{"id":4254,"date":"2009-02-17T15:27:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-17T21:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/02\/another-audit-points-finger-at-vigil-giron\/"},"modified":"2009-02-17T15:27:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-17T21:27:00","slug":"another-audit-points-finger-at-vigil-giron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/02\/another-audit-points-finger-at-vigil-giron\/","title":{"rendered":"Another audit points finger at Vigil-Giron"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Report released today reveals \u2018severe mismanagement of federal funds that were intended to improve voter education,\u2019 state auditor says<\/span><\/p>\n

A financial audit released today adds to the body of evidence indicating that former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron\u2019s<\/a> administration severely mismanaged federal funds appropriated under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The regular, annual audit of the secretary of state\u2019s office for the 2006-2007 fiscal year, conducted by Atkinson and Co.<\/a> and released today by state Auditor Hector Balderas<\/a>, highlighted \u201cquestionable payments\u201d totaling $6.3 million made to a single contractor by Vigil-Giron\u2019s administration, according to a news release from Balderas\u2019 office.<\/p>\n

That is similar to what the U.S. Election Assistance Commission\u2019s (EAC) Office of the Inspector General found last year in its own audit<\/a> — that Vigil-Giron paid Gutierrez & Associates $6.3 million for advertising and voter education leading up to the 2006 election using the federal funds, which were not to be used for such purposes. To top it off, the company can\u2019t account for how $3 million of that money was spent.<\/p>\n

The situation is already under investigation by the attorney general. Balderas said he will refer the new audit to the AG, FBI and EAC.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe audit\u2019s multiple findings demonstrate the severe mismanagement of federal funds that were intended to improve voter education in New Mexico,\u201d Balderas said in the release.<\/p>\n

You can read the audit by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vigil-Giron said she had not seen the report or Balderas\u2019 news release and had no immediate comment, but she has repeatedly insisted in the past that no wrongdoing occurred<\/a> on her watch. A spokesman for the current secretary of state, Mary Herrera<\/a>, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Some new findings<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The new audit includes the findings from the election commission\u2019s audit that has already been widely reported on<\/a>. Among the new findings in the Atkinson audit, all related to Vigil-Giron\u2019s administration:<\/p>\n

\u2022 From July 1 to Dec. 31, 2006, the secretary of state\u2019s office inappropriately used $29,735 in HAVA funds to enhance its own Web site.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The office over-allocated expenditures to the HAVA program by almost $3 million.<\/p>\n

\u2022 For three years, the office used computer software for its statewide voter registration management system without sufficient licensing, using it on 12 computers when it only had a license to use it on four. Because of the breach of contract, the office owed almost $220,000 in fees to the software company. The current secretary of state and New Mexico Board of Finance have paid back almost $183,000 of that, but almost $37,000 remains unpaid.<\/p>\n

Balderas said Herrera has already taken \u201ccorrective action\u201d by hiring a chief financial officer to manage the office\u2019s budget and accounting practices, and he\u2019s hopeful that, in the future, \u201cthese federal funds will be responsibly managed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 8:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Herrera had this to say in a news release:<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\u201cAll states are required to be audited. Immediately after being elected as secretary of state, I requested that the Election Assistance Commission advance New Mexico on the audit schedule, as it was in the best interest of the taxpayers. We worked diligently to bring New Mexico into compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act. I am very proud of my staff for their hard work and efforts; it has been challenging. My office has initiated a bill which would release taxpayers from having to pay back $6.3 million to the federal government. We are hopeful that the Legislature passes this bill. New Mexicans should be protected.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe commend the efforts of State Auditor Hector Balderas and Atkinson & Co. in procuring the audit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Report released today reveals \u2018severe mismanagement of federal funds that were intended to improve voter education,\u2019 state auditor says A financial audit released today adds to the body of evidence indicating that former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron\u2019s administration severely mismanaged federal funds appropriated under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The regular, annual audit […]<\/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-4254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254","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=4254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}