Campaign Official Called In Richardson Investigation

Amanda Cooper, who also managed Richardson’s 2006 re-election campaign for governor, said she had nothing to say after leaving the federal courthouse in Albuquerque late Tuesday morning.

The investigation, which began last summer with an FBI interview of a former Richardson administration insider, has focused on whether money from campaign supporters was used to settle a threatened lawsuit against Richardson in the fall of 2007 by a woman who formerly worked in state government.

The legal threat by the woman, who worked in both classified and later in an exempt position as a political appointee, involved an alleged relationship with Richardson that she claimed was coerced.

Cooper, a veteran manager of New Mexico political campaigns, also served as finance director for Richardson’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She also oversaw Richardson’s political action committee, Moving America Forward.

Albuquerque developer and restaurateur James Daskalos also had no comment for reporters before entering the courthouse. Daskolos and his family contributed to Richardson’s campaigns and had business with the state during his administration.

Cooper and Daskalos were seen entering the federal grand jury suite, but no one would comment on whether they testified.

Campaign contributors with varying degrees of business with the state during the Richardson administrations (2003-2010) have been called to testify, as have campaign officials of his bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Richardson confidant Anthony Correra, who has been at the center of separate investigation into state investment business, appeared last month.

Neither the U.S. Attorney’s Office nor the FBI would confirm or deny the existence of the latest investigation.

The Journal has learned that in the fall of 2007, as Richardson prepared for the New Hampshire primary and Democratic Party caucuses in Iowa, the woman threatened to file a civil lawsuit against Richardson that would have revealed their relationship.

The threatened lawsuit was settled for $250,000, and the money was wired from a bank in Mexico to her attorney’s account.

If money from Richardson campaign supporters was used to pay the settlement, the investigation would seek to determine who raised it, how it was tied to the Richardson campaign and how it was paid to the woman.

Apparently, investigators are interested in one or more meetings in the fall of 2007 between campaign officials and members of Richardson’s inner circle about how to raise money to resolve the threatened litigation before it became public.

Several people familiar with some aspects of the investigation have mentioned similarities to pending criminal charges against former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on allegations that his campaign supporters paid to shield the candidate from a public scandal.

The legal issue in the Edwards case is whether the money constituted a de facto campaign contribution made in furtherance of the candidate’s bid for federal office that would have both exceeded the contribution limits and were not reported.

According to several private attorneys familiar with the investigation of Richardson campaign contributions, witnesses have been asked about campaign travel to Iowa in late 2007 and January 2008 donations to political action committees endorsing Richardson. They also have been asked about and structuring campaign contributions to disguise the source of the money.

Richardson spent much of 2007 raising money for his presidential run but bowed out in January 2008 after disappointing results in the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses. He later endorsed Barack Obama.

Attorneys familiar with the investigation say it is being closely monitored by the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

One indicator of that monitoring, they say, is the authorization to grant immunity to witnesses in the case for testimony before the grand jury.

All grants of immunity at the local level, according to the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual, have to be approved by the attorney general, or his designee, a process that takes a minimum of two weeks.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal