New Mexico Democratic Party Plagued by Corruption Cases

2 years ago

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New Mexico's Democratic Party is besieged by corruption cases, throwing the state's political future into disarray.

The party has suffered arrests and convictions of two state treasurers and the former Senate president pro tempore, and indictments of a director of affordable housing and a father-son team of public utility commissioners.

Gov. Bill Richardson remains under federal investigation for a pay-to-play scheme in which he allegedly steered state contracts to various financial firms in exchange for political contributions.

Meanwhile, after failed presidential and Cabinet bids, and just as he begins to ease back into statesmanship by entertaining two North Korean diplomats at the Santa Fe governor's mansion, one of Richardson's longtime political cohorts is charged with money laundering.

Former New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron was indicted on charges relating to millions of federal dollars her office spent on 43,000 voter-education commercials. The 54-year-old served three terms as secretary of state (elected the first time at age 31), ran twice for Congress, and intended to run for lieutenant governor in 2010.

Her prospects have taken a turn for the worse. She was appointed by Richardson in 2007 to head the New Mexico Film Museum at an annual salary of $85,000, but the governor put her appointment on hold after complaints she lacked film industry experience and an audit revealed a $3 million budget shortfall in her office.

Although Vigil-Giron's attorney told the Albuquerque Journal, "Rebecca never took a dime of public money," she is facing 50 charges of fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, creating false documents and soliciting kickbacks. In addition, the indictment charges Vigil-Giron with depositing millions of dollars into the personal bank accounts of two lobbyists for the city of Albuquerque and a Texas media consultant with Democratic National Committee credentials who worked on Richardson's gubernatorial campaign.

Awkwardly, the Democratic attorney general is steering the state corruption probe, while another Democrat, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, is leading the call for an independent state ethics commission. Denish, whose plans to ascend to the governor's office were dashed when Richardson withdrew his nomination for U.S. Commerce secretary (amid revelations of the pay-to-play probe), must take a strong anti-corruption stance if she hopes to win next year's gubernatorial primary. With that in mind, she is lobbying for the newly created commission to have subpoena power and investigative authority.

Filed Under: Scandal, Woman Up

Tagged: bill richardson, BillRichardson, democrats, new mexico, NewMexico

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