{"id":1058,"date":"2007-01-04T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-04T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/the-way-we-do-business-is-unacceptable\/"},"modified":"2007-01-04T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-04T19:00:00","slug":"the-way-we-do-business-is-unacceptable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/the-way-we-do-business-is-unacceptable\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The way we do business’ is unacceptable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Frances F. Williams<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

When Michael Montoya, the ex-treasurer of New Mexico<\/st1:state>, was hitting up a prospective client of the Treasurer\u2019s Office for a bribe, he said that was \u201cthe way we do business\u201d in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. The recent reelection of Ben Lujan to the position of speaker of the House and the impunity his friend Vincent \u201cSmiley\u201d Gallegos has enjoyed to date, in spite of serious allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, collusion and conflicts of interest against Gallegos, suggest that Montoya might have been right.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There were two reports last year that revealed widespread misuse of state money by the housing authority.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

One of the reviews, ordered by Gov. Bill Richardson, reported gross mismanagement and flagrant violation of state statutes in providing affordable housing for moderate to low income families. The other report, a forensic audit of Gallegos\u2019 Region III Housing Authority and Housing Enterprises, Inc., a related company, was ordered by the State Investment Council after Gallegos defaulted on $5 million in state-owned bonds that were to be used for affordable housing. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The second report revealed what were, in my opinion, an exorbitant salary and outrageous benefits paid into Gallegos\u2019 retirement funds that totaled several hundred thousand dollars. Two staffers and a board member had both been allowed to purchase homes from the authority that were meant for the poor.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The bonds were also used to build homes that were sold to investors instead of low-income families.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Expenses other than the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing violated the terms of the bonds. These bonds have not been paid back and, to date, Gallegos has not been prosecuted.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In addition, the Attorney General\u2019s Office is investigating allegations that Housing Enterprises, Inc. fraudulently represented itself as a non-profit corporation and was taking 3 percent kickbacks on sales of homes to low income families that might have been inappropriate.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

An aide to Lujan had also been living rent-free in a home owned by the housing authority, but Lujan insists he knew nothing about it. <\/span>It\u2019s my opinion that he either isn\u2019t telling the truth or he wasn\u2019t doing his job.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In June 2006 the speaker, who had appointed Gallegos to the Housing Trust Council that provided oversight of the regional housing authorities, was asked by a bipartisan group of legislators to remove Gallegos from that board. That never happened.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The speaker didn\u2019t do his job.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In addition, he pulled a Tom DeLay during the campaign by spreading money around to Democratic House candidates to secure their loyalty and support for his continued leadership. Shame on those legislators who voted for him. Kudos to those who didn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The governor has been strangely silent on this matter, even though the report he ordered clearly showed violations of state statutes and gross mismanagement of state funds.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I applaud the governor for taking time to go around the world and attempt to repair it, but we need a lot of reconstruction here at home. Our hard-earned tax dollars should not be used as a piggy bank for crooked politicians and their cronies to plunder. New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> should not have a for sale sign on it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There must be oversight and accountability, and that is currently lacking. Our lawmakers must pass strong ethics legislation that will shine a light on how they do business and hold them accountable. And we must be outraged as voters and throw the rascals out, to include those who support this kind of chicanery.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Frances Williams remains a Region VII Housing Authority board member, though the authority is not currently operational. She was the whistleblower who exposed the problems with the system last year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Frances F. Williams When Michael Montoya, the ex-treasurer of New Mexico, was hitting up a prospective client of the Treasurer\u2019s Office for a bribe, he said that was \u201cthe way we do business\u201d in New Mexico. The recent reelection of Ben Lujan to the position of speaker of the House and the impunity his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}