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.
Armando Gutierrez came heavily credentialed in 2004 when he responded to a request for proposals from then-Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil Giron for a media-consulting contract.
According to a 74-page proposal sent to Vigil-Giron in August 2004 as a response to the agency’s request, many of the state’s Democratic power brokers and office holders had glowing things to say of the firm’s past work.
Among those quoted or listed as references, replete with phone numbers: Dave Contarino, Gov. Bill Richardson’s then-chief of staff; Sen. Jeff Bingaman; the state’s then-Attorney General Patricia Madrid; and former Gov. Toney Anaya.
But for good measure, Gutierrez also threw into the mix the Rev. Jesse Jackson, for whom Gutierrez had worked as press secretary and speech writer during Jackson’s historic run for president in 1984, according to the proposal.
Gutierrez, along with Vigil-Giron and two others, was indicted last month by the New Mexico Attorney General’s office on 50 criminal charges, ranging from money laundering to paying a kickback.
Gutierrez’s attorney has said Gutierrez has done nothing wrong.
The proposal sheds light on Gutierrez, a political player well-known in Democratic political circles but whose profile was under the radar for most of the state until last month’s indictments.
It also leaves a reader with unanswered questions.
Gutierrez wrote in his Aug. 19, 2004 response that his firm was “willing to be compensated through fees charged to the Secretary of State and will bill the net cost of all services to the Secretary of State. We acknowledge that this is the only acceptable billing and compensation method.”
At the center of the state attorney general’s investigation, and subsequent indictments, is a letter dated Aug. 26, 2004 – seemingly seven days later — that changed the way Gutierrez was paid. According to an indictment handed down last month Vigil-Giron fabricated the letter — postdating it Aug 26, 2004 — to help cover up a vast money laundering and embezzlement scheme.
Vigil-Giron told federal auditors and investigators prior to the indictment that she relied on Gutierrez’s statements as her reason for changing the method of payment.
Some of that reasoning can be found in a Sept. 2, 2004 memo Gutierrez sent to Vigil Giron in which he wrote that if the agency stuck to the “$75/hr. fee quoted in my agency’s response … or if we charged New Mexico industry standards, the production costs would skyrocket beyond control.”
The change in payment meant that Gutierrez would go from being paid at an hourly rate to a single, 17-percent administrative fee of the value of work his firm performed, according to the letter.
Ultimately Gutierrez earned a $1-million administrative fee, slightly more than 20 percent of the $4.8 million his firm, A. Gutierrez & Associates, Inc., was paid to produce TV and radio advertisements that ran in English, Spanish and Navajo. The ads starred Vigil-Giron in the months leading up to the 2004 general and 2006 primary and general elections.
The Independent obtained Gutierrez’s proposal through a records request with the Secretary of State’s office. Earlier this month the agency said it could not find the proposal Gutierrez submitted or that of a second firm that also bid for the contract.
The Secretary of State’s office supplied the Gutierrez proposal to the Independent on Tuesday. The agency has not found the proposal from the second bidder.
In addition to showing how politically connected Gutierrez was, the proposal also shows the depth and breadth of his experience as a media consultant as it touted his work for the two Democratic presidential candidates, the Democratic National Committee.
The proposal also lists some of his firm’s corporate clients for which Gutierrez did marketing work aimed at the U.S. Hispanic population. The proposal lists Oldsmobile Automotive; GMC Truck; Saturn Automotive; General Motors Credit Card Corporation; and Columbia TriStar Pictures (home video division).
Gutierrez earned a Ph.D. in University of Texas, Austin, and over the years taught at several universities, according to his proposal.
