{"id":41537,"date":"2012-07-18T06:27:03","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T12:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=41537"},"modified":"2012-07-18T20:15:10","modified_gmt":"2012-07-19T02:15:10","slug":"legislators-want-multiple-nmfa-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/07\/legislators-want-multiple-nmfa-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislators want multiple NMFA reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018It is vital to get to the bottom of what happened and why as soon as possible,\u2019 say the two lawmakers who head the NMFA oversight committee.<\/h4>\n

In the wake of a revelation that the New Mexico Finance Authority\u2019s<\/a> fiscal year 2011 audit was fraudulent<\/a>, two lawmakers who head an oversight committee say they want multiple reviews of the situation.<\/p>\n

The statement from Sen. Mary Kay Papen<\/a>, D-Las Cruces and chair of the NMFA Oversight Committee, and Rep. Patricia Lundstrom<\/a>, D-Gallup and the committee\u2019s vice chair, follows a Monday emergency meeting of the NMFA board. At that meeting, some board members questioned the agency\u2019s decision<\/a> to hire a firm to conduct its own investigation into the matter.<\/p>\n

That investigation would be in addition to a special audit mandated by the State Auditor\u2019s Office and a probe by the state\u2019s Securities Division.<\/p>\n

With NMFA\u2019s board meeting again today, Papen and Lundstrom said they want it all. Here\u2019s their full statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, like all the citizens of New Mexico, were shocked and are deeply troubled by last week\u2019s revelation that the NMFA\u2019s 2011 audit of its financial results appears to have been fabricated. It is vital to get to the bottom of what happened and why as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were disappointed, however, by the tone of the debate at (Monday\u2019s) open special Board meeting, over what we believe is a prudent and urgent plan by NMFA management to address the situation appropriately and in a manner best designed to reassure the national financial markets on which NMFA and all state agencies requiring external financing and access to the capital markets rely.<\/p>\n

\u201cRetaining experience and nationally respected independent legal experts to review the matter and to make recommendations for improvements is \u2013 in our view \u2013 a key step to restoring confidence in NMFA and, by extension, New Mexico. At the same time, we have great respect for the state auditor, and the Securities Division of the Department of Regulation and Licensing, and we believe it is important that their independent reviews proceed independently and in parallel with the review commissioned by NMFA.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply put, the stakes for New Mexico and all of its citizens are too high. We strongly urge that the NMFA\u2019s Board vote (today) to support NMFA management\u2019s investigative plan and recommendation to retain Steptoe & Johnson\u2019s Evan T. Barr, a respected, former federal prosecutor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to seeing the results of the state auditor\u2019s investigation, the Securities Division\u2019s review, and the independent review by Mr. Barr, as soon as possible, and to taking whatever recommended steps are necessary to ensure the public\u2019s confidence in New Mexico\u2019s finances.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The stakes are high. Moody\u2019s said Monday the NMFA was under review for a possible downgrade<\/a>, and Standard and Poor\u2019s has put it on the watch list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of a revelation that the New Mexico Finance Authority\u2019s fiscal year 2011 audit was fraudulent, two lawmakers who head an oversight committee say they want multiple reviews of the situation.<\/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":[142,107],"class_list":["post-41537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41537","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=41537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}