{"id":417,"date":"2006-07-31T00:39:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-31T06:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/heres-the-most-egregious-example-of-pork-barrel-legislation-a-private-party-at-taxpayers-expense\/"},"modified":"2006-07-31T00:39:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-31T06:39:00","slug":"heres-the-most-egregious-example-of-pork-barrel-legislation-a-private-party-at-taxpayers-expense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/heres-the-most-egregious-example-of-pork-barrel-legislation-a-private-party-at-taxpayers-expense\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s ‘the most egregious example of pork barrel legislation:’ a private party at taxpayers’ expense"},"content":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> sure has had its share of scandal lately.<\/p>\n

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

The sleepy town in the northern part of the state recently dealt with Manny Aragon\u2019s departure from Highlands<\/st1:placetype> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>. The area is also the home of former state treasurer Robert Vigil, who is awaiting his second federal corruption trial.<\/p>\n

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

Vigil\u2019s brother and sister-in-law are the subjects of the current scandal.<\/p>\n

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

The former West Las Vegas<\/st1:place> school district\u2019s bilingual education director, Roberta Vigil, threw quite a bash last year, thanks to a $71,250 legislative appropriation passed with the help of her husband, Rep. Richard Vigil<\/a>, D-Ribera.<\/p>\n

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

He\u2019s the former state treasurer\u2019s brother.<\/p>\n

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

Basically, Roberta Vigil spent $9,734 of taxpayer money for a private, invitation-only party, held at night, which featured the Al Hurricane band. It was a party the school district dubbed as a workshop and as professional development, according to the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Yeah, this is one of those stories that will make you slap your forehead, or sigh.<\/p>\n

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

As if the town wasn\u2019t already small enough, Richard Vigil\u2019s other brother is a school board member in Las Vegas<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

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

So they had a big party. It lasted past midnight on April 28 of last year. Some 200 people attended the event, which was dubbed by event planners as a celebration of Hispanic culture and heritage in Northern New Mexico<\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

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

Complete with professional development for bilingual education staffers in the school district, of course. All 200 of them.<\/p>\n

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

While planning the party, Roberta Vigil sought price quotes for \u201cdinner with midnight snack,\u201d according to the Journal, but purchase forms from the school district called it \u201csustenance for workshop.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The cost included almost $5,000 for catering by a business run by the son of another school board member in Las Vegas<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, in addition to the cost of booking the band and six hotel rooms for its members and a rental fee for the hall where the event was held.<\/p>\n

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

School district attorney Jes\u00fas Lopez called this \u201cthe most egregious example of pork barrel legislation (he\u2019d) ever seen,\u201d according to the Journal. He said the district never requested the money.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Now the state Department of Education and state auditor are looking into the situation.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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

In addition, Roberta Vigil used some of the money to purchase 13 televisions, a refrigerator, three executive massage chairs and office furniture, the Journal article states.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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

One of the televisions, a 42-inch plasma screen, has vanished.<\/o:p><\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas sure has had its share of scandal lately. The sleepy town in the northern part of the state recently dealt with Manny Aragon\u2019s departure from Highlands University. The area is also the home of former state treasurer Robert Vigil, who is awaiting his second federal corruption trial. Vigil\u2019s brother and sister-in-law are the […]<\/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-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417","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=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}