Heath Haussamen
I recently heard Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez say Lt. Gov. Diane Denish has done nothing during her tenure to combat or speak out against corruption, “not even a whisper.”
Martinez isn’t alone in making that claim. One of her primary opponents, Allen Weh, has made similar accusations, as have a number of other Republicans who are trying to tie Denish to corruption and other problems that have plagued the Richardson administration.
Martinez, Weh and the others, however, are wrong. Whether Denish has done enough to combat corruption is up for debate, but to say that the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor has done nothing in 7.5 years as lieutenant governor is patently false.
I know because I watched Denish publicly stand up against corruption within her party three years ago when no other Democrats would.
Speaker tried to kill housing authority reform
It was during the 2007 regular legislative session. I and other journalists had spent months writing about the scandal in the state’s affordable housing system that exploded when the Albuquerque-based Region III Housing Authority defaulted on $5 million in bonds it owed the state in 2006. The controversy centered on a former legislator who was a close ally of House Speaker Ben Luján.
Denish had taken the lead in lobbying for approval of legislation that would reform the housing authority system and fund an audit. But Luján and others, including state Rep. Joe Campos of Santa Rosa, were working to kill the proposal.
Campos was doing it openly, using outdated audits to argue that the housing authorities didn’t have problems even though I and other journalists had already documented the issues.
Luján was working behind the scenes – you know, doing what he does. He walks into a committee meeting and whispers in a committee chair’s ear, and then a bill dies. The speaker was working to protect a political ally who was in a heap of trouble.
Luján already had a committee kill the House version of the reform bill, and the Senate version was coming before the same committee. Some Democratic lawmakers complained to me that the Senate bill was headed for the same fate and asked me to shine light on it so the bill could get a fair hearing.
I called around asking someone – anyone – who believed that Luján was trying to kill housing authority reform to go on the record. None would, until I spoke with Denish’s office.
Denish stood up to Luján
Denish’s spokesman told me it appeared that Luján was attempting to kill the bill sponsored by Sen. Mary Kay Papen, just as he had killed the bill from Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones.
Denish speaking with Sen. Mary Kay Papen about the housing authority reform bill in 2007. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
“The overall impression we’re getting is that this bill is following in the footsteps of Rep. Arnold-Jones’ bill,” Denish spokesman Michael Henningsen said.
Denish also spoke up against Campos’ efforts to kill the reform proposal using outdated audits. And she was working to help coordinate efforts between representatives and senators to find a compromise.
Denish succeeded. Her work, along with public threats from then-House Minority Whip Dan Foley and some intense behind-the-scenes politicking by a handful of House Democrats, combined to create a greater force than Luján. The speaker was eventually forced to accept a compromise and allow the reform bill to pass.
Denish speaking with Rep. Al Park about the housing authority reform bill in 2007. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Denish later signed the reform bill into law.
Denish made a difference
The state auditor has released a damning report on what happened in the housing authorities. The AG has indicted several people in the scandal – including former state Rep. Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos, the close friend of Luján.
Let there be no doubt that there was an attempt to bury corruption in this instance, and that Denish stood up against it.
Let there also be no doubt about the speaker’s ties to the scandal. In 2006 we learned that a top aide to Luján was living rent-free in a home owned by the Region III Housing Authority, even though she was earning more than $71,000 per year. The agency was supposed to be providing housing for low-income New Mexicans.
Gallegos became a lobbyist after he left office in 1996, and he spent a lot of time in Luján’s office during legislative sessions. The aide, Luján’s office manager, later said that’s how she and Gallegos came to work out a deal for the house. She claimed she and her boyfriend were “defrauded and victimized” by the housing authority.
There’s no doubt in the minds of most people who were involved in this situation – and in my mind – that the speaker tried to kill housing authority reform. Denish stood up when other Democrats would not and challenged the speaker, the second most powerful official in state government and a leader in her own political party.
Her willingness to do so made a difference.
GOP claim is false
I understand why Republicans want the public to believe Denish has never fought corruption. It would be easier to tie her to the scandal-plagued Gov. Bill Richardson if she had never spoken a word against the powers-that-be in Santa Fe and in her own party.
Tying Denish to corruption – or at least convincing voters that she stood by and did nothing while it was happening – would help Republicans win the governor’s race in November.
There are other situations Republicans will cite in claiming Denish hasn’t done enough to fight corruption. But to say she’s done nothing is simply untrue.