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.
Bruce Malott, chairman of the Educational Retirement Board (ERB), abruptly resigned his post Wednesday after media inquiries from the Albuquerque Journal about a loan he received from the father of a man who received $22 million in so-called third-party marketing fees, The Journal reports in a blockbuster story.
Malott acknowledged to the Journal receiving a $350,000 loan from Anthony Correra, father of Marc Correra who shared in the fees paid out from dozens of investment deals involving the ERB and the State Investment Council.
Malott told the Journal he had no idea at the time that Marc Correra was receiving the fees from the ERB, an agency he was charged with helping to oversee.
Malott is no newcomer to controversy. Last year, as The Independent reported, federal investigators subpoenaed “e-mails, including attachments, to or from Bruce Malott from Jan. 1, 2003 to the present” as part of a wide-ranging criminal inquiry related to New Mexico investment deals. Malott also is a defendant in an ongoing lawsuit brought by ERB’s former investment officer, Frank Foy, who has alleged a pay-to-play culture at New Mexico’s investment agencies.
Last year The Independent noted how Malott’s auditing firm, Meyners + Company, had grown from a bit player to a powerhouse in New Mexico government while Bill Richardson was governor.
Since Richardson took office in 2003, the Albuquerque-based auditing firm where Malott is a principal, won nearly $7.8 million in public auditing contracts, according to state records, compared to $274,000 in such work the firm did in the five years prior to 2003.
Malott is a Richardson friend who was treasurer of Richardson’s 2002 gubernatorial primary campaign and has been appointed to a number of state boards during Richardson’s tenure as the state’s chief executive. Another principal in Malott’s firm acted as treasurer for Richardson’s gubernatorial bids in 2002 and 2006, as well as his presidential campaign, election records showed.
Richardson appointed Malott to the ERB board.
The ERB sent out a late-morning new release announcing that Mary Lou Cameron, the board’s vice chairman, would replace Malott temporarily as board chairman until members elect officers at an upcoming meeting.
