Herb Denish, left, and Diane Denish at a dedication ceremony for a Rail Runner station in Los Lunas in 2006. (Department of Transportation photo)
Diane Denish’s gubernatorial campaign has said her husband attended State Transportation Commission meetings as “an observer, not a participant,” but it turns out he did participate in an October 2003 meeting.
Herb Denish appeared before the commission as the “City of Albuquerque – Bernalillo County Coordinator” for the Mesa del Sol project, according to minutes of the Oct. 16, 2003 meeting obtained through a records request. At that meeting, Herb Denish introduced Dean Wingert, a company official who asked the commission for $6 million to extend University Boulevard in Albuquerque to provide access to the Mesa del Sol development.
Diane Denish’s campaign spokesman said he didn’t know about the 2003 meeting when he stated that Herb Denish had only observed commission meetings, “but that does not change the fact that he did not lobby.”
“Introducing someone at a meeting is not lobbying. There is no record of Herb lobbying at the state level,” said Diane Denish’s campaign spokesman, Chris Cervini.
Herb Denish’s work has been under scrutiny because of attack ads from Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez highlighting his lobbying for the developer of Mesa del Sol, Forest City Covington, which has received lots of financial assistance from the state while Diane Denish has been lieutenant governor.
As I’ve previously reported, Herb Denish was a registered lobbyist before the City of Albuquerque, and his clients included Forest City Covington. Herb Denish never registered as a lobbyist with the state, which would have been required if he was lobbying any state agency or board, including the transportation commission.
Diane Denish’s annual financial disclosure forms state that Herb Denish lobbied the New Mexico Department of Transportation – of which the transportation commission is the governing board – for two companies, including Forest City Covington. But Cervini has said Herb Denish didn’t lobby DOT, and the information was included on the disclosure forms “to exercise an abundance of caution with these disclosures” because her husband was observing transportation commission meetings.
Based on the new information – that Herb Denish appeared before the transportation commission as an official representing the Mesa del Sol project – I asked Cervini whether Herb Denish being one of two company officials who formally appeared together that day had the potential to create an appearance that Herb Denish was lobbying, given that the other company official asked for money.
Cervini didn’t answer the question about appearances.
“The fact remains, he did not lobby. Plain and simple. Introducing someone at a meeting is not lobbying,” Cervini said.
Not appearing before commission ‘on a substantial or regular basis’
Cervini may be correct that introducing Wingert doesn’t qualify as lobbying under the state’s Lobbyist Regulation Act. Lobbying is defined as “attempting to influence… an official action,” which the Mesa del Sol contingent was doing that day, even if Herb Denish didn’t do it himself. But a lobbyist is defined as someone who is “compensated for the specific purpose of lobbying” or lobbies “on a substantial or regular basis.”
Diane Denish’s campaign has refused to disclose how much her husband has been paid as a lobbyist and consultant during her tenure as lieutenant governor, but she has said he was paid by Forest City Covington to lobby the City of Albuquerque, not the state. And NMPolitics.net’s records request to DOT didn’t turn up any evidence that Herb Denish appeared before the transportation commission “on a substantial or regular basis” on behalf of Forest City Covington or the other company listed on Diane Denish’s financial disclosure forms, Hunt Development Corp.
Transportation commission meeting minutes state that Herb Denish attended two meetings in 2008 and 2009. (Click here and here for those minutes.) He was introduced at those meetings, which is why he is mentioned in the minutes, but he didn’t speak or appear before the commission.
The context
Forest City Covington has received approval for hundreds of millions of dollars in tax increment development district financing from the Board of Finance, Legislature and governor while Diane Denish has been lieutenant governor and Herb Denish has been a company lobbyist.
The company has contributed at least $16,000 to Diane Denish’s campaigns. While she has avoided official discussions and recused herself from official action on Mesa del Sol as a member of the Board of Finance, Diane Denish has appeared at public groundbreaking and other ceremonies to praise the project.
Cervini has said that Herb Denish’s lobbying for Forest City Covington, or any other company, doesn’t affect the lieutenant governor’s public decisions, and neither do campaign contributions.