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Friday, January 09, 2009
Feds Kept Busy With New Mexico Politicians
By Tim Korte
Associated Press
Two former New Mexico state treasurers are doing time in federal prison after their convictions in an investment kickback scheme.
A former state Senate president, one of the state's most powerful politicians during his 29-year legislative career, is awaiting sentencing for his role in a separate corruption probe.
Now, Gov. Bill Richardson won't be accepting a Cabinet post as U.S. commerce secretary while a federal grand jury investigates how a top political donor won lucrative state contracts.
Do these issues suggest New Mexico is poised to supplant Chicago or Louisiana as the nation's poster child for under-the-table political dealings?
John Dendahl believes so.
The former state Republican chairman, the losing GOP candidate when Richardson won a second term with 69 percent of the vote in 2006, said the governor's trouble is another black mark.
"Bill Richardson turned New Mexico into a state where corruption grew out of a patronage system," Dendahl said. "He turned it from county-by-county, which existed for quite a long time, into a statewide system."
Others disagree. University of New Mexico political scientist Lonna Atkeson said it is too strong to declare that a culture of corruption exists.
"There is always a fine line in politics and that line is sometimes difficult to see," she said. "It is a product of our system of elections. We allow people who want things from the political process to give money to candidates who are running."
So-called "pay-to-play" allegations are at the center of Richardson's situation.
California businessman David Rubin donated $110,000 in 2003-05 to Richardson's political committees during a period when his company was selected for work on a state transportation financing package and was paid almost $1.5 million.
Richardson has refused to discuss details of the case but maintains he and his administration will be cleared. At a news conference Monday in Santa Fe, the governor said he was "hurting" last weekend after losing the Cabinet post.
A spokesman for Rubin's company declined to discuss the investigation.
It's the latest episode involving a New Mexico politician who has attracted the attention of federal white-collar investigators.
In 2006, ex-state Treasurers Robert Vigil and Michael Montoya were convicted in a kickback scheme involving state investments.
Last fall, former Senate president Manny Aragon admitted to a federal judge he directed state funds toward construction of the Metropolitan Courthouse in Albuquerque then illegally pocketed $626,000 in a fraud scheme.
"That is kind of a black eye for New Mexico when things like that happen," former Republican Rep. Heather Wilson said.
The events surrounding the treasurers <0x2014> who were elected officers <0x2014> and Aragon occurred with Richardson in the governor's office, but there was documented corruption before that.
In the early 1990s, former state Rep. Ron Olguin was convicted and went to jail for soliciting a $15,000 bribe in exchange for help in getting the Legislature to provide $100,000 for a crime counseling program.
Atkeson cautioned it's unfair to cast Richardson in the same light as those other Democrats.
"The Richardson thing is really hard to place," she said. "We don't know if there is any meat on it or not."
Atkeson also said New Mexico isn't a black hole for political ethics.
She noted lawmakers have enacted publicly financed campaigns for the Public Regulation Commission, a bid to minimize influence by companies that could benefit after donating to PRC candidates.
"We are actually sensitive to it on some level," Atkeson said. "Yes, we have had these recent kickback schemes but not a long history of corruption convictions that other states have."
Dendahl, who moved to suburban Denver after his gubernatorial election loss, is unconvinced. He points to the "patron system" that dominated parts of the state for generations through the mid-20th century.
Relatives and friends of powerful county or state politicians would support their candidate at the polls, then line up for jobs or other handouts in a cycle that by most accounts was as much a fixture in New Mexico life as a scenic sunrise.
That system, Dendahl said, has morphed into pay-to-play.
"Honorable businessmen do it," Dendahl said. "They want this agreement or that agreement or a favorable regulatory decision. They are willing to pony up to one of Richardson's PACs or give him other contributions. Too many people who should know better are paying to stay in business."
In Washington, D.C., news of the grand jury investigation apparently hasn't damaged New Mexico's reputation, according to members of the state's all-Democratic congressional delegation.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman said news of the grand jury investigation had been circulating but, to his knowledge, it wasn't expected to present a major roadblock to Richardson's confirmation.
In fact, Bingaman said much of what he's heard from Senate colleagues and others on Capitol Hill about Richardson's decision has been expressions of regret that the governor won't be taking the post.
"I think he would do very well as commerce secretary," Bingaman said. "I was looking forward to supporting his nomination."
Freshman Rep. Martin Heinrich said having Richardson in the Cabinet would have been a very positive thing for New Mexico.
"A lot of people would have been proud to have our guy serving," Heinrich said.
Wilson said that during her five House terms, the task of defending New Mexico's brand sometimes came up with the federal laboratories, especially when it involved the loss of classified information.
Whether Richardson's case reaches that level remains to be seen.
"It certainly depends on what happens and whether the grand jury finds anything," Wilson said.
Associated Press Writer Heather Clark contributed to this report.
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