E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Grand Jury Hears Case Involving Election Funds
By Scott Sandlin And Mike Gallagher
Journal Staff Writer
A Bernalillo County grand jury heard testimony Monday and Tuesday about former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron's use of millions of dollars of federal voter education funds.
The investigation centers on Vigil-Giron's dealings with Armando Gutierrez, a Democratic political consultant hired to handle the voter education campaign that included training videos and public service ads featuring Vigil-Giron.
Vigil-Giron had no comment as she left the courthouse late Tuesday. Her attorney, Robert Gorence, and Gutierrez's attorney, Miles Hanisee, also declined to comment.
Attorneys for Vigil-Giron, Gutierrez and two other people won a favorable ruling from the New Mexico Supreme Court ordering officials connected to the investigation to allow the grand jury to see documents defense lawyers believe tend to exonerate their clients.
The attorneys filed the petition with the Supreme Court on Friday and the court issued its ruling this week. Both the order and the petition were sealed.
Producer/director Charlie O'Dowd of Working Boy Productions, said he was called to testify before the grand jury Monday and Tuesday, following three previous conversations with investigators who came to his home.
"They said they were investigating Armando Gutierrez," he said.
O'Dowd in 2006 was hired with Helping America Vote Act funds to produce a 30-plus minute video training poll workers, particularly on how to aid voters with disabilities. He said a copy went to every poll worker in the state — roughly 1,000 to 1,400 copies.
At the grand jury, O'Dowd said he was questioned about "who I spoke with, who wrote the script, who was paid, was there anyone on the set who wasn't paid by me — things like that." O'Dowd said he saw a film industry acquaintance waiting to testify Tuesday. Also testifying was a media consultant under contract with the state Attorney General's Office.
"They asked if Armando paid the invoices I tendered. And he did. They asked if he asked for changes to the video after it was done — and no there weren't. Everything else had to do with the video," he said.
O'Dowd said Gutierrez, with whom he'd briefly had professional dealings before, was "a lovely man, absolutely professional at all times."
The investigation by the state AG's office has centered on how the Secretary of State's Office spent federal election money between 2003 and 2006.
A state audit released in February found poor accounting of how the federal money was spent by Vigil-Giron's office during her tenure. The auditors said they were unable to say whether the current Secretary of State's Office was financially stable.
State Auditor Hector Balderas said the problems amounted to "severe mismanagement of federal funds."
A separate federal audit released last year couldn't account for more than $3 million of the $6.3 million paid by Vigil-Giron to media consulting firm A. Gutierrez and Associates.
The state audit reiterated federal findings that consultant Gutierrez was paid in excess of the maximum amount allowed under the contract with Vigil-Giron's agency by more than $323,060.
The contract arrangement itself appeared to violate state procurement law, the federal audit found.
Federal auditors looked into the Secretary of State's Office for months to determine if Vigil-Giron's administration spent $19.3 million in federal election money in accordance with federal rules, and, in 2007, Gov. Bill Richardson asked the state Department of Finance and Administration to examine the spending practices of Vigil-Giron's office.
Republican legislators asked the Attorney General's Office to investigate.
A preliminary review by DFA found there was a shortfall of as much as $3 million when Vigil-Giron left office at the end of December 2006 after completing two terms. Under state law, she was barred from seeking re-election.
In February, Balderas said, "The inability of the auditors to express an opinion on the Secretary of State's Office's financial condition and the poor accountability for federal funds puts the operations of the secretary of state at serious risk."
The annual state audit covered the period from July 1, 2006, to June 2007, including the first six months of current Secretary of State Mary Herrera's administration.
Lingering questions involving the expenditure of nearly $6.3 million for a voter education campaign by Vigil-Giron in 2004 and 2006 continues to affect the current administration, the state audit found.
"I'm still extremely concerned," Balderas told the Journal at the time. "The overall fiscal management was called into question, and our auditors were just not confident enough to give them a clean bill of health."
He also reported that, under Vigil-Giron, the agency failed to correctly deposit funds, provide reports and properly document expenditures.
At the time the audit was released, Vigil-Giron dismissed the new state audit as politically motivated.
"This is old news," she said. "Why release an audit report that's seven months old, two years after I'm gone?"
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
