E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Speakup and View Comments
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Bland Was Stand-Up Guy in Housing Flap
By Thomas J. Cole
Journal Staff Writer
State Investment Officer Gary Bland, top manager of New Mexico's trust funds, has taken a lot of hits in recent months.
Bland has had to answer for billions in investment losses and for investments and millions in fees that have ended up in the hands of political insiders.
He has also faced public disclosure of a $577,000 lien filed against him and his wife by the IRS for unpaid taxes. He disputes taxes are owed.
A few weeks ago, Bland sent me an e-mail and signed it "Prometheus." You've got to like a guy who keeps his sense of humor.
In Greek mythology, Prometheus got into a spat with the god Zeus and was bound to a rock. Day after day, Prometheus would have his liver eaten by an eagle; his liver would grow back and the eagle would feast again. Hercules eventually shot the eagle.
I've taken a few bites out of Bland, and some believe Gov. Bill Richardson should give him the boot.
But my interest today isn't to take Bland to task but to note the pivotal role Bland played and the political heat he took in disclosing the shenanigans at the Region III Housing Authority, a state agency based in Albuquerque.
Recently indicted were former state Rep. Vincent "Smiley" Gallegos, who served as the authority's executive director; agency accountant Dennis Kennedy; and two authority lawyers, prominent bond attorney Robert Strumor and former State Bar President David N. Hernandez. All have denied wrongdoing.
The housing agency collapsed three years ago after Bland's office declared the authority in default on repayment of $5 million in bonds it sold to the State Investment Council to purchase and renovate homes for low-income buyers.
The housing authority had asked the council for a repayment extension, but Bland's office declined to consider the extension because the agency wouldn't provide detailed financial records.
After declaring the housing agency in default, the State Investment Council hired an accounting firm and a law firm to root around in its books.
At a meeting of the Legislative Finance Committee in August 2006, Bland reported some initial findings: The housing authority had sold homes to agency insiders, loaned money to a private company headed by Gallegos, withdrawn bond money to pay for homes it already owned, and misused bond money for staff salaries, vehicles and office expenses.
Those findings were the beginning of the end at the housing agency. Gallegos resigned the same day they were presented to the LFC.
But some legislators — including pals of Gallegos from his days in the Legislature — didn't take kindly to the work of Bland's office. Gallegos' defense became their talking points.
Some insisted the housing authority would have been able to repay the bonds if just given more time by the State Investment Council. We know today that never would have happened.
At the LFC meeting, House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, chided Bland for how his office had contracted the accountants and lawyers to review the housing agency.
Gallegos and Lujan go way back. Gallegos left the House at the end of 1996 after a decade of service but returned to the Capitol as a lobbyist and often used Lujan's office.
A top aide to Lujan, as well as a state judge who had done legal favors for Gallegos, once lived rent-free in homes owned by the housing agency.
Bland's office forwarded its review of the authority to the state Attorney General's Office. It also later sued Gallegos and Strumor in a bid to recover taxpayer money lost on the bonds. That suit is still pending.
Maybe Bland didn't have any choice in going after the housing authority despite the political costs. It is, after all, his duty to protect the state's permanent, or trust, funds. And he's well compensated at more than $300,000 a year.
But he kept the public light shining on the housing agency when others would have preferred it be turned off.
If we're going to chew on a man when he screws up, we should give him his due when he does right. Bland did right.
We also need to recognize someone else: Frances Williams, who worked on the board of another state housing authority in Las Cruces and in early 2006 told me and anyone else who would listen that something was amiss at the Albuquerque agency.
I published my first story on the housing authority not long after Williams contacted me.
Gallegos struck back by filing a libel/slander lawsuit against the whistle-blower in 2006. The case was later dismissed.
Williams did right, too.
UpFront is a daily front-page opinion column. Thom Cole can be reached in Santa Fe at (505) 992-6280 or at tcole@abqjournal.com.
| We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. |
|
|
