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.
New Mexico Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman Brian Colón spoke to me on Insight New Mexico, a weekly radio show during the legislative session on AM 1350, Albuquerque’s Air America affiliate.
And one issue that came up was Gov. Bill Richardson’s Moving America Forward Foundation. The foundation was a nonprofit set up by the governor with other New Mexico Democrats signed on as directors — including Colón.
I asked how he was included in the Moving America Forward Foundation, as it has been in the news lately.
Colón’s answer: “You know, there are two organizations, and there is some confusion about that, and so, Matt, I’m glad you asked. There are two organizations that have been in the press, one is Moving America Forward, Inc. which is the PAC, which all those documents are filed online and in public. And then there is the Moving America Forward Foundation, which I am a director of and actually the treasurer of. And that’s a much different organization…”
You can hear the rest of his answer here.
That foundation had its records subpoenaed in the course of the lawsuit filed by Frank Foy, a former chief investment officer at the Education Retirement Board. As he said in the interview, Colón is listed as the treasurer of the Moving America Forward Foundation.
The foundation is a separate entity from the Moving America Forward PAC, Colón emphasized. The PAC, you may recall, was the recipient of a hefty contribution from CDR Financial Products CEO David Rubin. The resulting federal investigation is now known euphemistically as GRIPgate.
Colón said the foundation filed initial papers in either 2003 or 2004. It was formed in 2003 and dissolved in December 2008. The Albuquerque Journal reported the charity had raised $1.7 million between 2003 and 2004. I also asked Colón what the funds were spent on.
“We started that nonpartisan organization and foundation for the purpose of registering and educating voters all over the country,” Colón said.
