I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Rhonda Faught, Gov. Bill Richardson’s transportation secretary from day one, is retiring at the end of the year, the governor’s office announced minutes ago.
NMI reported last month that Faught was seriously considering retirement. Gary Girón, Faught’s deputy transportation secretary, will replace her as transportation secretary, Richardson announced.
“With his extensive experience as a manager and a thorough understanding of our transportation issues, I am confident that Gary Girón can immediately step in and lead the Department of Transportation,” Richardson said in a press release. “Gary understands the need to be bold and pursue every opportunity to build a safe and modern transportation system.”
Faught, who has overseen New Mexico’s transportation department during a period of aggressive upgrading of high-priority road projects across the state, submitted a form to the Public Employees Retirement Association last month. The association administers public retirees’ benefits and pensions. Faught is eligible to retire after 25 years with the state.
She told NMI last monthy that she was waiting to see the results of the Nov. 4 election before deciding to retire or not.
Richardson is widely considered to be up for a post in the President-elect Barack Obama’s administration, meaning if he departs, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish would take over as governor with the power to pick and choose her own cabinet secretaries.
Faught said last month that what she would earn from her pension also was a factor in her consideration of retirement. Her pension will pay her 75 percent of what she makes now, she said. Faught earns more than $100,000 a year.
Faught said last month that the recent controversies surrounding the Department of Transportation had nothing to do with her consideration of retirement.
The transportation department has been under fire this year.
In March, the governor’s office severely criticized the transportation department’s handling of a construction project at its headquarters in Santa Fe. The plans “suffered from poor planning and poor decisions,” the Albuquerque Journal wrote at the time, citing the critical report, which also found that the department lacked necessary expertise, skirted purchasing rules and made questionable use of state aircraft.
Richardson halted the plans for a private firm headed by Santa Fe art dealer Gerald Peters to develop $350 million to $400 million in office space, housing, a commuter train station and commercial and retail property on the headquarters’ land downtown, the Journal reported. The governor later said he continued to back Faught in the job despite the critical report.
Meanwhile, the FBI is looking into how a California firm won a consulting contract connected to the state’s massive $1.6 billion road construction program known as GRIP, which stands for Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership.
On top of that, the transportation department finds itself these days scrambling to keep up with the inflated costs of construction materials. The inflation hampers efforts to fund the GRIP program, which targets high-priority projects across the state for road improvements.
Last year the state transportation commission indefinitely postponed 29 GRIP projects around the state because of a $500 million gap in funding. The Legislature in August agreed to free up some money to start up some of those postponed projects.
Faught
