{"id":4559,"date":"2009-05-13T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-13T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/05\/smith-embarrassed-by-scandal-i-would-be-too\/"},"modified":"2009-05-13T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-13T06:01:00","slug":"smith-embarrassed-by-scandal-i-would-be-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/05\/smith-embarrassed-by-scandal-i-would-be-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Smith &#8217;embarrassed&#8217; by scandal: I would be too"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SgpfvtAFr-I\/AAAAAAAALms\/xrPykGNrdvo\/s1600-h\/Smith,+John+Arthur.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 160px;\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SgpfvtAFr-I\/AAAAAAAALms\/xrPykGNrdvo\/s200\/Smith,+John+Arthur.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335181981712232418\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">State Sen. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/legdetails.aspx?SPONCODE=SSMIT\" target=\"_blank\">John Arthur Smith<\/a> said on Tuesday at a legislative hearing about the controversy plaguing the state\u2019s investment boards that he\u2019s \u201cembarrassed\u201d to be a public official in such a scandal-plagued state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">No kidding. I would think all public officials in New Mexico would be embarrassed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Officials convicted of corruption-related felony crimes in the last few years include two former state treasurers, a former deputy insurance superintendent and a former Senate president pro tem. Those currently caught up in controversies &#8212; some involving criminal probes &#8212; include the governor, the land commissioner, the former head of the state\u2019s affordable housing system, the former secretary of state and the investment boards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">It\u2019s overwhelming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">So here\u2019s what Smith, a Deming Democrat and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said at Tuesday\u2019s hearing, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/newmexicoindependent.com\/27290\/nm-scandal-central-lawmaker-says-he-is-embarrassed-to-serve\" target=\"_blank\">New Mexico Independent<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cAs an elected official here, I am embarrassed to serve in New Mexico,\u201d he said. \u201cI thank God I am not up for election next time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The federal pay-to-play investigation that ended the governor\u2019s bid to be commerce secretary and the investment controversies have earned New Mexico attention in the national media, and Smith also made note of that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cThere\u2019s a real atmosphere of suspicion,\u201d he said at Tuesday\u2019s hearing, according to NMI. \u201cNot only are we getting slammed here in New Mexico, but we are getting painted with a brush nationally. It\u2019s not a pretty picture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Not pretty at all. But also not undeserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State Sen. John Arthur Smith said on Tuesday at a legislative hearing about the controversy plaguing the state\u2019s investment boards that he\u2019s \u201cembarrassed\u201d to be a public official in such a scandal-plagued state. No kidding. I would think all public officials in New Mexico would be embarrassed. Officials convicted of corruption-related felony crimes in the [&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-4559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4559","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=4559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}