Pay-to-Play

Frank Foy’s lawsuit alleging a pay-to-play scheme is an attempt to benefit from the “near collapse” of global financial markets and the resulting “devastation” to some of New Mexico’s investments, says one of the suit’s primary targets, State Investment Council Officer Gary Bland.

The Senate Rules Committee was in session earlier today, considering several ethics reform bills. Check out the transcript of the conversation.

Gov. Bill Richardson has said he remembers people who give him campaign contributions and thinks about ways to help them. Under our laws, there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that. Unless there’s a quid pro quo, there’s not necessarily anything illegal about a politician using his clout to help a contributor. But that doesn’t stop people from asking questions.

Whatever the consequences for Gov. Bill Richardson personally, his withdrawal from the commerce secretary post raises serious questions about how business is done in New Mexico. It’s not the first time that the shadow of corruption has hung over the state, but this story has the potential to be the most damaging because it could involve not just him, but people who worked for Richardson as well.