{"id":1888,"date":"2007-06-25T13:08:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-25T19:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/state-finance-department-vigil-giron-spar-over-cause-of-3-million-budget-shortfall-from-2006-election\/"},"modified":"2007-06-25T13:08:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-25T19:08:00","slug":"state-finance-department-vigil-giron-spar-over-cause-of-3-million-budget-shortfall-from-2006-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/state-finance-department-vigil-giron-spar-over-cause-of-3-million-budget-shortfall-from-2006-election\/","title":{"rendered":"State finance department, Vigil-Giron spar over cause of $3 million budget shortfall from 2006 election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The state\u2019s Department of Finance and Administration<\/a> has identified three issues that led to a budget shortfall of more than $3 million in the Secretary of State\u2019s Office<\/a> last year. <\/p>\n

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

The problems occurred under the administration of former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, who left office at the end of 2006. The DFA report was delivered to the governor\u2019s office two weeks ago, and found that:<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Vigil-Giron\u2019s office spent money, in some instances, without first issuing purchase orders that are required by state law.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 The office cancelled some purchase orders it had issued, then spent the money anyway.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Two of Vigil-Giron\u2019s political appointees \u2013 former Elections Supervisor Ernie Marquez and spokesman Ray Baray \u2013 were paid a significant amount for working overtime when they should have instead taken comp time.<\/p>\n

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

The first two, the report states, were due to a \u201clack of sound internal accounting and budgeting practices and controls at the SOS\u201d under Vigil-Giron\u2019s leadership. Read the full report, which includes a response from Vigil-Giron, by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

In an interview, Vigil-Giron said the Legislature put her in a difficult position because she had to implement new federal regulations and the state\u2019s shift to paper ballots, which was an unfunded mandate, and was told by lawmakers to run the election and come back later to seek supplemental funding to cover expenses.<\/p>\n

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

In some instances, she said, she had no choice but to break one state rule to comply with another. For example, she was required to spend more than $1 million publishing notice of the election in newspapers around the state, she said, but the Legislature didn\u2019t give her funding to do it.<\/p>\n

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

She called the findings \u201cminor\u201d and said that, put in the context of her 12 years as secretary of state, they don\u2019t indicate a systemic problem. She said she has a reputation for integrity.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe challenges of that office are tremendous and you have to be smart,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to think on your feet. You\u2019ve got to create.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Implementing an unfunded mandate<\/span><\/p>\n

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

In the review, the DFA noted the fact that Vigil-Giron was trying to implement the unfunded switch to paper ballots. The purchase orders at issue included $1.76 million to print the new ballots.<\/p>\n

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

But the DFA disputed many of Vigil-Giron\u2019s assertions, and has referred the findings to the state auditor<\/a> and attorney general<\/a> for further review.<\/p>\n

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

Vigil-Giron said the DFA had as much a role as she did by approving the expenditures, and called the situation \u201ccharacter assassination 101.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cMy shoddy bookkeeping \u2013 bologna \u2013 they approved everything,\u201d she said. \u201cI have a damn good reputation in my state and outside my state. I follow every law to the letter. I follow every rule to the letter. I don\u2019t just make it up as I go.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

She said the Legislature has had a longstanding policy of underfunding the office in election years and allowing the secretary of state to come back the next year for a supplemental appropriation, and said she was told to do that with the 2006 election. She noted that she did make a supplemental request before she left office, for more than $3 million, and the money was granted this year to her successor, current Secretary of State Mary Herrera, to cover the costs of last year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

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

Vigil-Giron also said DFA rejected her request for an exemption to the rule that prohibits agencies from overspending their budgets, and that she sought emergency funds from the Board of Finance<\/a> but was told none were available.<\/p>\n

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

The DFA refuted both assertions. In the report, it stated that Vigil-Giron withdrew her request for an exemption to the so-called 50 percent rule before DFA could act on it. Had she not done that, the request would have been approved because \u201cthe rule does not apply to the SOS in a general election year, due to the seasonal nature of its operations,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

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

The memo also states that Vigil-Giron made only one request to the Board of Finance \u2013 for $200,000 to hire an auditor to canvass the election results \u2013 and the request was granted in September. More than $1.5 million was still available at the time, according to the DFA, and the minutes of that month\u2019s Board of Finance meeting do not indicate that Vigil-Giron requested more money.<\/p>\n

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

In the end, the DFA memo states, Vigil-Giron didn\u2019t use the $200,000 she had been granted.<\/p>\n

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

\u2018Going outside the approval process\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Vigil-Giron also stated, in her response to the DFA findings, that \u201call of the secretary of state\u2019s purchases were made through contracts approved by the Attorney General\u2019s Office or purchase orders approved by the Department of Finance and Administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Phil Sisneros, spokesman for the attorney general, said his office doesn\u2019t approve expenditures, but only looks for \u201clegal sufficiency.\u201d Asked about details like securing purchase orders before signing contracts, he said there is \u201cthe assumption that the agency has already done that part.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Stephanie Lenhart, DFA spokeswoman, said the agency \u201cdid not approve the creation of unpaid and unencumbered liabilities. The secretary of state created those liabilities by working outside of DFA\u2019s financial control procedures, or this is what she appears to have done.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

For example, Lenhart said, \u201cIf she doesn\u2019t issue a purchase order, then there\u2019s no P.O. for us to approve. If she\u2019s going outside the approval process, then we don\u2019t know about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The Legislative Finance Committee<\/a> has also expressed concerns about the shortfall. The complaints of a number of lawmakers and Herrera led to the DFA review. Sen. John Arthur Smith<\/a>, chair of the LFC, said Vigil-Giron had a history of seeking supplemental funding in years that followed elections. He said the Legislature was concerned about the office \u201cnot giving us budgets and just relying on supplementals and deficiencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

He said the Legislature is now trying to push the secretary of state and all agencies to do a better job of proposing accurate budgets, which will increase oversight.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe\u2019re just wanting some greater accuracy in the budget process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

At the same time, Smith acknowledged that Vigil-Giron was in a difficult position in implementing new state and federal rules without the funding for the paper-ballot switch, and called the concern about the additional costs for paper ballots \u201clegitimate.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI don\u2019t think she\u2019s done anything, at this point in time and with the information I have, anything wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

\n

An uncertain future<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Vigil-Giron has publicly stated her goal of succeeding Diane Denish<\/a> as lieutenant governor, and is a current applicant for the position of executive director of the Democratic Party of New Mexico<\/a>. Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> appointed her to be director of the state\u2019s film office earlier this year, but that led to the public outcry over the budgetary issues in the secretary of state\u2019s office, and the deal fell apart.<\/p>\n

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

Vigil-Giron has also said she\u2019s talking with Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> about a possible job in his administration or on his campaign.<\/p>\n

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

But the potential troubles for Vigil-Giron aren\u2019t over. Sisneros said his office is \u201clooking into\u201d the situation. A regularly scheduled annual audit will further probe many of the issues identified by the DFA, and the state auditor might decide to conduct a special audit.<\/p>\n

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

In addition, federal auditors have been looking into the possibility that Vigil-Giron\u2019s office misspent almost $20 million in federal election money. The review is one of about two dozen across the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The state\u2019s Department of Finance and Administration has identified three issues that led to a budget shortfall of more than $3 million in the Secretary of State\u2019s Office last year. The problems occurred under the administration of former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, who left office at the end of 2006. The DFA report was […]<\/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-1888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888","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=1888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}