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.
Martinez announces her anti-corruption plan Wednesday.
Public officials convicted of corruption would lose their pensions and a new State Police unit would crack down on crooked New Mexico politicians under a plan announced today by Susana Martinez, the Republican candidate for governor of New Mexico.
The drumbeat of guilty pleas, new criminal investigations and allegations of still more questionable behavior by New Mexico public officials since 2005 has thrust public corruption and how to deal with it into the bright glare of the 2010 governor’s race.
And on Wednesday Martinez, a district attorney from southern New Mexico, attempted to seize the advantage.
If elected governor, Martinez said, she’d push to ban for life state contractors and lobbyists convicted of violating the public trust, make it a crime for an elected official who knows of but does not report corruption and require the archiving of legislative meetings that are webcast in addition to the pension measure and the new State Police corruption unit.
“Ending corruption means there must be real consequences for violating the public trust,” Martinez said at a late-morning news conference. “And real consequences frankly means prison.”
Denish campaign highlights work on ethics, transparency
The campaign of Martinez’s rival, Democrat Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, quickly responded to Martinez’s plan, saying the Republican lacked moral authority to talk about areas “where she has failed miserably.”
“We’re not going to take any lectures on ethics from someone who took $450,000 from the Texas multi-millionaire that funded the disgraceful Swift Boat Veterans ads,” said Denish’s spokesman Chris Cervini.
Denish’s campaign, meanwhile, touted her accomplishments as a reformer.
Several years ago Denish helped broker an agreement to reform the scandal-plagued Regional Housing Authorities. And this past year she pushed for the creation of a state portal, an idea that passed the Legislature, the campaign said. The portal is a centralized place, that once up and running, will allow the public to check an online database to see how taxpayer dollars are spent, including the salaries and titles of all state employees, along with the names of political appointees and what they earn.
The Denish campaign issued its plan for ethics reforms last fall. A major component is the creation of a State Ethics Commission empowered to launch investigations, issue subpoenas, impose fines and send more troubling findings to the state Attorney General for possible criminal prosecution.
Martinez dismissed that idea Wednesday.
“We won’t rid our state of corruption by creating toothless commissions or allowing politicians to police themselves,” Martinez said. “We have to remove the politics from the process of investigating corruption. That has been the problem with the proposal of a commission.”
The dueling plans by the two gubernatorial candidates signal the potential resonance New Mexico voters might feel for the subject during hard economic times.
GOP hopes high-profile corruption cases capture voter anger
News stories of high-profile officials being accused of or pleading guilty to — or being convicted of — pocketing taxpayer money, shaking down companies or steering public contracts has almost become common since federal authorities indicted then-Treasurer Robert Vigil on corruption charges in September 2005.
Martinez took advantage of that reality Wednesday, unveiling her anti-corruption plan in the shadow of the Bernalillo County Metro Courthouse, the behemoth in downtown Albuquerque that has become a symbol for the crookedness of some of New Mexico’s politicians.
“This building, this very courthouse, is where Manny Aragon used his position in the Senate to steal millions,” Martinez said of the former state Senate president now in federal prison. Aragon and others have pleaded guilty to charges related to stealing $4.2 million in taxpayer money by inflating and falsifying invoices during construction of the courthouse.
“It is an example of the corruption we must root out. It is an example of an attitude that we must get rid of – that it’s acceptable,” Martinez said.
The Metro Courthouse is only one of the many scandals to bombard the state, touching on almost every level of government.
One federal criminal investigation into Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration wrapped up last year – but not before costing Richardson a place in President Obama’s cabinet and a letter from the then-U.S. attorney telling those under investigation that no criminal charges should not be interpreted as an exoneration for anyone involved.
Another federal criminal probe into the Richardson administration’s state investment practices is ongoing.
Meanwhile, Aragon, the former senate president, two former state treasurers and a deputy state insurance superintendent all have gone to federal prison for corruption.
At the same time New Mexico Attorney General Gary King’s office has indicted several current and former Democratic state officials, including current Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr., former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil Giron, and Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos.
