DOT projects growing into a larger scandal

Either a project is subject to the state’s procurement code or it isn’t.

The fact that the Richardson Administration wants to have it both ways on its Department of Transportation headquarters redevelopment project in Santa Fe is unacceptable.

When the state issued a request for proposals that offered a developer the right to most of the DOT’s 25 acres in Santa Fe in exchange for the construction of a facility of at least 300,000 square feet on the property, it stated that the project “is not governed by the New Mexico Procurement Code,” the Albuquerque Journal reported.

When the Journal requested documents related to the project last spring, the state cited the procurement code in denying the request. When news broke last week that state officials were discussing a scaling-back of the DOT facility from 300,000 square feet to approximately 170,000 square feet, the state again cited the procurement code in refusing to discuss the issue.

And another new revelation about the project comes from an article published today by the Journal: Gerald Peters, whose company is in negotiations with the state on the DOT project, held a fundraiser last week for Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign. He also gave $2,300 to Richardson’s campaign in June.

As reported by the Journal, “a state law enacted last year prohibits a prospective contractor or a contractor representative from making a campaign contribution during the procurement process to a public official who has the influence to award a contract.”

That law may not apply in this instance. Though the opinion wasn’t about the procurement code, the attorney general said earlier this year that a separate state law had no jurisdiction over federal campaign fundraising.

But the reason for the law – avoiding the undue influence of campaign money on public policy – still holds true. Richardson appears to be skirting that truth, casting another shadow on a problematic project.

Let’s sum up all the problems with the DOT project:

• Two men who have been indicted in the Bernalillo County Metro Courthouse scandal were tied to the early stages of the DOT project. In addition, the indictment in the courthouse case alleges that the two men and others planned to extend their scheme to pad and falsify contracts to a separate DOT project to redevelop another facility in Santa Fe.

• The state won’t say whether it officially and publicly scaled back the DOT headquarters project before the bidding period closed, giving all potential contractors the opportunity to bid based on the new project scope. If that did not happen, scaling back the headquarters’ size may require that the project be rebid.

• The state has said both that the project is and isn’t subject to the procurement code.

• Peters is financially aiding the presidential campaign of the man who ultimately has control over whether his company gets the contract and a large parcel of pricey land near downtown Santa Fe.

Let’s also not forget that, if the feds approve Peters’ proposal to build a casino in Anthony, the governor gets to decide whether the casino can be built. Peters has been one of Richardson’s biggest financial supporters over the years.

Richardson has ordered a review of both DOT projects, and his spokesman told the Journal for today’s article that the governor will retain outside legal counsel to review the “legality and integrity” of the projects and whether any “undue influence or fraud” played a role.

How can someone paid by the governor objectively look at whether negotiations between people who work for the governor and a campaign contributor to the governor had integrity? How can that person objectively consider whether the campaign contributions resulted in undue influence?

Despite – or because of – Richardson’s efforts, this situation is growing into a larger scandal.