Gov. Bill Richardson has hired a prominent criminal defense attorney to represent him in the investigation of allegations of pay-to-play in his administration, The Associated Press is reporting.
Peter Schoenburg is a partner in the firm Rothstein, Donatelli, Hughes, Dahlstrom, Schoenburg & Bienvenu, LLP, a firm the news service reports “specializes in criminal defense, complex civil and commercial litigation, Indian law and other issues.”
I attempted a couple of weeks ago to contact Schoenburg to confirm that Richardson had hired him, but was not able to reach him. The Associated Press was not able to reach him either, but confirmed through “a federal law enforcement official who asked to remain unidentified because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation” that Richardson had hired Schoenburg.
According to his firm’s Web site, Schoenburg has been in private practice since 1993 and has successfully represented many defendants in white-collar cases. He is a former state public defender.
Schoenburg has a bachelor’s degree from Yale and earned his law degree from Rutgers University in 1978.
According to the secretary of state’s Web site, he has given political contributions in recent years to several Democrats. In 2006, he gave $250 apiece to Lt. Gov. Diane Denish; Geno Zamora, who ran unsuccessfully for attorney general; and Jim Baca, who ran unsuccessfully for land commissioner. In 2002, he gave $500 to Richardson, according to followthemoney.org.