Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White

Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White

ALBUQUERQUE — An Albuquerque high-tech company on the front lines of battling drunken driving could lose a substantial contract with Bernalillo County after two of its officers apparently failed to disclose campaign contributions to Republican congressional candidate and Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, in violation of state ethics law.

The initial contributions to White’s 1st Congressional District campaign were relatively small, $50 and $500, respectively, by TruTouch Technologies President James McNally and board member David Durgin. Both contributions were made before the Bernalillo County Commission awarded the company a $379,995 no-bid contract in early April for three of its experimental alcohol-testing devices — a move White supported.

Although McNally did disclose another $250 contribution to White, state law says TruTouch’s failure to disclose all the pre-contract contributions is grounds for voiding the contract. He did not need to disclose contributions made after the contract was signed, which totaled $2,500.

“I screwed up,” an obviously shaken McNally told the Independent when asked about the disclosure Thursday night. “I filled out the form in good faith, but quite frankly I didn’t read it closely enough.”

It is unclear whether the company, which has about 20 employees and is struggling to find its financial footing, McNally said, will indeed lose its contract. Calls to Bernalillo County Manager Thaddeus Lucero and County Commission Chairman Alan Armijo were not returned.

White’s campaign said he’s not at fault, having accepted legal contributions and reported them correctly to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). But there could be some fallout for White should he lose the election. McNally and Durgin together have contributed more than $3,500 to his congressional campaign, even though as sheriff he is responsible for reporting how well the TruTouch machines perform. Some members of the county’s new board of ethics say White’s relationship with TruTouch is worth discussing when they meet next month.

“That’s definitely something we should look into,” said board member Joseph Holloway.

Company’s roots in UNM research

TruTouch Technologies has its roots in research done at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in the early 1990s, using near-infrared light to diagnose medical conditions such as blood-sugar levels. A private company, Rio Grande Medical Technologies, was formed to commercialize the research. The company changed names in 2001 to become InLight Solutions, of which McNally was a vice president.

Over the next several years, InLight Solutions spun off new businesses using variations of the same near-infrared light technology, including Lumidigm (fingerprint scanners), VeraLight (diabetes screening) and Luminous Medical (blood-sugar monitoring).

TruTouch was created in January 2005 to build alcohol-detection devices for law enforcement and workplace use. Even before that, however, InLight Solutions won federal grants worth more than $700,000 to develop and field test prototypes of its patented technology. Rep. Heather Wilson helped secure two grants from the Department of Justice and got the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department to participate in the developmental program, according to the county.

McNally has been a Wilson donor since 2004, contributing more than $6,000 over the years, according to FEC records. He also has donated to Democrats, he said, including U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. Durgin has given on both sides of the aisle, as well, FEC records show, contributing to Republicans Wilson, White and Sen. Pete Domenici, along with Bingaman and Gov. Bill Richardson.

Through its own work and field testing in conjunction with the Sheriff’s Department, TruTouch eventually developed a desktop-sized device that can be used to detect whether a person has been drinking. The test takes about three minutes and involves the subject placing, then removing, an arm onto the machine eight times. McNally told New Mexico Business Weekly in 2005 he wanted the device to be comparable in price to popular breath-test machines on the market today — several thousand dollars apiece.

So far the technology shows great promise, according to company literature and news stories, and White has been unequivocal in his support. “I believe this product has the potential to revolutionize the way DWI investigations are conducted in this country,” White told the Business Weekly in 2007.

The state has also jumped on the TruTouch bandwagon. Sen. Kent Cravens, an Albuquerque Republican who lost his sister-iin-law and three nieces to a drunken driver in 1992, sponsored capital grants in recent years totaling $380,000 to help the company continue its work with Bernalillo County. One of the ultimate goals of the work, McNally said, is to develop technology that might prevent a drunk person from even starting an automobile.

Contract with the county

On April 8, the County Commission voted to accept the Legislature’s grant money for continuing its TruTouch work. Because the TruTouch devices are patented, it was a sole-source, no-bid contract, and was valued at $379,995.

The contract calls for TruTouch to provide the Sheriff’s Department with three prototype devices in a newer generation of the technology, McNally told the Independent. While the earlier versions worked well, they couldn’t provide evidence usable in court, he said. The next level of field testing aims to improve the units’ portability and durability, he said, and to upgrade the software necessary for court evidence standards. The grant includes the prototype devices and a substantial amount of labor by TruTouch staff, McNally said.

A state law passed in 2007 requires vendors such as TruTouch, whether for competitive or no-bid contracts, to inform the county whether its corporate officers or their family members have contributed more than $250 over the previous two years to any county official who could affect the contract decision. It also prohibits company officers from making additional campaign contributions before the contract is signed.

While McNally did notify the county of a $250 contribution he made to White’s campaign on Jan. 21, he did not report Durgin’s $500 donation on Nov. 30, 2007. McNally contributed another $50 on March 25 — after he filed his initial report but before the contract was finalized.

‘I wasn’t trying to hide anything’

McNally admitted fault on both counts. He said that his office policy is to not talk with fellow employees about sensitive issues such as politics and political contributions and that he didn’t know about Durgin’s contribution. “If I had, I absolutely would have put it on the disclosure form.”

As to his own contribution, McNally said he simply didn’t read the fine print on the disclosure form provided by the county. While he didn’t defend his mistake, he also noted that White has never been his point of contact with the field testing program and that his contributions weren’t meant to sway anyone. “I wasn’t trying to hide anything,” he said. “For $50, I wasn’t trying to buy anyone off.”

Nevertheless, the state ethics law says a contract “shall be canceled” if the contractor fails to submit a complete disclosure statement or makes a contribution before the contract is finalized. McNally said it would be a financial blow to his company. “I can tell you, I’m turning white right now,” he said as he spoke. “I’m shaking.”

White was apparently under no obligation to notify the County Commission that he had received campaign donations from the TruTouch officers. His campaign staff said he had no role in the contributions other than to file the proper paperwork with the FEC, which he did. Asked if he would consider returning the contributions, his campaign did not respond.

Although the sheriff was not obligated to reject the McNally and Durgin contributions, nor did he appear to raise them before the commission voted to award the contract to TruTouch. The supporting documents provided to the commissioners included this note from White:

“The Sheriff’s [sic] fully supports the Sole Source contract award to TruTouch Technologies…. The Sheriff’s Department will oversee the project and expenditure of grant funds and submit all necessary reports to the proper agencies. [Signed] Darren P. White, Sheriff — 2/19/2008″

Ethics board will have a look

Members of the newly appointed county ethics board said they may have some questions about the issue when they meet for the first time next month. Don Bruckner, who said he is a friend and campaign contributor of White, told the Independent that while he’s not sure whether White’s role in the TruTouch contract would merit an investigation by the board, it bears further scrutiny.

“Any time you have public officials gathering campaign contributions, you have to ask why” the contributions were given, Bruckner said. Did the donors “want something or did they just want good government? Where do you draw the line?”

He said the ethics board “should talk about things like this,” though Bruckner wouldn’t speculate about any potential for action.

On the other hand, he added, “It’s the media’s job to show this sort of thing, and let the voters decide. … The key is complete transparency, so the voters know who gave them [elected officials] money.”