ValueOptions, OptumHealth both gave big to guv

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Contributions to Richardson’s presidential campaign aren’t the full extent of his relationship with companies whose battle for a state contract is under investigation By Gwyneth Doland and Heath Haussamen Both companies involved in a controversy over the awarding of the state’s behavioral health services contract — a process that’s under investigation by a federal grand jury — gave big to Gov. Bill Richardson’s 2008 presidential campaign. A political action committee and executives tied to UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of OptumHealth New Mexico, gave at least $15,300, according to the money-in-politics Web site OpenSecrets.org. That included $5,000 from the company’s PAC and more than $10,000 from executives of the company. OptumHealth is scheduled to take over the massive state contract on July 1. Meanwhile, ValueOptions New Mexico, which is being replaced by OptumHealth, also gave big. Continue Reading

Feds subpoena health-services contract documents

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A federal grand jury has subpoenaed documents related to the state’s pending shift from a contract with one behavioral health services company to another, the Albuquerque Journal is reporting. The state’s Human Services Department has until next week to respond to the subpoena, which seeks “any and all documents, to include but not limited to specifications, score sheets, and cost proposals” related to the state’s awarding of the new contract to OptumHealth New Mexico, a subsidiary of United HealthCare. The subpoena was sent in April. The awarding of the contract is already being challenged in court by the company being replaced, ValueOptions New Mexico. But the involvement of a grand jury that’s investigating potential criminal matters raises the stakes significantly. Continue Reading

NMSU confirms likely hire of Manuel Pacheco

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New Mexico State University confirmed today what reports on this site and elsewhere already indicated: The regents are expected to name Manuel T. Pacheco interim president on Tuesday. The regents are “expected to vote Tuesday to approve the appointment” at a meeting that will be held on the Las Cruces campus at 10 a.m., a news release from the university states. Pacheco, in the release, says he would consider it “both an honor and a challenge” to step into the job. “My job would be to position the university for even greater accomplishments once the new president arrives and to provide continued stability and support of current initiatives,” Pacheco said. “Obviously, this is not a job that a president does alone, and I will be dependent upon the cooperation of the many capable leaders already involved with NMSU.” Though the news release doesn’t explicitly state it, sources confirm that Pacheco isn’t interested in and won’t be allowed to apply for the permanent president job at NMSU. Continue Reading

Paul urges backers to help NM congressional hopeful

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An Iraq war veteran and anti-war activist who is considering challenging U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., next year is getting some help from a politico whose followers are among the most enthusiastic around. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas and a former presidential candidate, sent an e-mail to his supporters today urging them to help Adam Kokesh, who has formed an exploratory committee as he considers running against Luján. Paul suggested supporters give money, volunteer to help or pass on information about Kokesh to friends and family. “Adam Kokesh has been a tremendous supporter – of both me AND you! As a leader of Iraqi Veterans Against the War, Adam has spent years traveling the country to spread our message of peace, a strong national defense and limited government,” Paul wrote in the e-mail. Continue Reading

GOP wants Rep. Richard Vigil to resign

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State Rep. Richard Vigil has taken a lot of criticism in recent years, from me and plenty of others, because of the situation that led to his wife’s conviction on felony charges last week. Now the Republican Party of New Mexico is calling for the resignation of the Democrat from Ribera, pointing out that some of the money Roberta Vigil was convicted of misspending was directed to the program she ran by her husband through a capital outlay appropriation. “Mrs. Vigil’s trial revealed that Rep. Vigil used his elected position to steer money to his wife, money that she ultimately misspent,” GOP Chairman Harvey E. Yates said in a news release. “Richard Vigil has betrayed the trust of the citizens of New Mexico and should step down immediately. These hard-earned taxpayer dollars were intended to improve education for New Mexico youth. Continue Reading

Meet NMSU’s next interim president

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The New Mexico State University Board of Regents are expected to name Manuel T. Pacheco, a former university president in Arizona, Missouri and elsewhere, as NMSU’s interim president at a special meeting on Tuesday, sources familiar with the search process confirmed. Pacheco is a former president of the University of Arizona and the University of Missouri System, and served as interim president at his alma matter, New Mexico Highlands University, for a time earlier this decade after the school’s Manny Aragon era ended. The NMSU regents meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday on the main campus in Las Cruces. Click here for the meeting’s agenda. Pacheco isn’t interested in and won’t be allowed to apply for the permanent president job at NMSU, the sources said. Continue Reading

Educational Retirement Board also gets subpoena

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We already knew that federal investigators had subpoenaed the State Investment Council (SIC) for documents related to its investment deals. Now we learn from the New Mexico Independent that the Educational Retirement Board (ERB) has also received a subpoena. An attorney for the ERB, Chris Schatzman, “would not discuss the contents or subject matter of the subpoena, other than to say that the agency received it last week,” the Friday NMI article states. This is a widening scandal that began in New York and has expanded to some 30 other states — most prominently New Mexico — and the subpoenas indicate it may expand further in the Land of Enchantment. Citing the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act, I’ve requested copies of the subpoenas received by the SIC and ERB. Continue Reading

Investment council takes issue with NY Times article

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The spokesman for the State Investment Council (SIC) is taking issue with a recent New York Times’ article related to the controversy surrounding third-party marketers in New York, New Mexico and elsewhere. The newspaper, citing minutes of a 2005 SIC meeting, quoted David M. Leuschen, a go-between who helped The Carlyle Group get big contracts, as saying this while helping the company win a $40 million investment in New Mexico: “We may be slow, we may be old, we may be plodders,” Leuschen said, according to the SIC minutes, “but we think we know the right people, and this is very much a relationship business.” In my own posting about the Times article, I called the newspaper’s reporting “stellar” and “contextual.” Charles Wollmann, the SIC’s public information officer, said it “may or may not be stellar,” but it’s definitely not contextual. He said the article implies that Carlyle and Riverstone, another company involved in that deal, won investment contracts “because they knew people.” But Wollmann pointed out, the Times left out the context of the quote from the 2005 meeting. Here’s the full quote about the energy-related investment: “If you take any large private equity firm or any hedge fund, they have somewhere between zero and one guy from the energy business. We have seventeen,” Leuschen said, according to the minutes. Continue Reading

Want stimulus cash? Check out these meetings…

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Gov. Bill Richardson wraps up his town-hall meetings to talk about federal stimulus money on Monday with stops in Carrizozo and Reserve, but even after that there will be two more chances for local-government officials and others to learn more about applying for cash. Meetings will be held Wednesday in Albuquerque and Thursday in Las Cruces to “learn the nuts and bolts of where the money is and how you can apply for it,” according to a letter sent to various groups about the meetings, which are sponsored by Richardson’s grant team, the state’s seven councils of government and other organizations. The Albuquerque meeting will be held Wednesday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Albuquerque Convention Center, 401 2nd St. NW. The Las Cruces meeting will be held Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum, 4100 Dripping Spring Road. Continue Reading

Voters in poll split on regents’ decision on Cruzado

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Voters were split in last weeks’ non-scientific poll on this site asking whether the New Mexico State University regents were right to remove Waded Cruzado from the interim president job. Of 185 voters, 76, or 41 percent, said the regents made the right decision, while 75, or 41 percent, said they did not, and 34, or 18 percent, said they don’t know. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

Know ‘the right people,’ get investment contract

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The New York Times continues its stellar, contextual reporting on the investment scandal spreading in that state and New Mexico today with an in-depth look at a go-between who helped The Carlyle Group get big contracts. The article is relevant in New Mexico because of this recount of David M. Leuschen’s involvement in the Land of Enchantment: “‘We may be slow, we may be old, we may be plodders,’ Mr. Leuschen told New Mexico officials when making a pitch (on behalf of Carlyle) for their business in 2005, ‘but we think we know the right people, and this is very much a relationship business.’ He walked away with a $40 million investment from the New Mexico State Investment Council on that day, according to the minutes of the meeting.” The Times article comes on the heels of Thursday’s news that Carlyle has agreed to pay $20 million and reform the way it does business to avoid prosecution in the New York investment scandal that has spread to a number of other states, the most prominent being New Mexico. “We think we know the right people?” And that helped Carlyle win a lucrative investment deal in New Mexico? Interesting… Continue Reading

Common Cause: Tired of scandal? Approve reforms

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Following the recent outrage expressed by some legislative leaders at the many scandals plaguing New Mexico, Common Cause is making a renewed push for ethics reform. “The leadership of the Legislative Finance Committee recently stated that they’re tired of all the scandals in New Mexico and that there’s a need for additional oversight of state institutions,” Steven Robert Allen, Common Cause executive director, said in a news release. “We couldn’t agree more, and look forward to working — in a serious and concerted manner — with legislative leadership to address these concerns.” “In particular,” the release states, “New Mexico is still one of only a few states with no independent ethics commission to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by public officials. Likewise, New Mexico needs to take big money out of the political equation entirely by expanding public campaign financing to offices such as governor and attorney general.” More from the release: “An independent bipartisan ethics commission is the single best way to provide reliable objective oversight of state agencies. Likewise, private campaign contributions could very well be viewed as a hidden tax, a cost of doing business with the state that’s ultimately passed on to the consumer — that is, the citizens of New Mexico. Continue Reading

Capitalizing on corruption is key for GOP in 2010

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Republicans have, thus far, been unable to capitalize on scandals that have plagued Democrats in New Mexico since 2005. If they can’t find a way to do it next year, and win the governor’s race, they won’t have much of a say in redistricting. Ever since two state treasurers were arrested on corruption charges in September 2005, Republicans in New Mexico have been trying to capitalize — with election gains — on the Democratic scandals that just keep spreading. But instead, Republicans have actually lost ground in the New Mexico Legislature and gone from having a majority of seats in the state’s congressional delegation to having none. With the next round of redistricting taking place early in the next decade, under the watch of a governor who will be elected next year, Republicans are focused intently on the race to replace the term-limited Bill Richardson. Continue Reading

U.S. attorney subpoenas investment council records

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Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed the State Investment Council (SIC) for documents related to its investment deals, Bloomberg is reporting.That’s just one of several news items in the last two days that indicates that the investment scandal that began in New York is spreading even further in New Mexico. In addition, a third-party marketer who did business in New Mexico has pleaded guilty to charges he faced in New York, and a company involved in the scandal has agreed to pay $20 million and reform its investment practices to avoid prosecution. But first the subpoena. SIC spokesman Charles Wollmann, speaking to Bloomberg, confirmed the subpoena from the U.S. attorney in Albuquerque but would not describe the contents. “We’re working to comply with the request of the authorities,” Bloomberg quoted Wollmann as saying. Continue Reading

Roberta Vigil convicted in fraud case

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Roberta Vigil was convicted of two felonies today for misusing public money in her former role as head of the West Las Vegas Public Schools’ bilingual education program. Vigil was convicted of fraud over $2,500, a third-degree felony, and conspiracy to commit fraud over $2,500, a fourth-degree felony, according to a news release from the attorney general. She faces a maximum of 4.5 years in prison. The AG’s office, according to the release, “is pleased with this morning’s verdict. It sends a message that misuse of public monies will be prosecuted by this office and that this type of behavior will not be tolerated by the people of New Mexico.” Vigil was accused of misspending state and federal money on a number of items, including an annual, invitation-only party — one that took place late at night and included an expensive band — under the guise of a staff training event. Continue Reading