Attorney General Gary King

Attorney General Gary King would get extra muscle to go after taxpayer money lost to fraud under a state budget the Legislature passed last week. The budget earmarks $150,000 for King to hire a full-time attorney to focus on court complaints filed by citizens who believe that the state has been defrauded, resulting in the loss of taxpayer money. A full-time attorney dedicated to so-called qui tam lawsuits could represent a financial boon to the state.

Public school teachers and state workers would pay more toward their retirement while several, but not all, state agencies would get fewer dollars next year under a state budget plan approved by a powerful Senate committee on Thursday.

Also roughly 250 more state jobs across state government would disappear than in a House-approved state budget plan that served as the starting point for the Senate proposal. Many of those targeted state government positions are already vacant, legislative officials said.

Former New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron’s attorney asked a judge Friday to dismiss charges against his client, saying the state Attorney General’s Office isn’t an impartial prosecutor. He added that he would call AG Gary King as a witness if the case went to trial.
You can read that and much more in the [...]

Two bidders competed for a 2004 contract that is central to the criminal case against former New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil Giron and three others. But the RFPs are no where to be found.

Representatives of two nonprofits on the winning end of a federal judge’s ruling three weeks ago reacted Monday to news that New Mexico Attorney General Gary King plans to appeal the decision.

New Mexico Attorney General Gary King is saying his office is free of conflict of interests that would weaken its prosecution of former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and three other defendants.
The issue of potential conflicts came out last week when the defense attorney for one of those indicted, Elizabeth Kupfer, confirmed to NMI’s Heath [...]

Attorney General Gary King said over the weekend that he’ll ask a federal appellate court to overturn a federal court ruling that New Mexico can’t require nonprofits to disclose their donors.

According to an indictment handed down Wednesday, former New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron fabricated a letter — postdating it Aug 26, 2004 — to help cover up a vast money laundering and embezzlement scheme. The alleged scheme involved Vigil-Giron, a nationally respected Hispanic media consultant and a husband-and-wife team who now lobby for the city of Albuquerque.

A federal court on Monday ruled that the state of New Mexico had violated two nonprofits’ rights to free speech last year by attempting to force them to disclose the origin of the money that had paid for mailers that were critical of state lawmakers.

A federal court judge ruled today that the state of New Mexico was in the wrong for trying to require two nonprofit organizations to register as political committees after they sent mailings to constituents in 2008 that were critical of several state lawmakers.

The Independent sought to view documents from the governor’s office from January through August 2006 that would have divulged with whom he had met in the months prior to the costly investment that benefitted the son of the governor’s friend to the tune of millions of dollars.

Since Jan. 1, 2007, there have been approximately 20 occasions when Attorney General Gary King’s office determined an agency had violated the state’s public records or open meetings laws.

Is Albuquerque taking up the fight to restrict the activities of nonprofits during an election year?
A member of the city’s Charter Review Task Force suggested Thursday amending the city’s charter with a proposal that bears a striking resemblance to ideas floated by state officials in recent months that would have accomplished that goal, including [...]

The New Mexico House voted 49 to 17 Friday to cap the amount of money political candidates and elected officials can accept from individuals and political committees. If the Senate gives its OK and Gov. Bill Richardson signs the bill, the vote would allow New Mexico to cast off the stigma as one of only five states in the union to not limit campaign contributions.

State Rep. Paul Bandy’s bill to restrict what New Mexico nonprofits can do during an election year has run into an immovable object: the House Judiciary Committee. In fact, the committee’s unwillingness to pass the legislation with days to go in the 2009 session means the bill’s chances for passage are between unlikely and nigh impossible.