{"id":368,"date":"2006-07-13T02:14:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-13T08:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/aragon-and-at-least-one-current-legislator-at-center-of-fbi-public-corruption-investigation\/"},"modified":"2006-07-13T02:14:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-13T08:14:00","slug":"aragon-and-at-least-one-current-legislator-at-center-of-fbi-public-corruption-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/aragon-and-at-least-one-current-legislator-at-center-of-fbi-public-corruption-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Aragon and at least one current legislator at center of FBI public corruption investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/5892\/2386\/1600\/Aragon%2C%20Manny.0.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/5892\/2386\/200\/Aragon%2C%20Manny.0.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>If you were astonished by the state treasurer\u2019s scandal, prepare for an even bigger shock in the near future.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">At least, that\u2019s the rumor surrounding an FBI probe into the construction of three relatively new government buildings in Albuquerque that are among the largest construction projects in the state\u2019s history: <span style=\"color:black;\">the $41 million Bernalillo County Courthouse, the $34 million Metropolitan Courthouse and the $90 million Metropolitan Detention Center. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Now, thanks to some quality reporting by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abqtrib.com\/albq\/nw_local_state_government\/article\/0,2564,ALBQ_19859_4838760,00.html\" target=\"_blank\">Albuquerque Tribune<\/a>, we know the investigation centers in part around former Senate leader Manny Aragon, the currently embattled president of <st1:place st=\"on\"><st1:placename st=\"on\">New Mexico<\/st1:placename> <st1:placetype st=\"on\">Highlands<\/st1:placetype>  <st1:placetype st=\"on\">University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Sources tell me the investigation also centers a current and powerful legislator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Those projects involved some of the most prestigious construction and architectural companies in the state, including some that have worked on major projects in the <st1:city st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I and others around the state have been hearing for weeks that a grand jury has convened and Aragon and others might be indicted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">No wonder Gov. Bill Richardson, who orchestrated <st1:country-region st=\"on\">Aragon<\/st1:country-region>\u2019s hiring at <st1:place st=\"on\">Highlands<\/st1:place>, has been silent as the regents try to fire him. This investigation might even be the reason for his attempted termination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><st1:placename st=\"on\">Former<\/st1:placename> <st1:placename st=\"on\">Bernalillo<\/st1:placename> <st1:placetype st=\"on\">County<\/st1:placetype> Manager Juan Vigil told the Tribune he was interviewed six weeks ago by the FBI about construction of the jail, and the primary subject was <st1:country-region st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">Aragon<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cThey had allegations that somebody had given Manny $70,000 to ensure a contractor \u2026 got the job,\u201d Vigil told the Tribune. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you were astonished by the state treasurer\u2019s scandal, prepare for an even bigger shock in the near future. At least, that\u2019s the rumor surrounding an FBI probe into the construction of three relatively new government buildings in Albuquerque that are among the largest construction projects in the state\u2019s history: the $41 million Bernalillo County [&hellip;]<\/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-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368","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=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}