The Las Cruces City Council is set to vote today on whether to give 11 1/2 acres of land at the West Mesa Industrial Park to the startup Rocket Racing League for its worldwide headquarters. The league plans to develop an international racing series that involves manned rocket planes, with finals to be held annually beginning in 2008 at the yet-to-be-constructed Southwest Regional Spaceport at Upham.
One influential source is troubled by the proposal to donate land. The source questioned, when four other companies plan to purchase land at the park (their proposals are also up for approval today), why the racing league needs the land donated.
“Can a touted user of the spaceport survive only by ‘corporate welfare?’” the source asked me.
The city also plans to add infrastructure to service the property, making the donation sizable – in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. In exchange, the assurance is 30 jobs, at salaries ranging from $32,000 to $150,000, and local gross receipts taxes of about $140,000 on the estimated $2 million cost of building a 50,000-square-foot headquarters.
The city estimates that the racing league will pump $34 million into the local economy in the next seven years.
The doubter isn’t so certain, pointing out that the racing league is a startup company with no certainty of success.
“If the city approves tomorrow, somebody is suddenly wealthier by whatever this land and the planned improvements are worth, but conservatively over a quarter million dollars: precisely what the Anti-Donation Clause prohibits,” the doubter said yesterday.
Another source pointed out that the state constitution’s anti-donation clause has an exemption for economic development under certain conditions, and said the city has worked hard to meet those conditions.
The spaceport has been quite the hot topic since Gov. Bill Richardson asked the legislature in December to approve more than $100 million to build a facility for Virgin Galactic there. The legislature gave the money, but many lawmakers from the northern part of the state have since come out against the project.
The massive project is called visionary by its supporters and a waste of money by its detractors. Only time will tell who is right.
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Doña Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley wasn’t happy with Sid Goddard’s assault on the commission last week.
McCamley called me Friday to talk about Goddard, the county Republican Party chair. Goddard berated Commission Chairwoman Dolores Saldaña-Caviness at Tuesday’s meeting for saying the special audit of the county was in the past and the county has changed. Many Republicans have been outraged because the audit found widespread problems as recently as 2004, but State Auditor Domingo Martinez said it appears most of the identified problems have been fixed.
(I should point out that I’m friends with McCamley. I believe I can objectively report what he said, but if you disagree, feel free to submit a comment at the end of this posting.)
The commission that existed at the time of the audit findings was plagued by partisan politics and other problems, Democrat McCamley noted. When Goddard “makes allegations without hard proof, that’s the kind of bickering that leads the commission back to where it was two years ago,” McCamley said.
Goddard told the commission that the audit “is one issue that will not disappear.” He went on to say those who have spoken with him won’t rest unless there are reprimands, terminations, or prosecutions of those responsible for the violations found by the auditor’s office.
If that doesn’t happen, Goddard said, the commission remains “as before, arrogant, unrepentant and insular.”
I blogged last week that some Republicans want to use the audit as ammunition against Democratic Commissioner Oscar Vasquez Butler, who is up for re-election this year, and Republican Commissioner Kent Evans, who is running for a seat on the Public Regulation Commission but has primary opposition.
McCamley said the attack by the partisan Goddard threatens to divide a commission that has worked hard to clean up county government and get past the partisan politics that plague Santa Fe and Washington. McCamley pointed out that the five-member commission has three Democrats but voted to appoint Republican Todd Garrison as sheriff last year, then worked with him to raise taxes and find other money in the budget for a law enforcement salary increase.
“We could have said, ‘we’re not going to work with him,’ and then he looks dumb and a Democrat gets elected,” McCamley said. “We didn’t do that.”
Instead, McCamley said of all five commissioners, “we have worked our tails off to be constructive, to get things done, to do business on a higher level. We have worked too damn hard to let that go if this is just a political ploy. If it’s not, then let’s get some evidence on the table.”
Goddard and many other Republicans have said widespread problems still exist in county government. McCamley challenged Goddard to attend another commission meeting and present his evidence to the board and the public. If he’s seeking prosecution, McCamley suggested that Goddard contact the New Mexico State Police, who are investigating three audit findings referred to them, including one procurement code violation the auditors said may have been intentional.
It should be noted that McCamley and Saldaña-Caviness joined the commission in January 2005, after the audit was already complete. The audit’s release was delayed until last month because criminal investigators are still reviewing it.
Those who were members of the commission at the time of the audit findings say there were no intentional violations of law.
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I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the racketeering, money laundering and extortion case against former state Treasurer Robert Vigil begins today.
In case anyone hasn’t been paying attention, Democrats Vigil and his predecessor Michael Montoya were charged last year with using the treasurer’s office to secure millions of dollars in kickbacks. Montoya and several others charged in the case have already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Vigil.
Vigil has proclaimed his innocence throughout. He faces 28 charges and, if convicted, up to 20 years in prison on each count. He resigned in October.
The trial is expected to last six weeks. Some 60 potential jurors from around the state will be in Albuquerque Monday for jury selection. One source told me many politicos will be anxiously watching the trial because they are worried their own names could be mentioned in connection with Vigil and Montoya. The FBI has said the investigation is ongoing and far-reaching.
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That’s enough for the Monday after Easter. I hope you all had a good one, and that you come back tomorrow.