The office of Attorney General Gary King still has nothing new to report about the more than two-year-old investigation of the scandal that toppled most of the state’s affordable housing system in 2006, and that has some frustrated.
“We are still reviewing info,” King’s spokesman, Phil Sisneros, said late last week.
When he took office almost 21 months ago, King pledged to make the investigation a top priority. But Chris Herbert, executive director of the Region VI housing authority, which survived the collapse of most of the state system, said he’s “frustrated by the lack of any action.”
“Those of us involved in the low-income housing industry would like to see some justice actually done,” he said. “Those who perpetrated the wrongdoing continue to go unpunished, while their legitimate counterparts in other parts of the state are saddled with a black eye.”
There has been some response to the scandal. The AG obtained court orders to boot three tenants from homes owned by the Albuquerque-based Region III Housing Authority because they didn’t qualify for affordable housing — two employees of the authority and a board member — but that action was initiated under the previous AG, not King.
But there have been no criminal charges in the case, which has been under investigation by the AG’s office since before King became the attorney general.
A quick recap of the scandal: The AG’s criminal investigation began almost two years ago when the investment council asked then-AG Patricia
Perhaps the most intriguing misuse of money revealed in the investment council report was a $300,000 loan the housing authority made to a private company owned by Gallegos under the guise of purchasing more than 30 lots in
Gallegos repaid the loan, with interest, on July 31 of 2006, the day before he resigned.