Posted on 08/23/2009 7:46:45 AM PDT by greyfoxx39
Elected officials in New Mexico are renewing calls for an ethics overhaul after the state's attorney general this week unveiled the latest in a long string of political-corruption cases.
Longtime Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, who left office in 2006, has been indicted on 50 felony counts of embezzlement, tax evasion and money laundering in an alleged scheme to siphon off at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal election funds.
Ms. Vigil-Giron, a Democrat who served three four-year terms as secretary of state, is accused of colluding with a political consultant and two Democratic lobbyists -- also under indictment -- to profit from grants intended to educate voters and boost turnout in the 2004 election.
The indictment alleges that the secretary of state deposited millions of dollars into the personal bank accounts of the political consultant and lobbyists based on fraudulent invoices they submitted. It also says she repeatedly and willfully prepared incorrect tax returns. The indictment doesn't spell out how Ms. Vigil-Goron is alleged to have benefited financially from the transactions, and Attorney General Gary King declined to explain.
All four defendants denied the charges through their attorneys.
-SNIP
A federal audit of New Mexico's 2004 voter-outreach effort found that the political consultant paid by the secretary of state received about $6.3 million but could account for just $2.6 million in costs.
-SNIP
Gov. Bill Richardson remains under federal investigation for allegedly steering state contracts to a financial-services firm in exchange for political donations. Other Democratic public officials indicted or convicted in the state in recent years include two state treasurers; the longtime leader of the state senate; a director of affordable housing; and two members of the agency that regulates utilities. Many were accused or convicted of mishandling public funds.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
NM makes the Wall Street Journal Ping.
So when are they going to get that fat bastard Richardson?
You know he is dirty.
I once lived in New Mexico and tried to run a business there. It was run much like what you would expect from a bana republic. Business permitting and the moving of applications through the channels was done by bribery from the lowest places in government all the way to the top. From building inspector to judges I never met an official who didn’t have some way of stuffing their pockets.
Some of the worst of the Democrat crooks from other states such as Illinois are now given carte blanche by becoming advisors, czars, cabinet members etc in what will become known as the most crooked administration in US history.
Hey I think Illinoise has NM beat
And the democrat former governor of NC and his wife, and a bunch of agency bigwigs are under a federal grand jury microscope right now.
New Mexico is to graft like fish are to water. This place isn’t called The Land of Entrapment for nothing.
Big scandal goin’ on in Cleveland, Ohio right now too.
More if that Republican Culture Of Curruption. Or is this Dirty Tricks?
I can never keep those straight.
Funny you should mention "Chicago machine"...I just bumped up a thread by St. Louis Conservative that was referenced on the Sunday Morning Talk Show thread.
The President is 'keeping score' (Chicago thug politics is alive and well in the White House)
You mean all of her work fixing votes didn’t protect her?
“Hey I think Illinois has NM beat”
Louisiana, NJ, IL, NM
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