s maintain the decorum of the House.”
But Sen. Bill Payne (R-Albuquerque) was much more agitated on the floor of the Senate, describing the incident as “a very ugly scene,” that ALEC “has been created as a foil for the Occupy people” and then said “there needs to be some prosecution of some of these people [protesters].”
Payne then criticized the management at the Eldorado and the city of Santa Fe in general, saying on the floor he would “recommend everyone not to patronize this hotel because they absolutely failed in their security … What concerns me the most is … I think we ought to look at an alternative venue [for meetings] because Santa Fe has come so anti-business.”
“The people who came into that restaurant … were interested in doing harm,” Sen. Clint Harden (R-Clovis) said, adding that the protesters “looked like they were throwing karate stars — and I don’t say that frivolously.”
Democratic President Pro Tem of the Senate Tim Jennings of Roswell seconded Payne’s comments, saying “ALEC is a very viable part of the American business society … We will get to the bottom of this to the best of our ability … Sen. Payne, you have my unending support.”
On Monday (Jan. 23), the Santa Fe New Mexican ran a front-page story about ALEC, quoting Egolf as saying, “ALEC is the truest embodiment of all the things that people who care about keeping corporate money out of politics, preserving our democracy and keeping our air, land and water clean fear most” and quoted Payne saying “there’s nothing nefarious about” ALEC and Bandy saying the organization is “basically about Jeffersonian democracy, individual rights, free markets and limited government.”
Bandy actually spoke to some of the protesters who gathered outside the Eldorado before the dinner and said he thought he had a good exchange with the demonstrators.
But the exchange a little while later was a lot less civilized.
Update: From Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican:
Jeff Haas, a spokesman for the protesters, said in an email to The New Mexican, “While Occupy believes that confrontation and civil disobedience are often effective as demonstrated by Dr. King and Rosa Parks, we regret that anyone was injured last night by either flying paper or rough treatment by hotel security or ALEC members. Fortunately the injuries were minor compared to the devastation to people and the environment caused by ALEC legislation.”
AP investigation on NM driver’s license law shows pattern of fraud
Posted by rnikolewski in News on January 25th, 2012
This promises to provide a jolt to the debate over repealing the current New Mexico law allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. From Associated Press:
SANTA FE, N.M. – An Associated Press investigation has found that addresses of dozens of the same businesses and homes across New Mexico were used over and over again by people to get driver’s licenses in a pattern that suggests potential fraud by immigrants trying to game the system.
In one instance, 48 foreign nationals claimed to live at a smoke shop in Albuquerque to get a license. In another case, more than a dozen claimed to live at an automotive repair shop over a one-year period. The scenario has been repeated at other addresses since New Mexico changed its law in 2003 to allow illegal immigrants to get the same driver’s license as a U.S. citizen — one of just two states allowing that.
Gov. Susana Martinez has long advocated rescinding the current law but has faced opposition from immigrant rights groups as well as some Democrats in the Roundhouse. Last year, a bill sponsored by Rep. Andy Nuñez (I-Hatch) passed through the state House of Representatives but failed in the state Senate.
In the current 30-day legislative session, Nuñez has introduced a similar bill, House Bill 103.
New Mexico is one of just two states that allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. Washington state is the other.
Last week, a federal judge spoke out against the current law from the bench. During a sentencing hearing in Albuquerque for a New Mexico man who has admitted his involvement in helping Polish citizens who flew in from the East Coast to get driver’s licenses, Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Parker said, “I’ll just comment that this case to my mind demonstrates why it is unreasonable for the state of New Mexico to authorize the issuance of driver’s licenses to people who are unlawfully in the United States.”
You can read the entire AP story by clicking here.
On Tuesday (Jan. 24), Rep. Bill O’Neill (D-Albuquerque) introduced what he says is a compromise bill on the driver’s license issue. His bill, House Bill 171, calls for issuing a provisional driver’s license to foreign nationals who do not have a Social Security number.
Trying to curb “tax pyramiding”
Posted by rnikolewski in News on January 25th, 2012
Gov. Susana Martinez and Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Tom Clifford at news conference, 1/25/12
Gov. Susana Martinez held a news conference Wednesday (Jan. 25) to promote legislation in the current 30-day legislative session aimed at helping New Mexico’s construction industry by curbing the practice of ”tax pyramiding” in which companies get taxed multiple times.
Rep. David Doyle (R-Albuquerque) has introduced legislation aimed at lessening the effects of pyramiding and the governor’s news conference comes two days after Senate Democrats held their own media event in which they touted 11 of their bills aimed at boosting businesses across the state.
Here’s what Gov. Martinez said today about the Democrats’ proposals:
Earlier this month, the Associated General Contractors of America reported that New Mexico had the largest decline in construction employment in the country.
Click here for that story.
Are NM’s pensions heading to the Intensive Care Unit?
Posted by rnikolewski in News on January 25th, 2012
Senate Finance Committee members listen to pension discussion, 1/23/12
Members of the Senate Finance Committee who thought New Mexico’s two state-sponsored pension plans are doing pretty well and just need some tweaking to stay financially secure received a splash of ice-cold water on Monday (Jan. 23) when two financial analysts said just the opposite.
“The numbers are actually worse than they appear,” said Sean McShea, a fixed-income portfolio manager for Ryan Labs Asset Management out of New York City.
And Brad Day, a retired Albuquerque business owner who specialized in retirement pension plans, urged committee members to “get off the road we’re on now, which is a road to nowhere.”
The Educational Retirement Board (ERB) and the Public Employees Retirement Assocation (PERA) comprise two state-supported pensions. In recent committee meeting hearings in the Roundhouse, leaders from the ERB and PERA acknowledged to lawmakers that adjustments need to be made to keep their plans solvent into the future as more and more baby boomers retire and say their respective boards and members are willing to make refine their plans.
But McShea and Day painted a much bleaker picture Monday, saying changes on the margins are not enough.
“We all know there’s going to be a retirement crisis in 2020,” McShea said adding, ”I think one day we’ll look at municipal debt and everything is fine but the next day we’ll have an epiphany and everything has changed for the worse.”
Both McShea and Day also called into question the expected return on investments for the state pension plans, posted at 7.75 percent per year — a number they say is way too high.
Day — who is actually a trustee at the ERB – said unless fundamental changes are made, “It’s going to raise unfunded liabilities to a level that is catastrophic.”
Day told the committee he recommends eliminating the cost of living adjustment to the ERB plan and raising the minimum retirement age at the ERB to 62. Day said he’s made these recommendations to the ERB but “I’m the only private sector person on the ERB … I get out-voted virtually every time … The recommendation of the ERB [board] in my opinion was like spitting in the ocean … it will have practically no effect.”
In an interview with Capitol Report New Mexico, Day said, “The taxpayers are being soaked on these plans and they don’t even know it.” Day also expressed alarm over the Retiree Health Plan, which is governed by the New Mexico Retiree Health Care Authority.
McShea told committee members the pension plans rely too heavily on amortization (paying off debts in regular installments) and what financial people call “smoothing” of financial figures and told Capitol Report New Mexico, “the accounting for this stuff is intellectually dishonest.” McShea handed out some financial data for New Mexico to the committee members.
Here are some of those numbers:
| Ratios | |||||
| General Fund Revenue Growth | -7% | ||||
| Financials – General Fund | |||||
| FY2006 | FY2007 | FY2008 | FY2009 | FY2010 | |
| Fund Balances Ending (in millions) | 936 | 754 | 888 | 390 | 388 |
| Financials – Comprehesive Annual Financial Report | FY2006 | FY2007 | FY2008 | FY2009 | FY2010 |
| Unreserved fund balance/revenues (%) | 17 | 15 | 19 | 13 | 4 |
| Debt (in millions) | FY2006 | FY2007 | FY2008 | FY2009 | FY2010 |
| Total tax-supported debt | 1,801 | 2,251 | 2,341 | 2,280 | 2,631 |
| Source: Ryan Labs Asset Management |
Committee members looked stunned after listening to Day and McShea.
“We recognize the impending doom,” Sen. Carlos Cisneros (D-Questa) said while Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort (R-Sandia Park) said, “We hear you, you’re telling us we haven’t been agressive enough.”
Committee chairman John Arthur Smith (D-Deming), who has warned of the pension issue for years and scolded some PERA representatives on Monday for being overly rosy in previous estimates, told Capitol Report after the hearing: “I’ve been tracking the pension issue and try to something to stabilize the funds for probably 12-14 years and obviously there’s been a ton of pushback from different advocacy groups that were in opposition to that. I guess the only thing positive that’s happening now is we’re getting more people to start paying attention to the fact that, in their mind, we may have a problem. Well, it’s not a question of we may have a problem, we do have a problem — a massive problem.”
Smith says he thinks there’s a middle path between the comments made by McShea/Day and the more modest reforms the ERB and PERA boards have advocated, with Smith saying the boards “probably don’t have the intestinal fortitude to make those decisions.”
Rhode Island has drawn national attention in regards to its state pension plans. Rhode Island lawmakers established one of the most generous retirement benefits packages in the US but the ensuing $7 billion unfunded liability forced Gov. Lincoln Chaffee and a majority of Democrats in both chambers of the statehouse to agree to a major overhaul of the pension system that included raising retirement ages and suspending cost of living adjustments.
“The first wave on the east coast is probably going to be Rhode Island,” Sen. Smith said, “and I think you’re going to see that move west.”
But what about those who say that people like Smith and McShea are sounding too much like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker? We asked each of them about the likely political reaction to what they’re saying:
Unlike a lot of financial types who make the sometimes dull talk of fiscal issues even more dull, McShea is refreshingly plain-spoken. Here’s the entire interview Capitol Report New Mexico conducted with him right after the committee meeting hearing. It runs just under five minutes:
And here’s the complete interview with Sen. Smith:
We’ll post same financial data that McShea provided the committee ASAP.
Update: Here are the data:
(Thanks to Beverly Kellam for getting the links to work for us. By the way, she is the proud mother of Reed Kellam, who won the Santa Fe County Spelling Bee on Tuesday. Capitol Report New Mexico runs with some pretty smart company.)
Pay to play: Read the Aldus Equity transcripts for yourself
Posted by rnikolewski in News on January 24th, 2012
Attorney Victor Marshall plays audio of secret recording from Aldus Equity meeting to the State Investment Council, 1/24/12
They sound like scenes from a gangster movie but it’s not Edward G. Robinson or Joe Pesci uttering the words.
Instead, it’s Saul Meyer and members of the management team at Aldus Equity Advisers, a Dallas-based investment firm accused of fleecing taxpayers of New Mexico through the State Investment Council (SIC) and the state’s Educational Retirement Board (ERB) through bad investments and alleged “pay to play” practices that supposedly saw political friends of former Gov. Bill Richardson get paid through third-party placement fees.
Aldus received $1.5 million a year to advise the SIC and the ERB but instead of looking for prudent investments for the state to invest taxpayer money, the tapes show a firm going off a playbook scripted by Anthony and Marc Correra. Anthony Correra was a close friend and advisor to Richardson and helped select Gary Bland as the SIC chief investment officer. Marc Correra is Anthony’s son and shared more than $22 million by setting up meetings between companies and state investment officials. Judging from the recordings, the Correras would tell Aldus which funds to recommend and then Bland would be instructed which funds would get the state money.
The tapes were recorded in September of 2006. It hasn’t been disclosed who did the recording and Meyer didn’t know he was being taped.
Back on Sunday, the Albuquerque Journal broke the story and on Tuesday (Jan. 24) attorney Victor Marshall – who represents whistleblower Frank Foy – played excerpts to the current members of the SIC.
Here are the five segments of the recordings, supplied by attorney Marshall (boldfaced portions added by Capitol Report New Mexico):
Saul Meyer has since pled guilty to one felony charge in New York state for paying kickbacks in another separate scandal. Upon making his plea, Meyer said, “I ensured that Aldus recommended certain proposed investments that were pushed on me by politically-connected individuals in New Mexico. I did this knowing that these politically-connected individuals or their associates stood to benefit financially or politically from the investments and that the investments were not necessarily in the best economic interest of New Mexico.”
Meyer is scheduled to be sentenced in March.
In the meantime, five civil lawsuits have stacked up here in New Mexico involving the investments made by the SIC and the ERB during the Richardson administration.
Two of them involve Marshall and Foy, who added some fireworks after playing the tapes at the monthly SIC meeting Tuesday when they called for current SIC chairman Doug Brown to recuse himself from any involvement in the SIC’s own lawsuit aimed at recovering damages from Aldus and other investment firms.
Marshall and Foy say that since Brown contributed more than $15,000 to Richardson’s various campaigns, he has a conflict of interest. They also strongly implied that Brown received his current position as dean of the Anderson School of Management at UNM because of his political connections to Richardson.”
I personally resent this,” Brown fired back during the meeting, saying that he was one of 53 applicants for the deanship, was considered the top choice by 78 percent of the faculty and insisted that then-Gov. Richardson had no input in the decision.
After the meeting, Brown told Capitol Report New Mexico that Marshall “has made these accusations at least five times and there’s nothing to them. It’s just character assassination.”
As for Richardson, he has not been named directly in any of the civil lawsuits but there is a grand jury convened in Albuquerque and reportedly witnesses are being asked about “pay to play” allegations during Richardson’s eight years as governor.
Also on Tuesday, the New York Times ran a story on the secret recordings and had this to add to the Richardson element to the story:
Mr. Richardson was traveling and could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Peter Schoenburg, said Mr. Richardson was unaware of outside fees paid to third-party advisers, had no role in the day-to-day investment decisions and that an exhaustive federal investigation has found no wrongdoing on the part of the former governor. “The tapes apparently catch Meyer’s efforts to impress his business partners back in 2006 and are fictional, at least as to the governor,” Mr. Schoenburg said in an e-mail.
Click here to read the entire piece.
