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.
This week, a posting from New Mexico Watchdog reported on how Lt. Governor Diane Denish had spent unallocated federal fiscal stimulus funds in 2003 and 2004 — on Christmas cards, PR and having someone drive her to and from events. The Independent has reviewed the same files that the report’s author, Jim Scarantino, reviewed (as well as two other related documents) and we’ve posted them here for you to examine.
The first five links below (to pdfs) are collections of invoices and payment documents for PR, design and other services provided to the Lt. Governor in 2003 and 2004. According to Denish’s office, these are the same files examined by Scarantino, who is the editor of New Mexico Watchdog, a project of the libertarian-leaning Rio Grande Foundation.
In response to requests from The Independent, Denish’s office also provided us with the the full text of a poll related to the New Mexico Children’s Cabinet, an item that Scarantino referred to in his report.
In addition, we received a copy of an invoice and cancelled check for Christmas cards mentioned in the report. The document shows that Denish’s re-election campaign committee paid for the printing of the Christmas cards, but as the Albuquerque Journal pointed out yesterday, it appears that the federal funds were used to pay an employee to work on the cards.
After the report was released, Republicans attacked Denish and some demanded an investigation into the use of the funds. Denish responded to one of the allegations against her by calling it a “patently false lie” on KNME’s New Mexico In Focus. The episode airs tonight on KNME at 7 p.m.. It is also available on KNME’s Web site.
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