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.
On Thursday, Gov. Bill Richardson gave the nod to a bill that sponsor Sen. Tim Keller said would be “the most sweeping investment fund reform in state history.” The bill incorporates more than 20 recommendations made by…
Law firms in Albuquerque, New York City and Washington, D.C. have joined to file a class-action lawsuit against former New Mexico Investment Officer Gary Bland and members of the Educational Retirement Board, according to the Santa Fe Reporter.
An outside review of the State Investment Council recommends significantly reducing the governor’s power over the agency, the Albuquerque Journal reports today.
Gov. Bill Richardson’s influence over the State Investment Council “is more far-reaching than it is for…
Gov. Bill Richardson’s office is being secretive … again.
According to a story in the Albuquerque Journal today by Mike Gallagher, the governor’s office won’t even say whether it has received subpoenas from a federal grand jury or…
At a time when double dipping has invited extra scrutiny in New Mexico, a new state law bans disclosing to the public the pension amounts for tens of thousands of public-sector retirees.
The ban comes at a time when state officials are struggling to contain costs and have targeted the practice of double dipping, when a public sector retiree returns to work for the state, collecting both a salary and a pension.
An attorney for high-profile whistleblower Frank Foy charged Monday that the State Investment Council is resisting handing over e-mails and other documents that show the state’s former state investment officer, Gary Bland, pressured firms to hire a politically connected third-party marketer.
A legislative committee is scheduled to vote this afternoon on proposed legislation to strengthen oversight over New Mexico’s investment of taxpayer money.
One proposed bill before the Investments Oversight Committee would require all state funds that invest money to…
Former State Investment Officer Gary Bland testified this fall before the federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as part of its own “non-public, fact-finding inquiry” into the investment scandal that is mushrooming, documents show.
This week Gov. Bill Richardson announced plans to end a policy that allows state workers to retire, then return to work and collect both a salary and a pension. But some critics point out that Richardson’s proposal targets future “double dipping,” not current practices. Retirees who work in political jobs can take home over $150,000; one administrative assistant makes $89,000.
Denish said Wednesday that tax increases and spending cuts must be discussed when state lawmakers convene in Santa Fe in January to write next year’s state budget, which could include a $1 billion shortfall. But before state lawmakers increase revenue or cut spending, she said, they should consider eliminating “double dipping” for certain state workers and reform how the state hands out money for brick-and-mortar projects around the state.
Doug Brown, who stepped in as state treasurer after the resignation of Robert Vigil in 2005, has been tapped to head the search for a new State Investment Officer, Gov. Bill Richardson’s office announced today.
The search for a new…
Former State Investment Officer Gary Bland’s Wednesday resignation came after a private law firm hired by the State Investment Council (SIC) found that he had “pressured investment firms doing business with the state to hire certain third-party marketing or…
“The Governor’s Office is not aware of any activity outlined by the Attorney General of New York,” said spokesman Gilbert Gallegos about Saul Meyer’s guilty plea.
Saul Meyer admitted Tuesday to pushing certain deals to New Mexico’s two investment agencies as the state’s investment adviser because politically connected individuals here recommended them. He didn’t name names. But the guilty plea thrust another scandal onto the front burner in New Mexico, just after Gov. Bill Richardson and former staff members escaped criminal charges but not a cloud of suspicion.
Buried in Andrew Cuomo’s press release about Saul Meyer’s guilty plea to a felony is this blockbuster paragraph:
“In addition, from 2004 through February 2009, Aldus acted as an adviser to the New Mexico State Investment Council (“SIC”) and the
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An investment advisor who did work for the state of New Mexico has pleaded guilty to felony security fraud violations related to a kickback scheme in New York, the Office of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced earlier…
New Mexico has lost another $27 million in an investment involving the son of a friend and fundraiser for Gov. Bill Richardson, Marc Correra, who shared in more than half a million dollars in fees for the deal. Correra also shared $2 million in fees on a 2006 investment deal that cost the state $90 million after it went sour.
Both the Albuquerque Journal and the Associated Press are reporting that Marc Correra shared in $22 million in third-party marketer fees, a much larger total than the $16 million previously reported.
A Texas-based investment firm sued in state court last week by one of New Mexico’s largest teacher unions tells the Austin American-Statesman that it will “vigorously” defend itself.
An attorney for the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board said Thursday the U.S. Attorney’s Office requested that the agency keep confidential the two subpoenas it sent to the agency in May.
