{"id":1379,"date":"2007-03-09T18:12:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-10T00:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/campos-explains-opposition-to-housing-overhaul\/"},"modified":"2007-03-09T18:12:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-10T00:12:00","slug":"campos-explains-opposition-to-housing-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/campos-explains-opposition-to-housing-overhaul\/","title":{"rendered":"Campos explains opposition to housing overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>State Rep. Jose Campos<\/a>, D-Santa Rosa, says he is working to defeat a proposal to remake the state\u2019s affordable housing system because it\u2019s too early to pass judgment on the housing authority system that crumbled last year in scandal. <\/p>\n

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

Campos<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> has been passing out prior audits of some of the state\u2019s seven housing authority regions to lawmakers this week as part of a campaign to defeat legislation that would scrap the authorities and replace them with a system overseen by the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

He\u2019s also one of six Democrats on the House Business and Industry Committee who voted on Sunday to table one of two bills that would put an end to the housing authorities.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>The legislation would also fund in-depth audits of each region by the Legislative Finance Committee<\/a>, but Campos said he doesn\u2019t want the LFC doing such an audit, and doesn\u2019t trust a prior, damning report<\/a> issued by the State Investment Council<\/a>, which he said \u201cis trying to cover their rear and they\u2019re just going to put out whatever they can to cover it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI want an independent audit,\u201d Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201cThis is all political. In my opinion, it\u2019s all politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

A spokesman for the investment council had no immediate comment.<\/p>\n

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

Last year, the system fell apart after the Albuquerque-based Region III authority defaulted on $5 million in bonds it owed to the state. The investment council found that, though those bonds were to be spent on affordable housing projects, almost $900,000 went to former Region III Director Vincent \u201cSmiley\u201d Gallegos as salary, benefits and a questionable loan.<\/p>\n

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

The investment council and governor\u2019s office both said the system lacked adequate checks to ensure the state\u2019s money was spent properly, and recommended the overhaul now being proposed to the Legislature. The investment council asked for an attorney general investigation, which is ongoing.<\/p>\n

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

Asked if his comments about politics were shots at the governor or those who oversee the investment council, Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said they were not, but said he wants \u201csomeone who can\u2019t be swayed\u201d doing an independent audit.<\/p>\n

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

Asked how that would happen, Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said the state should step back and let the authorities hire independent auditors to examine their books, as they\u2019re required to do every year. Those are the audit\u2019s he\u2019s been passing out this week.<\/p>\n

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

But the problem pointed out by Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> is that many of the audits Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is passing out are \u201coutdated.\u201d Denish and others say the fact that the authorities failed to submit timely audits as required by law is further evidence of dysfunction.<\/p>\n

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

When I asked about that, Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said the audits are up-to-date. He said Region III had already submitted its 2005 audit, and said 2006 audits aren\u2019t yet due.<\/p>\n

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

The state auditor\u2019s office said 2006 audits are due May 31, so Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is right on that point. But the newest audit submitted for Region III is for fiscal year 2004, that office said.<\/p>\n

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

The auditor\u2019s office didn\u2019t provide me with information about Region I, but said the most recent audit for Region II is from 2002. For Region IV, it\u2019s 2003. For Region VII, which includes Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, it\u2019s 2005.<\/p>\n

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

Only regions V and VI, which all agree are high-performing, have submitted 2006 audits.<\/p>\n

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

Still, Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said such audits are what he wants.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cMy issue has always been that we need information,\u201d Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201cBefore we start condemning anybody, let\u2019s get all the information out. Let\u2019s not commit a political hack job.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Campos<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said he isn\u2019t trying to cover up any scandal, but is instead trying to find the truth through an independent source.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIf anyone is at fault, I\u2019m all for them going to jail,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 There\u2019s a process. Follow the process and I will trust those results.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Rep. Jose Campos, D-Santa Rosa, says he is working to defeat a proposal to remake the state\u2019s affordable housing system because it\u2019s too early to pass judgment on the housing authority system that crumbled last year in scandal. Campos has been passing out prior audits of some of the state\u2019s seven housing authority regions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379","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=1379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}