Gov. Bill Richardson says he is confident that former Chief of Staff Dave Contarino, who is under investigation in a federal probe of pay-to-play allegations, did nothing improper.
“The Governor is fully supportive of Dave Contarino and is confident that he always acted ethically and appropriately during his time as chief of staff,” Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos wrote in an e-mail. “Dave was a key part of the progress in New Mexico under Governor Richardson’s leadership.”
Richardson withdrew his nomination for commerce secretary on Sunday because of the federal grand jury investigation that has cast suspicion on his administration. As I reported earlier today, a Bloomberg.com article has revealed that federal prosecutors are asking whether Contarino was involved in the alleged pay-to-play scheme.
CDR Financial Products was paid almost $1.5 million in 2004 advising the finance authority on interest-rate swaps and restructuring escrow funds for $1.6 billion in bonds related to the transportation project dubbed GRIP, or Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership. Meanwhile, in 2003 and 2004, the company gave $75,000 to Richardson’s political action committee Si Se Puede!, and the company’s head, David Rubin, gave $25,000 to Moving America Forward, another Richardson PAC.
No information released publicly has directly linked Richardson to the probe, but the investigation centers around whether staffers in Richardson’s office influenced the hiring of CDR.
Contarino, who is 47 and owns a title company in Santa Fe, developed policy and managed Richardson’s political and governmental staffs from 2003 through April 2006. He also ran both of Richardson’s campaigns for governor and his unsuccessful run for president last year.
Richardson once described Contarino as the “strategic mind” of his administration and “my most senior and trusted aide.”