{"id":4686,"date":"2009-06-25T16:21:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-25T22:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/06\/educational-retirement-board-releases-subpoenas\/"},"modified":"2009-06-25T16:21:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-25T22:21:00","slug":"educational-retirement-board-releases-subpoenas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/06\/educational-retirement-board-releases-subpoenas\/","title":{"rendered":"Educational Retirement Board releases subpoenas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Grand jury directed investment board to produce records related to dealings with Aldus Equity, Chairman Bruce Malott\u2019s e-mails<\/span><\/p>\n

This article has been updated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The New Mexico Educational Retirement Board<\/a> (ERB) reversed courses this afternoon and released two subpoenas it has received from a federal grand jury that is probing state investment deals.<\/p>\n

The reversal comes because \u201cadditional information relevant to the release of the requested subpoenas\u201d has become available since the ERB denied requests from me and others for the release of the records last month, ERB General Counsel Christopher Schatzman wrote in a letter<\/a> sent this afternoon. He did not elaborate, and wrote that he reserves the right to withhold documents under similar circumstances in the future.<\/p>\n

Read the subpoenas by clicking here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The release of the subpoenas comes a day before the ERB\u2019s governing board was scheduled to decide<\/a> whether to override the decision by staff to withhold the subpoenas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud of our superb ERB staff for reconsidering their position on the subpoenas,\u201d the chairman of the board, Bruce Malott<\/a>, said this afternoon. \u201cSunlight is the best disinfectant, and I continue to believe the public\u2019s right to see their government at work should never be marginalized.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first subpoena, dated April 28 of this year, directed the ERB to produce a number of records to the grand jury on June 9 in Albuquerque. The request sought documentation from 2003 to the present related to contracts and other agreements the ERB has with companies providing it with investment advice, including information about third-party marketers.<\/p>\n

It specifically instructed the ERB to produce records related to the hiring of Aldus Equity — a firm the ERB and State Investment Council<\/a> (SIC) have both since fired<\/a> because of its involvement in the pension scandal in New York<\/a> — and any correspondence between the ERB and Aldus.<\/p>\n

The second subpoena, dated May 7, ordered the ERB to produce \u201call e-mails, including attachments, to or from Bruce Malott for the period January 1, 2003 through the present,\u201d to the grand jury on June 9.<\/p>\n

Malott sought release of subpoenas<\/span><\/p>\n

It was Malott who, earlier this month, wrote a letter<\/a> to Schatzman stating that he wanted the agency to reconsider its decision to withhold release of two federal grand jury subpoenas it has received. That letter stated that Malott wanted to discuss the issue during an upcoming board meeting if Schatzman was unwilling to reconsider.<\/p>\n

It was also Malott who had planned for the board to discuss the issue on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very well aware that the second subpoena requested my ERB e-mails before I requested ERB staff to reconsider their position,\u201d Malott said this afternoon, \u201cand, from the beginning, I thought (the subpoenas and e-mails) should be disclosed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malott declined to comment on whether he\u2019s a target of the investigation.<\/p>\n

Other subpoenas<\/span><\/p>\n

Late last month, the ERB and SIC both denied requests<\/a> from me and others for copies of subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office related to investments. In denying my request, Schatzman cited the exemption to the state\u2019s Inspection of Public Records Act<\/a> that allows for denial \u201cas otherwise provided by law,\u201d and wrote in his letter<\/a> that the federal public records law in some instances exempts records compiled for law enforcement purposes.<\/p>\n

While New Mexico courts have not addressed whether that federal exemption applies to state law, some other states\u2019 courts have said it does apply there, according to Schatzman\u2019s letter. The SIC\u2019s letter<\/a>, from Public Information Officer Charles Wollmann, says essentially the same thing.<\/p>\n

The responses from the ERB and SIC are different from those I received recently from two other state agencies that have been subpoenaed in federal investigations. The governor\u2019s office has released the subpoena<\/a> it has received in the federal probe of allegations of pay to play in the Richardson administration.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the New Mexico Finance Authority<\/a> (NMFA) has denied my request<\/a> for the subpoena it received in the pay to play probe. My business, Haussamen Publications, which publishes this site, has sued the NMFA<\/a> to try to force the release of that subpoena. The lawsuit is pending.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 4:55 p.m.<\/p>\n

SIC spokesman Charles Wollmann declined to comment on whether his agency might also reverse courses and release subpoenas it has received.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grand jury directed investment board to produce records related to dealings with Aldus Equity, Chairman Bruce Malott\u2019s e-mails This article has been updated. The New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (ERB) reversed courses this afternoon and released two subpoenas it has received from a federal grand jury that is probing state investment deals. The reversal comes […]<\/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-4686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4686"}],"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=4686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}