Posted on 02/02/2006 7:30:43 PM PST by CedarDave
The Palm steakhouse in downtown Denver is popular with power brokers and advertises itself as "the place to see and to be seen."
Gov. Bill Richardson, Santa Fe businessman Jerry Peters and their entourages dined there in a private room after the Denver-Pittsburgh AFC championship game Jan. 21. A Richardson spokesman said the governor and three staff members flew to Denver on an aircraft the governor chartered and paid for out of his own pocket.
The agenda, they said, was football and socializing. No business.
Peters has some serious business deals that will or could require state approval. The Richardson administration is considering a Peters company for a redevelopment project in Santa Fe that is estimated to cost up to $400 million. Also, Peters and Jemez Pueblo are proposing the state's first off-reservation Indian casino, which would be subject to approval by the governor if federal officials sign off on it.
Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley said the governor's group wasn't joined by anyone at the game but had dinner later with "friends and acquaintances."
Shipley said the governor was on private time and refused to confirm that Peters was present or identify any others at the meal. He declined comment on the appropriateness of the governor and Peters sharing dinner given Peters' interests in administration decisions. He declined to say what kind of plane the governor chartered or how much the flight cost. He said Richardson paid for his dinner and those of his staff.
"The discussion was about football, not state business," Shipley said. "The trip was about relaxing, watching football and rewarding the governor's hard-working staff," Shipley said. "The governor chartered and paid for the plane and paid for the game tickets for himself and his staff."
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Ridiculous!
It's a righteous, popular Demo(n)crat Governor. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Oh, by the way, that's why you will NEVER hear this story on CNN.
But if this were a Republican.......
With Peters and Richardson in the same room, trust me, we will be paying through the nose. Richardson's 'personal' tab -- paid with some PAC or campaign funds, no doubt -- was chump change compared to the hundreds of millions this little tyrst is going to cost NM'icans.
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