From the News Desk of KKIM’s Frank Haley…………
SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former high-ranking members of his administration won’t be criminally charged in a yearlong federal investigation into pay-to-play allegations involving one of the Democratic governor’s large political donors, someone familiar with the case said.
The decision not to pursue indictments was made by top Justice Department officials, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be identified because federal officials had not disclosed results of the probe.
The un-named person said, “It’s over. There’s nothing. It was killed in Washington,”
A federal grand jury began an investigation in 2008 into a possible pay-to-play scheme in which lucrative work on state bond deals went to a Richardson donor. The federal probe derailed Richardson’s appointment as commerce secretary in President Barack Obama’s administration.
Richardson withdrew his nomination in January, saying the investigation would have delayed his confirmation although he said expected to be cleared. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Albuquerque said he had no information about the Justice Department’s decision and couldn’t comment.
Federal investigators reviewed whether political contributions influenced the selection of California-based CDR Financial Products as an adviser on state transportation bond transactions, and whether Richardson’s former chief of staff, David Contarino, played a role in the hiring of CDR.
Prosecutors also subpoenaed records of another former Richardson aide, David Harris, and one of the governor’s close political advisers, Michael Stratton.
Harris served as Richardson’s deputy chief of staff and then became executive director of the New Mexico Finance Authority, which selected CDR for the bond financing work. Stratton, a Denver-based political consultant, served as a senior adviser to Richardson’s 2008 presidential campaign and was a consultant to CDR and another financial firm when the Finance Authority put together the bond deals in 2004.
The state work generated almost $1.5 million in fees for CDR in 2004-2005.
Leave a Reply