I’d like to thank a West Las Vegas School District employee and her lawmaker husband for making the case for creation of a state ethics commission.
We already knew that, last year, Roberta Vigil spent almost $10,000 in taxpayer money secured with the help of her husband, Rep. Rep. Richard Vigil, D-Ribera, on a private, invitation-only party billed as a workshop for employees of the district’s bilingual education program, which she directed at the time. In addition, Richard Vigil got his wife more than $40,000 to buy furniture, a refrigerator, a big-screen television and other items for her office.
Roberta Vigil has been demoted to an elementary teacher since the allegations surfaced.
An article in today’s Albuquerque Journal gives us more information. The state Public Education Department gave Roberta Vigil notice on May 10 that it’s considering suspending or revoking her license because she spent more than $200,000 on private parties and items including furniture and appliances.
According to the notice, she also hired unqualified employees, falsified data and committed other misdeeds that amounted to “moral turpitude” and fraud, the Journal reported.
According to the Journal, Roberta Vigil disputes the charges.
I’m not going to judge one way or another whether she did anything wrong. But these are serious allegations of abuse of the capital outlay process and public money by a public employee and, potentially, her lawmaker husband. Though the extent of the allegations wasn’t known until this month, the allegations have been known publicly for more than a year.
What has the legislative committee charged with investigating such potential abuses by one of its own done to determine the truth? Nothing.
Its members have done a disservice to the public by failing to do a duty that protects taxpayers. They’ve done a disservice to Richard Vigil by failing to investigate allegations that taint his reputation, and investigation that could potentially clear his name.
That’s called dereliction of duty.
You know why they won’t do it? It’s the same reason Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives won’t initiate an investigation of U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson’s role in the U.S. attorney scandal. Democrats and Republicans there have a long-standing truce – you leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone. It’s not about finding the truth. It’s about playing the political game.
That’s a disservice to Wilson and the citizens she represents.
A commission would do the job lawmakers won’t
I actually had a Republican state lawmaker tell me recently he wouldn’t initiate an investigation of Richard Vigil because he’s a colleague. He told me a complaint would have to come from elsewhere.
Well, I’m one of a number of people outside the Legislature who have complained about this situation, and it hasn’t triggered a legislative investigation. What will?
According to the Journal, Roberta Vigil is also accused of lacking a license for her position, hiring an assistant who wasn’t qualified because she lacked a high-school diploma, taking a test on that assistant’s behalf with the help of others, making false allegations against another district employee, falsifying data submitted to the state to justify an increase in funding for her program, and giving an unlicensed teacher a bilingual teaching job.
Serious, serious allegations against a woman who is married to the state lawmaker who got her the capital outlay money in question. It stinks. Richard Vigil’s role needs to be adequately investigated and, right now, the body charged with doing it refuses.
Which leads to the ethics commission. The unwillingness of lawmakers to police themselves proves the need for an independent, nonpartisan commission tasked with investigating allegations of abuse. Ultimately, unless criminal activity is found, the commission’s recommendations for action would likely be handed to the legislative committee that currently refuses to act, but the results would also be made public. That would pressure lawmakers to do their duty.
Under the current system, there is no accountability. Roberta Vigil is in danger of losing her job, but what’s going to happen to Richard Vigil?
What should happen to him? We don’t know, because the legislative committee in charge of looking into it isn’t. Should his name be cleared? Should he be in trouble?
While these questions linger, a cloud hangs over his head.
A prior version of this article failed to state that Roberta Vigil had been demoted since the allegations surfaced.