{"id":5621,"date":"2009-08-30T23:42:52","date_gmt":"2009-08-31T05:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=5621"},"modified":"2009-08-30T23:43:37","modified_gmt":"2009-08-31T05:43:37","slug":"contarino-says-he-and-guv-acted-appropriately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/08\/contarino-says-he-and-guv-acted-appropriately\/","title":{"rendered":"Contarino says he and guv acted appropriately"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Contarino,<\/p>\n

A former aide to Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> who was once at the center of the GRIPgate probe reiterated on Friday — as the probe came to an end without charges being filed — what he\u2019s said before: that he and the governor acted \u201cappropriately and ethically at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors had been investigating whether Dave Contarino<\/a>, who Richardson once described as his \u201cmost senior and trusted aide,\u201d was involved in the alleged pay-to-play scheme that derailed the governor\u2019s nomination to be commerce secretary. The investigation was formally dropped last week.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Contarino\u2019s statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Governor and I have said from the beginning, we acted appropriately and ethically at all times and a fair and impartial investigation would bear out those facts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis investigation has gone on for over a year. I want to acknowledge and thank the literally hundreds of friends in NM and across the country who have supported me through this ordeal.\u00a0Their faith and belief in me — and in Governor Richardson — were a source of great strength through the long months of headlines, rumors, baseless accusations and efforts by some to exploit this investigation for personal and political gain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked tirelessly as a public servant and have given my time and energy to help improve the lives of New Mexicans. I hope that my year-long ordeal does not deter others from dedicating themselves to public service.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happiest for Governor Richardson who, in the face of all this, continued to make a positive difference — every day — in the lives of New Mexican citizens.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former aide to Gov. Bill Richardson who was once at the center of the GRIPgate probe reiterated on Friday — as the probe came to an end without charges being filed — what he\u2019s said before: that he and the governor acted \u201cappropriately and ethically at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[112,122,114,107],"class_list":["post-5621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-bill-richardson","tag-gripgate","tag-public-corruption","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5621","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=5621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}