After months of whispers, Speaker of the House Ben Lujan has been linked to the state housing authority scandal.
So has a state judge, which should result in an investigation by the Judicial Standards Commission.
The Albuquerque Journal revealed today that a
The revelation could boost a potential push by Rep. Ken Martinez of Grants or someone else to replace Lujan as House speaker.
The state housing authority structure crumbled in scandal earlier this year that included the defaulting on $5 million in bonds sold to the state and the realization that some homes were being sold to investors and others who didn’t meet income requirements.
You can read the State Investment Council’s report on the situation by clicking here.
Former Region III Housing Authority Director Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos resigned in the middle of the scandal, but new revelations about potential misuse of money and other wrongdoing continue to surface. Gov. Bill Richardson has proposed that the housing authorities be abolished and that their work be given to the state Mortgage Finance Authority.
Gallegos, a former legislator from
But the questions aren’t stupid at all, and the allegations are serious. According to the Journal, Bernalillo County Metropolitan Judge Theresa Gomez resides in a home owned by the housing authority, though she makes $93,000 per year. Lisa Ortiz, who Lujan described as his office manager and who earns more than $71,000 per year, lives in a manufactured home on about 78 acres of land north of Stanley that’s owned by the housing authority.
Neither has been paying rent.
The interim head of the Region III authority, Lawrence Rael, told the Journal that the deals might have been made with hope of future political favors.
“There may have been a political reason, I don’t know …,” he told the newspaper. “It just looks that way.”
He did say he doesn’t believe Gomez or Ortiz knowingly took part in such a scheme but, since he took over, the housing authority has demanded that the two pay back rent. Gomez signed a deal in July to buy the home, but Rael has cancelled it.
Gomez told the Journal she has lived in the home for two years and has repeatedly tried to formalize a deal to lease and then purchase it, which she says was her intent all along.
She also revealed that Gallegos has sought her advice on legal matters involving his children, and that she dismissed a traffic citation issued to Gallegos and cancelled a related bench warrant because he said someone used his identity when being ticketed.
Though Gomez said she didn’t treat Gallegos differently than anyone else, she told the Journal that she knows “the whole issue of not paying rent looks bad, smells.”
Creating the appearance of impropriety, regardless of whether there is actual wrongdoing, is a violation of the state Code of Judicial Conduct. Gomez told the Journal her actions created such an appearance, but said she doesn’t take bribes.
Ortiz, according to the Journal, claims she and her boyfriend were “defrauded and victimized” by the housing authority. That’s a quote from a letter she wrote to Rael.
Ortiz revealed how the deal came about in her letter to Rael. She said she and her boyfriend were looking for a way to buy the property. During a trip to Lujan’s office, Gallegos overheard Ortiz discussing it with her boyfriend by telephone. He offered to purchase the home, make improvements, and resell it to Ortiz, she claims, despite her concern that she might not qualify for such assistance.
The purchase was to take place after Ortiz and her boyfriend sold another home but, with Gallegos’ permission, they moved in to the home in November 2005 while awaiting the other home’s sale.
Which brings us back to Lujan.
One of Ortiz’s roles is as a gatekeeper of access to Lujan. Ortiz claimed she didn’t give Gallegos special treatment. Though she told the Journal she thinks Gallegos “was just trying to be courteous” in helping her with the home purchase, she said the housing authority he ran victimized her and her boyfriend.
Lujan told the Journal he only learned recently that Ortiz lived in the home, and said he never discussed it with Gallegos. He said he’s been friends with Gallegos since the two began serving together in the House in the 1980s.
In an interview today, Lujan told me he doesn’t know why anyone would think giving Ortiz special treatment would earn them political favor.
“My staff’s personal life is their personal life. I don’t get involved in any of that,” Lujan told me.
Many have been telling me for months that Gallegos spends a lot of time in Lujan’s office during legislative sessions. Lujan told me it’s true that Gallegos spends a lot of time “in my outer office” where the public is welcome.
“In my inner office, he doesn’t spend a lot of time,” Lujan said.
But some House members doubt that and have been pushing for
There are many Democrats in the House who are pushing for an end to the corruption that has rocked their party in recent months. The party has had to deal with some scandal very publicly, including the convictions of the last two state treasurers.
Some speculate that reform Democrats might push Lujan to quietly resign from his position as speaker while he still has dignity.
On the other hand, evidence in today’s Journal article isn’t damning for Lujan – in fact, it doesn’t definitively implicate him in anything – and one of his supporters told me there’s no threat of Lujan losing any dignity.
Lujan told me there won’t be a challenge to his leadership.
“There is absolutely no truth to that,” he said. “My members are evidently satisfied with my leadership, and there will be no challenge.”
But there is concern among some House Democrats. Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces, wouldn’t comment on whether there will be a challenge, but said she is “disappointed with the headlines about our speaker. We have to have trust in our speaker, and if any of this was taking place behind closed doors, I’m not alright with it.”
It’s unusual to find a House Democrat willing to say anything publicly that challenges Lujan’s authority. That’s a sign of growing dissent.
Garcia said she hopes to carry ethics reform legislation in January that will include the potential creation of an ethics commission, but isn’t certain it has any chance of being approved.
“I’m concerned if I bring forth this legislation that it will not have its due process because we’ve had a lot of problems with the integrity of our Democratic leadership,” she said, without naming Lujan or anyone else.