{"id":35882,"date":"2012-01-30T09:35:55","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T16:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=35882"},"modified":"2012-01-30T10:37:44","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T17:37:44","slug":"abq-journal-calls-ag%e2%80%99s-record-%e2%80%98woefully-inadequate%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/01\/abq-journal-calls-ag%e2%80%99s-record-%e2%80%98woefully-inadequate%e2%80%99\/","title":{"rendered":"ABQ Journal calls AG\u2019s record \u2018woefully inadequate\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Attorney<\/a>

Attorney General Gary King (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Albuquerque Journal joined the criticism of Attorney General Gary King<\/a> this weekend, calling his record \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201d and questioning whether he has \u201cthe commitment and drive to actually deliver some results.\u201d<\/p>\n

The impetus for the newspaper\u2019s editorial<\/a> was the recent discovery by The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> that, in spite of a prior statement from the AG\u2019s office, an embezzlement investigation focused in part on the live-in girlfriend of a former Albuquerque mayor has been ongoing for more than three years.<\/p>\n

King\u2019s office initially said the office had received information about the alleged crime \u201cseveral months ago,\u201d but The New Mexican obtained records that proved otherwise.<\/p>\n

King\u2019s response to The New Mexican:<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I do have to do a personal\u00a0mea culpa\u00a0to everybody that thinks that several months ago apparently means like three months ago or something like that,\u201d King said. \u201cI think it was meant to be indeterminate.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But:<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think \u2018several months\u2019 was particularly descriptive of how long we\u2019ve had the case,\u201d King said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think it was a lie, either. Several months is not a good description based on human experience of how much several months is, but basically it was trying to be a way to say that we can\u2019t make a specific comment on any particular case that is under investigation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Journal called the situation \u201can absolutely surreal exercise in dissembling\u201d and called King\u2019s explanation \u201castonishing.\u201d From the editorial:<\/p>\n

\u201cHis \u2018folks\u2019 also haven\u2019t tried to prosecute the case criminally \u2014 four years in. And that should prompt New Mexicans to ask what else have they gotten from this attorney general.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

King has long faced criticism<\/h3>\n

Of course, the criticism of King isn\u2019t new. Last year, The Santa Fe New Mexican suggested that he should consider resigning<\/a>. Here\u2019s how I summed up King\u2019s woes in ranking the criticism of him as the ninth biggest political story<\/a> in New Mexico in 2011:<\/p>\n

\u201cAttorney General Gary King had one of the worst years of any elected official in New Mexico in 2011. The criticism was widespread (and included me), and it covered a range of issues including allegations that his office was\u00a0\u201cineffective\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in dealing with cop discipline cases, that it trailed those\u00a0responsible for Medicaid fraud recovery<\/a>\u00a0in almost all other states, that he thumbed his nose\u00a0at campaign contribution limits<\/a>, that he gave Jerome Block Jr.\u00a0an overly lenient plea deal<\/a>, that he was playing fast and loose with Southern New Mexico\u2019s water<\/a>, that he\u00a0declined to investigate<\/a>\u00a0bribery allegations against a state official the feds later indicted, that his office\u00a0violated the Inspection of Public Records Act<\/a>, and that he had a serious conflict<\/a>\u00a0with a corruption case his office was prosecuting.<\/p>\n

\u201cKing has long faced criticism for his handling of corruption cases, but the condemnation of the job he\u2019s doing was deafening in 2011. The Santa Fe New Mexican said King\u00a0should consider resigning<\/a>. I\u00a0slammed King<\/a> after he attempted to damage my credibility and intimidate me into silence by suggesting that I colluded with Republicans to deflect criticism away from the governor and onto him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf King doesn\u2019t change some things, the criticism will continue.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Journal adds to list of grievances<\/h3>\n

The Journal had its own list of grievances against King, and here\u2019s what it added that wasn\u2019t on my list:<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2022 No criminal charges in the alleged pay-to-play practices involving state investments that have cost taxpayers millions \u2014 despite civil lawsuits laying the groundwork for criminal conduct. (Though in this case, King could reasonably point across the street to federal inaction as a mitigating factor.)<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2022 A three-year dragging prosecution of former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and others in connection with millions in federal taxpayer cash that\u2019s been unaccounted for since the 2004 and 2006 elections. Vigil-Giron and her co-defendants have yet to get their day in court; taxpayers have yet to get any answers to where their money went.<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2022 A 16-month investigation into whether a State Investment Council contract that started out at $30,000 but ballooned over six amended versions to $5.1 million should have been put out to bid, as it exceeded the $50,000 threshold. The decision \u2014 yes \u2014 came after taxpayers had already paid the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2022 \u2026Six years of violating federal law by submitting federal campaign finance reports with the signature of a political committee treasurer (pay-to-play civil defendant and former Educational Retirement Board Chairman Bruce Malott) who left soon after King\u2019s 2004 race for Congress failed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Journal concluded that King\u2019s list of positive accomplishments is \u201cwoefully short.\u201d Read the full editorial here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Albuquerque Journal called the record of Attorney General Gary King \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201d this weekend and questioned whether he has \u201cthe commitment and drive to actually deliver some results.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[223,142,224,111,114,107],"class_list":["post-35882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-campaign-finance","tag-crime","tag-gary-king","tag-open-government","tag-public-corruption","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35882","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=35882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}