{"id":4365,"date":"2009-03-18T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-18T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/03\/vigil-giron-alleges-a-conspiracy-to-destroy-me\/"},"modified":"2009-03-18T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-18T06:01:00","slug":"vigil-giron-alleges-a-conspiracy-to-destroy-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/03\/vigil-giron-alleges-a-conspiracy-to-destroy-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Vigil-Giron alleges a ‘conspiracy to destroy me’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Former SOS says recently-released audit is severely flawed and that its promotion by the state auditor is politically motivated<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron<\/a> is blaming politics for a recently released audit that found severe mismanagement of federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA)<\/a> funds by her administration — an audit she says is severely flawed.<\/p>\n

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

Because of that, she is requesting that the firm that completed the audit, Atkinson & Co.<\/a>, retract, correct and reissue the audit.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI hope that this information and request does not fall on deaf ears and that my Detractors cease in their conspiracy to destroy me and all the good service that I have given to the state of New Mexico,\u201d Vigil-Giron wrote in a letter she mailed to Atkinson on Monday.<\/p>\n

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

In the eight-page letter, Vigil-Giron alleges that Atkinson was \u201cset up to assist in destroying my reputation.\u201d She also writes that State Auditor Hector Balderas<\/a> has sensationalized the firm\u2019s audit report \u201cfor political gain,\u201d possibly because he has a desire to run for higher office.<\/p>\n

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

Vigil-Giron\u2019s letter includes a lengthy response to each of the findings in the audit of the secretary of state\u2019s office for the 2006-2007 fiscal year. You can read the letter here<\/a> and the Atkinson audit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

In the letter she sent Monday, Vigil-Giron took issue with a number of findings in the Atkinson audit. Among her charges:<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 No one from the company contacted her in the course of the audit, she wrote, so the audit \u201cis missing critical information that would have helped to establish accurate conclusions. \u2026 Because of your inattention to one of the CPA\u2019s key principles of objectivity this Audit is fatally flawed and should not be accepted as worthy of your Company\u2019s seal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 The Atkinson audit pulls much of its information from a preliminary report from the EAC, not the final report, Vigil-Giron wrote. The \u201cnegative tone of that Preliminary Draft,\u201d she wrote, \u201c\u2026 should have been a red flag to your Auditors that you were being set up to assist in destroying my reputation and to cast doubt on the federal funds that were appropriately expended.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 The state auditor\u2019s news release announcing the release of the Atkinson audit last month was \u201ctroublesome,\u201d Vigil-Giron\u2019s letter states. \u201cThe State Auditor went to great lengths to sensationalize the findings,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe timing and necessity of a press release, nearly 8 months after the audit was completed, is suspicious to say the least. Could this be because he has expressed an interest in running for a higher office?\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Balderas stands by audit<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Balderas said in response to the Vigil-Giron letter that he stands by the Atkinson audit.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe report was thoroughly reviewed by my office,\u201d Balderas said in a statement released by his office. \u201cFirst and foremost, I have an obligation to protect New Mexican taxpayer dollars. The HAVA federal grant was intended to support voter education, and I believe the audit competently reported the mismanagement of millions of dollars by the former secretary of state\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

An Atkinson official has not returned a phone call seeking comment.<\/p>\n

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

The audit was released a month ago by Balderas\u2019 office. In the accompanying news release, Balderas said the audit\u2019s findings \u201cdemonstrate the severe mismanagement of federal funds that were intended to improve voter education in New Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Vigil-Giron responded at the time by questioning the timing of the release<\/a> by Balderas of an audit that was completed last summer. Balderas\u2019 office said in response that the release of hundreds of annual government audits — including the audit of the secretary of state\u2019s office — came in February, \u201cat the completion of the review season.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The audit adds to the body of evidence indicating that Vigil-Giron\u2019s administration mismanaged $6.3 million in federal funds. Much of what\u2019s contained in the audit is based on a prior report<\/a> from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission\u2019s (EAC) Office of the Inspector General, including the primary finding that Vigil-Giron improperly used federal funds to pay the Albuquerque firm Gutierrez & Associates $6.3 million for advertising and voter education work leading up to the 2006 election. The company can\u2019t account for how $3 million of that money was spent. That situation is under investigation by the attorney general.<\/p>\n

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

Vigil-Giron has repeatedly insisted that no wrongdoing occurred<\/a> on her watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former SOS says recently-released audit is severely flawed and that its promotion by the state auditor is politically motivated Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron is blaming politics for a recently released audit that found severe mismanagement of federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds by her administration — an audit she says is severely […]<\/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-4365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4365","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=4365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}