New Mexico transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from New Mexico.
 | ||||
| Report It • | The Good • | The Bad • | The Ugly | |
Marc Correra was a third-party marketer in a 2006 investment deal with a Chicago-based firm to which the state lost $90 million after it went sour.
The State Investment Council (SIC) is writing off $27 million of another $55 million investment made in 2006 with a different firm, SIC spokesman Charles Wollman. Correra shared in $576,000 in fees paid out in the latest deal, with Northstar SIC Holding LLC.
“This is a $27 million write down,” Wollman said.
Correra is under scrutiny for the $22 million fees that he shared in more than six years at the time he helped arrange several investment deals. These deals included the SIC and the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board.
Marc Correra is the son of Anthony Correra, a friend of the governor. Marc Correra's father was involved in hiring State Investment Officer Gary Bland. Bland is the top staff member at the State Investment Council, published reports showed.
The SIC and the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board write off $90 million they had invested with Chicago-based Vanderbilt Financial Trust. A lawsuit Correra is involved in encompasses his shared $2 million in fees for helping to arrange that deal.[1]
No one accused Correra of wrongdoing and in the past, his attorneys said he worked hard to earn the fees. However, in recent months outrage has ensued from state lawmakers and others over the $22 million in fees Correra has shared at the same time that some investments have failed, while costing the state money.
In the latest deal involving Correra, the SIC invested $55 million of a $90 million commitment in 2006 to Northstar SIC Holdings LLC. Northstar invested that money in two other projects, one a “high-risk, high-return” real estate development in Connecticut called Antares Investment Partners. This one later soured, Wollman explained.
A recent SIC report shows the market value of the agency’s SIC original $55 million investment is $12 million. Wollman said the SIC recovered $16 million of its original investment.
In order to get a greater return, the SIC invests money from the state’s four permanent funds. Leasing fees, taxes collected on the extraction of minerals in New Mexico and money from the national tobacco settlement, contribute to the permanent funds. The permanent funds are about 15 percent of the state’s annual budget and without them, each household in the state would pay an average of $800 more in taxes every year, according to the SIC’s website, the New Mexio Independent reported.[1]
Borrego allegedly took the nearly $3.4 million from 10 district accounts between Jan. 8, 2002, and June 30, 2009. Now Borrego may face a long list of criminal charges.
The money she allegedly stole is equal to about $9,058.18 per student, based on the district’s 373 students enrolled last year.
“This is the largest case my office has ever seen in terms of a school embezzlement, and also in terms of how important this is to the community and to the state,” Balderas said.[1]
Because the school district is small, the impact is especially harmful. The district budgeted about $8 million for operations and instructors’ salaries for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2008. It reported slightly more than $21 million in total assets, according to the district's independent audit they submitted to the state auditor March 23, 2009.[2]
"The Albuquerque Journal is suing the New Mexico Department of Transportation, alleging that the agency violated the state Inspection of Public Records Act by withholding documents sought as part of an investigation into the agency's practices and the use of public funds.
The newspaper's complaint, filed in state district court, names as defendants the agency, its custodian of records and a handful of employees who allegedly participated in the decision to withhold records that had been requested under the act."
"Government agencies in New Mexico will have to accept electronic requests for public records after the governor signed a bill April 3 inspired by a state university's rejection of an e-mail request.
House Bill 598, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, states that communication by e-mail or fax qualifies as a "written" request required under state law."
"A new state law will require governmental institutions and agencies to accept e-mailed and faxed requests for public records.
Gov. Bill Richardson signed legislation Friday that makes clear that an e-mail or fax must be treated the same as written requests under the state Inspection of Public Records Act."
"Three Sunland Park city councilors have submitted a public records request to their own city government in an attempt to force the mayor to provide more information about a controversial land purchase for a new city hall.
City Councilors Elizabeth Martinez, Gabriela Buso and Yvette Cortez, a faction that often opposes Mayor Martin Resendiz, are seeking details about a $2.85 million land purchase for a new city hall that was approved by the council on Feb. 27, with the condition that an appraisal be conducted."
" Who tried to deep-six New Mexico's public records law?
It's a Roundhouse mystery with an intriguing cast, including a powerful veteran Democratic lawmaker, a freshman Republican and a behind-the-scenes state lawyer who isn't returning a reporter's calls.
While questions abound, this much is clear: A sweeping rewrite of the state Inspection of Public Records Act was quietly inserted earlier this week into a bill aimed at beefing up the statute."
"New Mexicans convicted of a wide variety of misdemeanors and felonies could eventually have their criminal records erased from the public eye under a bill introduced in the state House.
If approved and signed by the governor House Bill 866 would not wipe clean the slate of certain criminals. Instead the public wouldn’t have access to criminal records after a specific length of time."
"The public would have better access to and could gain more understanding of the state government under several bills making progress this session.
Certain committees that are now closed would be open while government documents would become public sooner under the measures originating in the House.
The House Appropriations and Finance Committee today is expected to consider a measure that would open conference committees to the public. They are some of the last meetings legally closed to the public — and to lawmakers who are not members of the committees."
"Our governor is not going to be happy until he gets his hands all the way into our pockets, turns them inside out and shakes out every last penny, lint balls and all.
The New Mexico Press Association and the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government in 2003 fought a task force composed by the governor of various department heads and their select computer geeks. The task force by legislation was trying to create and implement an E-Portal that would be the answer to the governor’s revenue problems and force the public to pay for documents it already owns."
Cite error:
<ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found
