{"id":2304,"date":"2007-10-02T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-02T14:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/whistleblower-urges-prosecution-in-housing-scandal\/"},"modified":"2007-10-02T08:06:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-02T14:06:00","slug":"whistleblower-urges-prosecution-in-housing-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/whistleblower-urges-prosecution-in-housing-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Whistleblower urges prosecution in housing scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Las Cruces<\/st1:city> woman who blew the whistle last year on the malfunctioning state housing authority system urged prosecution of those responsible for the loss of millions of dollars during a legislative meeting in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> on Monday.<\/p>\n

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

Meanwhile, a state official told lawmakers they may be asked to appropriate additional money for a full-scale audit of the system.<\/p>\n

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

Frances Williams, a board member of the defunct Las Cruces-based Region VII Housing Authority, made the comments during the meeting of the Legislative Mortgage Finance Authority Act Oversight Committee<\/a>, according to a copy of the statement she provided.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cMillions of dollars have been stolen from funding intended for affordable housing because there has been no oversight, no structure and no ethics laws which could have avoided what we experienced with housing funding,\u201d Williams said. \u201c\u2026These bonds proved to be a piggy bank for unscrupulous individuals who plundered it at will, with no one looking over their shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Most of the state\u2019s affordable housing system collapsed last year when the Albuquerque-based Region III authority defaulted on $5 million in bonds it owed the state. Those bonds were to be spent on affordable housing projects, but almost $900,000 instead went to the former director as salary, benefits and a questionable loan, and some $700,000 was loaned to the Las Cruces-based Region VII authority for administrative costs.<\/p>\n

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

It was Williams\u2019 revealing of that $700,000, coupled with the fact that Region VII didn\u2019t build a single home for affordable housing, that led to the uncovering of widespread problems last year. The state auditor<\/a> is currently conducting a review and the attorney general<\/a> is investigating.<\/p>\n

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

Williams pointed the finger at the former director of Region III, Vincent \u201cSmiley\u201d Gallegos, who resigned last year as the system collapsed. She said he \u201chas still not been charged or indicted in a court of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

She also pointed to Speaker of the House Ben Lujan<\/a>, a close friend of Gallegos, saying he \u201ctouted (Gallegos\u2019) honesty in spite of two investigative reports\u2026 showing gross misappropriation, mismanagement of funds meant for affordable housing and violation of state statutes. Who suffered? The poor people of this state who are still living in unsafe and indecent housing while the fat cats were out spending money intended to provide them with decent housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

And Williams called \u201cshameful\u201d the fact that Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court<\/a> Judge Theresa Gomez is still on the bench after living rent-free for 20 months in a home owned by the housing authority while making $93,000 per year. Gomez also dismissed traffic citations and cancelled an arrest warrant for Gallegos.<\/p>\n

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

The state Supreme Court has made clear its intention to suspend Gomez, and she has agreed to pay $17,000 in back rent, but a resolution has not been finalized.<\/p>\n

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

Additional reform needed<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Williams also thanked those who pushed through a bill earlier this year that provided the money for the auditor\u2019s review and partially reformed the housing authority system by implementing greater checks and balances. However, Williams said additional reform is needed. She said there are other organizations providing affordable housing throughout the state.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe need to review all the housing authorities in the state because we have too many,\u201d she said. \u201cWith dollars so scarce we must have a lean and mean organization which will deliver safe and affordable housing so desperately needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Williams also called for ethics reform, including a whistleblower law that would protect people like her. After revealing the problems last year, Williams was sued by Gallegos, but the lawsuit was dismissed. Gallegos also tried, unsuccessfully, to force Williams off the Region VII board.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWhat I learned from all of this is that our beloved state had a decaying underbelly that stands on the apocalyptic legs of the three \u2018C\u2019s\u2019 \u2013 collusion, corruption and cronyism,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWho pays? The hardworking citizens of this state, who, with compassion in their hearts, provide the money for safe, decent and affordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Additional audit will be necessary<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Also at the meeting, Richard Chavez, the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority\u2019s<\/a> regional housing liaison, told lawmakers they\u2019ll need to spend additional money for a full audit next year, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

The $200,000 lawmakers provided to the state auditor was for a review of remaining assets to help determine whether any can be sold to help recover the lost bond money. Chavez said a full audit of operational funding will also be necessary.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt\u2019s my belief we\u2019re going to need to do a complete, full audit of Region III and those dollars that were spent,\u201d the newspaper quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Las Cruces woman who blew the whistle last year on the malfunctioning state housing authority system urged prosecution of those responsible for the loss of millions of dollars during a legislative meeting in Las Cruces on Monday. Meanwhile, a state official told lawmakers they may be asked to appropriate additional money for a full-scale […]<\/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-2304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304","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=2304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}