{"id":21523,"date":"2010-09-14T01:57:18","date_gmt":"2010-09-14T07:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=21523"},"modified":"2010-09-15T08:14:08","modified_gmt":"2010-09-15T14:14:08","slug":"docs-say-denish%e2%80%99s-husband-lobbied-state-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/09\/docs-say-denish%e2%80%99s-husband-lobbied-state-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Docs say Denish\u2019s husband lobbied state agency"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Diane Denish (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> reported to the Secretary of State\u2019s Office for years that her husband was lobbying the New Mexico Department of Transportation<\/a> (DOT) on behalf of developers.<\/p>\n

Now, with Herb Denish\u2019s lobbying becoming an issue in the governor\u2019s race, Diane Denish\u2019s campaign says the Democrat\u2019s husband wasn\u2019t really lobbying DOT. A spokesman says Herb Denish was attending DOT meetings only \u201cas an observer,\u201d and that Diane Denish reported that he was lobbying to go above and beyond disclosure requirements and \u201cexercise an abundance of caution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican candidate Susana Martinez<\/a> made an issue of Herb Denish\u2019s lobbying in a new TV ad<\/a> her campaign began airing Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeveloper contributed $320,000 to Richardson and Denish.\u00a0Got millions in special deals.\u00a0But it gets worse,\u201d the ad\u2019s narrator states. \u201cTurns out, developer had Denish\u2019s husband on the payroll. Mr. Denish was developer\u2019s paid lobbyist. Mrs. Denish\u2019s administration gave developer special tax deal worth $500 million.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDenish got paid,\u201d the narrator states. \u201cDeveloper got rich… with our tax money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denish\u2019s campaign called the Martinez ad \u201cfalse,\u201d saying Herb Denish \u201cnever lobbied the state \u2013 he represented his clients at the municipal level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Records confirm that Herb Denish is a registered lobbyist with the City of Albuquerque and that he represented Forest City Covington before the city from 2006 to 2009. Forest City Covington is the developer of the Mesa del Sol<\/a> community on Albuquerque\u2019s southeast side \u2013 and is developer highlighted in Martinez\u2019s attack ad.<\/p>\n

But in 2004<\/a>, 2005<\/a>, 2006<\/a> and 2007<\/a>, on financial disclosure forms she\u2019s required to file annually as an elected official, Diane Denish stated that Herb Denish was representing clients before DOT, a state agency.<\/p>\n

All four years, the disclosure forms listed Forest City Covington as a lobbying client and stated that Herb Denish was a representing the company before DOT. The 2005 form also stated that Herb Denish represented Hunt Development Corp. \u2013 the developer of the ABQ Uptown<\/a> shopping center in Albuquerque \u2013 before DOT.<\/p>\n

Asked about the disclosure forms, Denish campaign spokesman Chris Cervini said Herb Denish \u201cdid attend some DOT commission meetings as an observer, not as a participant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not lobbying, that\u2019s attending a public meeting,\u201d he said, adding that, \u201cJust as Diane Denish has gone above and beyond the rules for reporting campaign contributions<\/a>, she made a decision to exercise an abundance of caution with these disclosures.\u201d<\/p>\n

A DOT spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

Were Herb Denish lobbying DOT, he would have been required to register with the secretary of state and list his clients. The Denish campaign says Herb Denish has \u201cnever been a lobbyist at the state level.\u201d The Secretary of State\u2019s Web site<\/a> does not list Herb Denish as currently being registered as a lobbyist.<\/p>\n

Reached late Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Francisco Trujillo said he would find out today whether Herb Denish has ever registered as a lobbyist with the state.<\/p>\n

The money<\/h3>\n

Diane Denish\u2019s disclosure forms and Albuquerque lobbyist records reveal that Herb Denish was working for Forest City Covington from at least 2004-2009. And, according to those records, he worked for Hunt Development Corp. in 2002 and from 2005-2009.<\/p>\n

The companies were both lobbying state government for controversial tax increment development district<\/a> (TIDD) financing for major development projects in Albuquerque. Hunt won approval of a $164 million Tax Increment Development District deal from the Legislature and governor in 2009.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/a> wrote last year about what Mesa del Sol has received during Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s<\/a> tenure:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026the\u00a0University of New Mexico\u2019s board of regents, controlled by Mr. Richardson\u2019s appointees, and the state land office engineered a complicated three-way deal that made it possible for the developer to buy a 3,000-acre piece of the tract from the university for $9 million and a share of future profits. Overseeing the deal was the regent\u2019s board president, Jamie Koch, a Richardson appointee and former state\u00a0Democratic Party chairman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Legislature, with strong urging from the governor, also changed state law to let the developer divert tax receipts to underwrite bonds that would be used to pay for infrastructure on the site. In April 2007, Mr. Richardson signed off on legislation authorizing the developer to issue up to $500 million in bonds.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, the Times reported that, from 2002 to 2007, Richardson\u2019s campaigns and political committees received more than $290,000 in contributions from Forest City Covington and \u201cmembers of the families that control the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diane Denish, according to the money-in-politics Web site FollowTheMoney.org<\/a>, has received at least $16,000 in campaign contributions from Forest City Covington and $8,466 from Hunt Development Corp.<\/p>\n

The amounts the companies paid Herb Denish have not been disclosed publicly. NMPolitics.net is awaiting answers from the Denish campaign to a number of questions related to Herb Denish\u2019s lobbying while Diane Denish has been lieutenant governor, including whether Diane Denish is willing to disclose how much Herb Denish has been paid by clients who have lobbied the state during her tenure.<\/p>\n

Skipping votes, but not public speeches<\/h3>\n

Diane Denish has acknowledged that a conflict exists between her position on the New Mexico Board of Finance<\/a> and her husband\u2019s lobbying on behalf of Forest City Covington. The board has a role in giving approval to TIDD projects before they go to the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Board of Finance minutes indicate that Diane Denish skipped some meetings at which Mesa del Sol business was considered. She also recused herself from voting on Mesa del Sol issues at least twice.<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t stopped the lieutenant governor from speaking publicly about her husbands\u2019 client over the years. For example, a February 2007 newsletter<\/a> from Forest City Covington included an article about the groundbreaking of a DOT project to extend Albuquerque\u2019s University Boulevard to provide access to Mesa del Sol.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe University Boulevard extension is an important milestone in the development of Mesa del Sol,\u201d the article quoted Diane Denish as saying at the Dec. 16, 2006 groundbreaking ceremony.<\/p>\n

And when a solar plant broke ground in Mesa del Sol in 2006, Diane Denish was there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a momentous day for Albuquerque, Bernalillo County and for the state of New Mexico,\u201d the Albuquerque Journal<\/a> quoted her as saying that day.<\/p>\n

Diane Denish also attended the 2008 signing of an agreement between Mesa del Sol and Sandia National Labs, according to a photograph on Sandia\u2019s Web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cervini defended Diane Denish\u2019s public statements and attendance at events related to Mesa del Sol.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiane Denish\u2019s public comments in support of Mesa del Sol or projects located there are akin to statements any elected official would make in support of any project that has the potential to create high-wage jobs in New Mexico,\u201d Cervini said. \u201cThis is much like Denish\u2019s strong public support of\u00a0other economic development projects in every corner of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Update, 11:55 a.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Martinez Campaign Manager Ryan Cangiolosi sent this statement through a staffer:<\/p>\n

\u201cDiane Denish has now been caught misleading the public and press about her husband lobbying her administration,\u201d Cangiolosi said. \u201cIt is time for Diane Denish to come clean and disclose exactly how much she and her family profited from a corporation that her administration awarded a tax deal worth $500 million.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: Lt. Gov. Diane Denish reported to the Secretary of State\u2019s Office for years that her husband was lobbying the state Department of Transportation on behalf of developers. Now, with Herb Denish\u2019s lobbying becoming an issue in the governor\u2019s race, Diane Denish\u2019s campaign says her husband wasn\u2019t really lobbying DOT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[108,107],"class_list":["post-21523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21523","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=21523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}