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.
Yesterday, we asked readers to look into the requested earmarks of U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman, both New Mexico Democrats.
And Bill Allison over at Real Time Investigations, who brought to our attention the Senate earmark disclosures in the first place, found one that he thought was interesting from Bingaman.
Allison wrote:
How about the first earmark disclosed here, to a company called Advatech Pacific. TPM Muckraker noted that the company’s employees contributed to PAC run by Rep. Jerry Lewis’ stepdaughter:
The group, the Small Biz Tech PAC, takes money from defense firms with business before Lewis’ committee. A number of them are clients of the Copeland Lowery lobbying firm, which employs Letitia White. (Both Copeland Lowery and White are under investigation in the Lewis matter.)At least two of the PAC’s contributors — ICUITI Corp. and Advatech Pacific — have received earmarks from Lewis’ panel, according to records kept by the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Allison writes that it is “[p]robably worth looking up their campaign contributions as well.”
Advatech was not among the top 20 companies to give to Bingaman for his successful reelection run in 2006, according to OpenSecrets.org, a Web site belonging to the Center for Responsive Politics.
