{"id":1781,"date":"2007-05-25T13:39:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-25T19:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/05\/balderas-keeping-campaign-promise-to-fight-fraud\/"},"modified":"2007-05-25T13:39:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-25T19:39:00","slug":"balderas-keeping-campaign-promise-to-fight-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/05\/balderas-keeping-campaign-promise-to-fight-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Balderas keeping campaign promise to fight fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>State Auditor Hector Balderas<\/a> is off to a quick start in his first six months on the job. <\/p>\n

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

Thus far, the Democrat has fulfilled his campaign pledge to focus on combating fraud and mismanagement in state government with several actions:<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 He\u2019s creating a fraud hotline for callers who want to provide information about potential misuse of public money. He\u2019s also increased constituent services, including hiring someone to deal with the media, in an effort to educate the public about what the office does.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 He has secured money to hire two investigators to help fill in the gap that exists between an audit being completed and a case being ready for prosecution. The lack of an investigative unit to take audit findings and determine whether there was criminal activity behind them has allowed several audits in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> to fall through the cracks in recent years.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 He\u2019s working on an agreement with the attorney general on how audits that need further investigation by police or prosecutors will be transitioned, and what the role of each office will be.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 He has used the subpoena power granted to the auditor\u2019s office to obtain records as part of an investigation in Sandoval<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>, the first time in recent memory that such authority has been used.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 He has worked out a deal with Los Alamos National Laboratory to have the federal government loan his office, for two years, a fraud examiner, which is essentially the police version of an auditor and is trained in investigative and interrogation techniques. The benefit to the federal government is that the examiner gets experience at the state level that will help the lab implement changes.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Balderas is pushing, as did his predecessor Domingo Martinez, for the Legislature to fund a special prosecutor for white-collar crime that would work with his office but be under the First Judicial District Attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 He found, when he took office in January, that 40 percent of government audits aren\u2019t completed on time, and he\u2019s working to reduce that number. He wants the Legislature to implement a system that doesn\u2019t allow local governments to receive any capital outlay money beyond what\u2019s necessary for the health, safety and welfare of its citizens unless they complete audits on time.<\/p>\n

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

At 33, Balderas is a young and energetic official with a vision to increase the influence of the state auditor and also build a career for himself \u2013 goals that at this point are one and the same. He\u2019s considering running against U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a>, R-N.M., in 2008, but said, during a trip to Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> on Thursday, that he\u2019s focused on \u201cgetting some things done as state auditor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Clearly, that\u2019s true, but Balderas said the congressional race intrigues him because ethics has been such an issue in government in recent years. He said he might be interested in taking on Wilson, who has been plagued by the U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> attorney scandal in recent months, so voters could decide \u201cwho\u2019s in the best position to restore integrity to the political process.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThey want to see someone who has done it,\u201d Balderas said.<\/p>\n

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

A job with potential<\/font><\/p>\n

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

As a former state House member who was part of a moderate group pushing for reform before the party put him on the ballot to run for auditor last year, Balderas has seen the problems in state government from the perspectives of two branches.<\/p>\n

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

I asked Balderas, if he stays out of the 2008 race, whether he will run for re-election in 2010 or if he might be enticed to run for lieutenant governor or another position. He didn\u2019t directly answer, but said that, in some states, the auditor is the second most powerful elected official behind the governor.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think the State Auditor\u2019s Office is the best-kept secret in policymaking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

It certainly has such potential. The auditor has the power to shine the light on the activities of state and local governments and, if it continues to move in the direction Balderas is pushing, to do something about it.<\/p>\n

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

Balderas said there\u2019s a reason wants more power for the auditor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThere is a need for systemic reform of how we manage our finances in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Balderas pointed out that his office has 32 employees \u2013 fewer than that of the Do\u00f1a Ana County District Attorney. He\u2019ll be pushing in the next few years for further expansion of his budget. That, he said, will help the state ensure its money is being spent properly and will reduce government waste, which will free up more money for addressing critical issues.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI really believe that most people who are in public service really want to solve problems,\u201d Balderas said. \u201cIt\u2019s good for them to invest in accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Auditor Hector Balderas is off to a quick start in his first six months on the job. Thus far, the Democrat has fulfilled his campaign pledge to focus on combating fraud and mismanagement in state government with several actions: \u2022 He\u2019s creating a fraud hotline for callers who want to provide information about potential […]<\/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-1781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781","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=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}