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.
Gov. Bill Richardson is withdrawing his name for consideration as U.S. commerce secretary, citing a federal investigation into a California company being investigated by the FBI.
Calls by the Independent to the governor’s spokesman and to a spokesman for Lt. Gov. Diane Denish’s transition team were not immediately returned.
An NBC story — since confirmed by the Independent — said that Richardson “has withdrawn his name for the position, citing a pending investigation into a company that has done business with his state.”
The story went on to quote Richardson:
“Let me say unequivocally that I and my Administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact,” he said Sunday in a report by NBC News. “But I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process.”
He said he plans to continue in his role as governor. “I appreciate the confidence President-elect Obama has shown in me, and value our friendship and working partnership. I told him that I am eager to serve in the future in any way he deems useful. And like all Americans, I pray for his success and the success of our beloved country.”
The NBC story also reported that Barack Obama had accepted Richardson’s decision to withdraw with ‘deep regret.’ The story went on to quote the president-elect:
“Governor Richardson is an outstanding public servant and would have brought to the job of Commerce Secretary and our economic team great insights accumulated through an extraordinary career in federal and state office,” Obama said.
A federal grand jury has been looking into a lucrative contract that was awarded to the California company — CDR Financial Inc. — that made big contributions to political action committees formed by Bill Richardson.
According to previous news reports, the probe is “in a highly active stage,” two “sources familiar with the matter” told the Washington Post last month. The grand jury, the Post story said, was expected to hear testimony from several witnesses, including officials at J.P. Morgan, who worked with the state and the company in question — CDR Financial Inc. — and from officials with Richardson’s political action committees.
CDR won a contract related to the massive transportation-funding plan Richardson dubbed GRIP — or Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership— in 2004. According to a Bloomberg report last month, “CDR made $1.48 million advising the authority on interest-rate swaps and restructuring escrow funds for $1.6 billion of transportation bonds issued by the agency.”
Meanwhile, in 2003 and 2004, CDR Financial gave $75,000 to Richardson’s political action committee Si Se Puede!, and the company’s head, David Rubin, gave $25,000 to Moving America Forward, another Richardson PAC.
No information released publicly has directly linked Richardson to the probe, but the investigation centers on whether staffers in Richardson’s office influenced the hiring of CDR. NMI’s Heath Haussamen wrote last month that Richardson could face questions about the situation when he goes through a Senate confirmation hearing in late January or February.
Richardson declined to comment on the probe last month when the Associated Press and NMI asked him about the federal investigation at a press conference in his Cabinet room.
It is unclear exactly what this means for New Mexico, but the bottom line appears to be that Richardson will remain in New Mexico as governor, meaning that Lt. Gov. Diane Denish will not become the state’s first governor. She would have replaced Richardson had he departed New Mexico for Washington.
A call to Denish’s transition team spokesman was not immediately returned Sunday.
