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.
A spokesman for Gov. Bill Richardson informed NMI earlier today that the governor did not meet with the son of a friend and prominent fundraiser in the months leading up to the state’s decision to invest in a fund that ultimately cost New Mexico $90 million.
“The Governor did not meet with Anthony or Marc Correra regarding any state business during the time period you are asking about,” Gilbert Gallegos, Gov. Bill Richardson’s deputy chief of staff, wrote in an e-mail. “Further, the Governor was not familiar with Vanderbilt during that time period.”
Wednesday’s e-mail came following the Independent’s weeks-long attempt, including the filing of a records request, to discern if the governor had met with Marc Correra in the months prior to an investment with Vanderbilt Financial Trust. Prior to today, the Independent had not received an answer.
The governor himself declined to answer the question recently and the governor’s office refused to turn over the governor’s calendars, datebooks and other documents that would have shed light on his schedule.
The state lost all $90 million in Vanderbilt investment. Correra is said to have been paid $2 million as a third-party marketer, a kind of middleman in the investment world.
It was one of several investment deals in which Marc Correra shared in so-called placement fees. All told, Correra shared in more than $15 million in the fees involving New Mexico investments.
