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.
Frank Foy, left, and his attorney, Victor Marshall. Photo by Trip Jennings.
The Richardson administration, including Gov. Bill Richardson‘s budget secretary, Katherine Miller, threatened members of the State Investment Council last October in an attempt to save Gary Bland‘s job as State Investment Officer, an attorney for whistleblower Frank Foy alleged Tuesday.
“The Richardson administration pulled out all the stops to keep Gary Bland on the SIC,” Foy’s attorney, Victor Marshall said at a small news conference.
But four SIC members said Tuesday they never felt pressure from the Richardson administration in the days before Bland resigned, and the Department of Finance and Administration released a statement Tuesday afternoon brimming with umbrage at the accusation.
“The statements made about Secretary Miller are grossly untrue and defamatory,” said the statement. “It would be inappropriate to comment further due to pending litigation.”
State Land Commissioner Pat Lyons, who sits on the SIC board and helped lead the charge against Bland, was one of the members saying he felt no pressure.
“We had our votes lined up – you had five votes and that’s all it took and that’s why Gary resigned,” Lyons told The Independent. “I don’t know who else they would have called. They never talked to me once.”
Mark Valdes, deputy state treasurer, told The Independent that State Treasurer James Lewis never perceived threats coming from the Richardson administration either. Lewis also sits on the SIC board.
“Not on James’ part,” Valdes said of Marshall’s accusation. “No one contacted him.”
The state land commissioner and state treasurer serve on the State Investment Council by statute.
Two of three SIC members appointed by Richardson also said Tuesday that Marshall’s accusations were off base.
Stephen Feinberg, Peter Frank and Andrew Davis were removed from the State Investment Council last week when Richardson signed a law that reforms the agency, including changing the membership of the SIC board.
“The allegation against Katherine is absolutely false and nothing like that ever occurred,” Feinberg said through an SIC spokesman.
Frank, also speaking through an SIC spokesman, labeled the accusations “outrageous” and said “The allegation made by Marshall is just not true. Nothing like that ever happened.”
Attempts to reach Davis via phone and e-mail were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Marshall declined to describe the nature of the threats and coercion coming from the Richardson, administration despite being asked three times by reporters attending the news conference. Asked how he had come to such information, Marshall would only say, “We have sources.”
“We will be able to establish this at a trial,” Marshall added.
Bland resigned in October as several members of the SIC planned a no-confidence vote in Bland’s leadership following the guilty plea of the state’s former investment adviser, Saul Meyer of Aldus Equity.
Meyer pleaded guilty to securities fraud in New York and said in a news release around the same time that on numerous occasions, contrary to his fiduciary duty to the state, his company had “recommended proposed investments that were pushed on him by politically-connected individuals in New Mexico.” Meyer went on to say in that statement he knew “that these politically-connected individuals or their associates stood to benefit financially or politically from the investments and that the investments were not necessarily in the best economic interest of New Mexico.”
The State Investment Council is at the center of an ongoing investment scandal in New Mexico and has attracted the attention of federal authorities. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has subpoenaed records as part of a federal criminal probe while the federal Securities and Exchange Commission also is conducting its own inquiry.
Meyer did not name names in his statement. But two names are well known by now to those following New Mexico’s investment scandal: Marc Correra and Anthony Correra.
Marc Correra is the son of Anthony Correra, a friend of Richardson who was involved in the hiring of State Investment Officer Gary Bland, the top staff member at the State Investment Council.
No one in law enforcement has accused either Correra of wrongdoing, and Marc Correra’s attorneys in the past have said he worked hard to earn the fees he was paid.
Marc Correra shared in $22 million in fees over half a dozen years, according to information provided by both the SIC and ERB. The huge amount of fees has provoked outrage from state lawmakers and others in recent months, fueled in part by some investments that have failed, costing the state money. Two of the deals he helped arrange have cost New Mexico more than $115 million.
UPDATE 7:20 p.m.: Former SIC member Andrew Davis just told the Independent a version of what every other SIC member has said today about allegations that the Richardson administration attempted to coerce and threaten SIC members in the days leading up to Gary Bland’s resignation. “I don’t know where that comes from,” he said.
As for Katherine Miller, she “was not part of the process” that involved several members pushing for a no-confidence vote against Bland. “She was the conduit to the governor,” Davis said. “I don’t know where the allegations come from.”
