Man alleging pay-to-play scheme says educational retirement board has no basis for denying records request
A man who has already filed a civil lawsuit alleging a pay-to-play scheme involving the Richardson administration filed a second suit on Thursday alleging that the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board is illegally withholding public records and seeking a court order to force their release.
Frank Foy, the agency’s former chief investment officer, filed a request under the state Inspection of Public Records Act in January seeking a myriad of documents, including minutes of board meetings and any other records related to the board, any other committee or advisory group, Vanderbilt Capital Advisors — the company at the center of the pay-to-play lawsuit, and dozens of other individuals and companies. In addition to paper records, the request sought electronic records including text messages, e-mails and cell phone messages.
The request matches a subpoena Foy’s attorney, Victor Marshall, issued to the retirement board, according to documents provided by Marshall along with a news release sent today. In Foy’s pay-to-play lawsuit, which he has filed on behalf of the state, he alleges that the state made investments with Vanderbilt and affiliated companies in exchange for a little more than $15,000 in contributions to Gov. Bill Richardson’s 2008 presidential campaign. The state lost $90 million in the investment deals.
It’s an allegation Richardson and other state officials flatly deny.
The retirement board’s attorney, Patricia Turner of Santa Fe, denied the records request in a Tuesday letter, stating that the request is “excessively burdensome and broad.”
“The request is so uncertain in its scope that is raises questions as to whether it is intentionally drafted in such a manner as to make it difficult if not impossible for the ERB to comply or is intended to divert agency resources from fulfilling its statutory duties,” Turner’s letter states.
The attorney sought “clarification, limitation and specificity” in order for the request to be fulfilled.
Marshall wrote a letter back stating that there is no basis for “refusing to provide any records, simply because it believes some of the requests are overbroad,” and sought a response by 10 a.m. Thursday about whether the retirement board would produce any of the records.
When the board did not, Marshall filed the lawsuit, which you can read by clicking here (the records request and denial are included at the end of the lawsuit). The lawsuit names as defendants the retirement board and Trustees Bruce Malott and Gary Bland — who are also named as key players in the pay-to-play lawsuit. Malott chairs the retirement board, and Bland is also the state investment officer.
In addition to seeking a court order to force release of the records, the lawsuit asks that Malott and Bland be declared to have a conflict of interest and barred from being involved in the release of the records, and that attorney’s fees and other damages allowed by the public records act be awarded to Foy.