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.
Michael Stratton, an advisor to Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign and a fundraiser for Richardson, lobbied New Mexico for JPMorgan Chase, a financial services company involved in the municipal bond deals currently under investigation, Bloomberg reports.
Why do we care? Because JPMorgan was the firm that underwrote most of the bonds sold to finance Richardson’s GRIP transportation projects. And maybe this is just too many people in bed together? This is how it all plays out:
JPMorgan paid Michael Stratton, president of Denver-based Stratton & Associates, $269,000 in 2003 and 2004 to help win public finance business relating to “state, county, and local government and corporate entities” in New Mexico, according to records filed with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. Stratton’s firm gave $2,000 to Richardson’s first gubernatorial bid in 2002, and Stratton advised the governor on his 2008 presidential campaign, according to New Mexico records and the firm’s Web site.
Stratton made another $160,000 from 2005 and 2006, working for Richardson when he was head of the Democratic Governors Association, the story says.
Oh, but there’s more!
JPMorgan’s lead banker on the deals was Chris Romer, 49, whose father was governor of Colorado from 1987 until 1999. On Aug. 21, JPMorgan told regulators about an investigation being conducted by the U.S. Attorney for New Mexico involving the municipal securities business, according to Romer’s brokerage records with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
CDR’s [owner David] Rubin and three other employees of the firm donated $6,000 to Smart Government Inc., a Denver political organization overseen by Thomas Romer, Chris Romer’s brother. Stratton & Associates and Chris Romer also donated to the group.
JPMorgan was also among the five banks that sold the authority interest-rate swaps tied to the bonds. The other institutions were Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., UBS and the Royal Bank of Canada.
CDR advised the authority on the purchase of the swaps.
Also, in December, Michael Stratton was one of the hosts of a Washington, D.C., fundraiser held to help Richardson retire debt from his presidential campaign.
