 Cover Stories Richardson has thousands of die-hard supporters in New Mexico and beyond. But only a few share cigars in the governor’s mansion and accompany him to the Super Bowl. The following are among a select group of power players who stand just outside the incandescent glare of Richardson’s spotlight.
A former linebacker at UNM and president of Blanchard Construction, the Albuquerque contractor and developer has built himself into a multi-millionaire—and thus a critical benefactor of political causes. His ascension came after financial troubles in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The Connection: People aren’t being figurative when they say Blanchard is the governor’s right-hand man. Richardson appointed Blanchard to the State Board of Finance and he sits beside Richardson at meetings of the board, which also included deposed state treasurer Robert Vigil before his resignation. Blanchard has served as a Richardson campaign finance chairman and as one of the directors (along with Jamie Koch and Eric Serna) of the governor’s political action committee Moving America Forward. A regular visitor at the governor’s mansion, Blanchard has accompanied Richardson elk hunting, clay shooting and—along with Guy Riordan—to high-profile sporting events like the Super Bowl and the World Series. “I’ve seen a lot of bad governors and I just thought that he would make a great governor for this state,” Blanchard says. “We really needed somebody who could move this state forward. I’m not a very political person and I wasn’t on the political side of things until I got to be friends with the governor.” Blanchard’s wife Kandace also sits on the New Mexico Rodeo Council, the Governor’s Task Force on Compulsive Gambling and is the executive director of the New Mexico Council on Problem Gambling (NMCPG). Paul Blanchard—who receives an acknowledgment in Richardson’s biography—has been a
While Blanchard and his businesses have given contributions to a number of politicians—including Republicans like State Rep. Dan Foley, R-Chaves—he told the Albuquerque Journal in April 2005 that “Bill’s my guy, no ifs, ands or buts.” The Controversy: Running The Downs at Albuquerque involves formidable political navigating, but Blanchard’s control over the racetrack and casino—located on the state fairgrounds—was cast into doubt when the State Fair Commission voted in 2002 to put its operation out to an open bid. After Richardson took over in January 2003, his office reportedly asked the Fair Commission to withdraw its plans for a no-bid process. Fair Commission President Tom Tinnin refused the request and Richardson subsequently replaced the entire seven-member commission. At its first meeting, the new commission scrapped the open-bidding plan and, a few months later, voted to extend Blanchard’s no-bid contract another six years, the maximum allowed at the time under state law. Blanchard says the deal was hardly a sweet one, given that his annual rent paid to the state was raised nearly $1 million and that he was forced to dole out $5 million to build new horse barns. In 2004, Manny Aragon—then a state senator—sponsored a bill that would have extended the contract an additional 25 years while requiring the state’s other race tracks to subsidize improvements to the fairgrounds using tax revenue to the tune of roughly $1.5 million annually. Richardson eventually vetoed the contract extension but signed the subsidies into law. “Paul Blanchard is a friend,” Gallegos says. “The governor spends time with him. But as an example of his independence, the governor didn’t hesitate to line-item veto a 25-year lease extension on Paul’s race track.” Blanchard was less than pleased with the governor’s decision. “I was stunned,” Blanchard says. “But we’re too good of friends for me to be pissed off.” In November 2003, the State Racing Commission—appointed by Richardson—chose a partnership that included Blanchard to build a new racino in Hobbs. Zia Partners won the bid over three other competing groups—including one involving Gerald Peters. One of Blanchard’s partners, RD Hubbard, had, at the time, a company, Pinnacle Entertainment Corporation, under investigation. The Indiana Gaming Commission subsequently required Hubbard to relinquish his Indiana gaming license, pay a $740,000 fine and sell his stock in Pinnacle Entertainment Corporation. Blanchard’s name also popped up in the State Treasury Department scandal. Robert Vigil met financial advisor Kent Nelson (who was co-operating with the FBI) at The Downs in August 2005 to allegedly accept an envelope containing $5,000 in kickbacks. According to FBI transcripts of the conversation between Vigil and Nelson, part of the reason for meeting at the Downs was so Vigil could try and arrange for Blanchard to host a fundraiser for his re-election campaign. Blanchard has denied contributing any money to Vigil or organizing fundraising efforts for the former treasurer. In addition, Guy Clark—chairman of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling and director of the New Mexico Coalition Against Gambling, has previously called for Kandace Blanchard’s resignation from the New Mexico Council on Problem Gambling. “She’s the part-owner of a couple of racetracks where they’re promoting gambling and she has money coming and going out of the system. It’s a major conflict,” Clark says. Blanchard denies any conflict of interest regarding his wife. He points out that Kandace is a licensed counselor and a certified therapist as well as one of only a handful of people in the state with the credentials to handle gaming issues. He also points out that, unlike Clark’s organization, the New Mexico Council on Problem Gambling isn’t anti-gambling. In fact, the NMCPG, and Kandace Blanchard, work with the gaming industry to treat compulsive gamblers. “Guy Clark is somewhat confused with all his rhetoric because he’s pushing this anti-gambling agenda and my wife is just trying to help people out of their addiction problems,” Blanchard says. “It’s like saying that a guy who owns a bar and his wife treats alcoholism is somehow a conflict.” The Risk Factor: “Blanchard has contributed very large amounts of money to the governor’s campaign and it’s obvious that they’re not just casual acquaintances,” Clark says. “The governor is very popular right now and while there are enough issues here to raise concern and cause suspicion in the hearts and minds of a lot of people, I don’t think it will have a huge impact on his electability. But if things like [the Downs’ no-bid contract] keep coming up, any opponent would have to be out of his mind to not make it a campaign issue.”
The Connection: A seasoned veteran of New Mexico politics, Koch served in the State Legislature before becoming a confidante of former governor Bruce King. Richardson appointed Koch as state Democratic Party chairman during Richardson’s first run at governor. Koch donated approximately $6,500 to Richardson’s first gubernatorial campaign and was on the board of directors for Richardson’s Moving America Forward political action committee. Within weeks of taking office, Richardson asked for the resignation of all state university regents. The governor could not force resignations by law, but four regents at UNM heeded Richardson’s request, clearing the way for the governor to appoint Koch and three others to the board. A few months later, Koch was elected president of the regents. The Controversy: During the first several months of his tenure as president of the UNM regents, Koch vowed to make the board—which has routinely met in closed-door executive sessions—more transparent while championing the creation of a conflict-of-interest clause forbidding UNM to do business with regents or their companies. But earlier this year, Koch and the regents came under fire for holding a closed-door meeting with representatives from the Richardson-created New Mexico Sports Authority. The meeting was to discuss the possibility of luring a college football bowl game—which has since come to fruition—to Albuquerque. Bob Johnson, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, accused the regents of violating the state’s Open Meeting Act. “It was totally a mistake on my part,” Koch admits. “We let [the NMSA] talk to us in executive session for about two minutes and we shouldn’t have. We made a mistake.” Koch is less contrite about the hiring of Billy Sparks, Richardson’s former deputy chief of staff, as director of communications and marketing for UNM Health Sciences Center. The position—which reportedly pays $120,000, more than some UNM doctors make—was not advertised and reportedly was created explicitly for Sparks, an assertion Koch denies. “Billy is a very skilled news media person and it’s wrong to say that the position was created,” Koch says. “The position was there and you don’t have to do a search for everyone who’s hired at the University of New Mexico. Frankly, I’m surprised Billy left the Governor’s Office but we weren’t asked by the governor to hire him. I personally had nothing to do with the hiring.” In February 2004, Richardson also requested that the State Game Commission—whose chairman at the time was Guy Riordan—honor Koch by erecting a monument in his honor at the Willow Creek campground on the Pecos River. The commission complied. Later that year, Koch and the board of regents voted to name a massive and expensive expansion of the UNM hospital the Barbara and Bill Richardson Pavilion. Despite the appearance of an unwavering alliance between Koch and Richardson, spokesman Gallegos is quick to point out that the two have butted heads on more than one occasion. “Jamie was a valuable asset to the Democratic Party as chairman and has done a terrific job as a regent at UNM,” Gallegos says. “But Jamie and the governor have clashed publicly and even in court. The governor wanted to use federal campaign funds to possibly run for governor and they went to court for that, but now they’re friends and strong allies.” Most recently, Koch and the regents have been stuck in an icy impasse with UNM president Louis Caldera—whom the regents hired little more than two years ago—and have been rumored to be negotiating for Caldera’s resignation. The Risk Factor: “[Koch] understands New Mexico politics as good as anyone,” Joe Monahan says. “He is good as a fundraiser and at providing the governor with advice. I’m not sure how far the Republicans will dig into the personnel moves [at UNM] but it doesn’t seem to have impacted the governor adversely.”
The Connection: Peters played an integral role in Richardson’s first gubernatorial campaign, giving $137,000 in the form of cash contributions, art donations and the use of his private plane for Richardson’s campaign swings around the state. In an e-mail to SFR, Peters explains that he first met Richardson more than 20 years ago and has followed the governor’s political career closely ever since. “I thought he would make an exceptional governor. I think he deserves a lot of credit for his dedication to the state’s best, long-term interests,” Peters says. “I made my plane available to Bill Richardson because he was taking his campaign to just about every town in New Mexico. The plane was available, and I wanted him to travel safely. On a couple of occasions, he used the plane to travel out of state.” Peters was subsequently named to Richardson’s transition team and was appointed to two search committees that recommended candidates for state engineer and state investment officer. Richardson also appointed Peters to sit on the State Board of Finance—a position Peters has since left—and the Commission on Higher Education, a group that has since dissolved. Peters praises Richardson for his work ethic and his ideas for education, tax reform and public/private partnerships. “He never stops,” Peters says. “He cares passionately about the state and isn’t afraid of big ideas, big projects and taking big steps. He courageously embraces the political risk that accompanies big visions.” The Controversy: Peters’ Century Bank donated more than $100,000 to the Con Alma Health Foundation—where Eric Serna served as board president—before Serna (and Robert Vigil) signed a contract with Century Bank in 2003 to handle hundreds of millions of dollars for the state’s Insurance Division. Serna recently retired from his post as Insurance Division superintendent, effectively ending a New Mexico Public Regulation Commission inquiry into the contract. Nonetheless, Attorney General Patricia Madrid has said publicly her office will continue its investigation into the Century Bank contract as well as the bank’s relationship with Con Alma. The PRC had previously declared that the contract between Century Bank and the Insurance Division was illegal because it allowed the bank to receive a higher fee for its services than allowed by state regulations. Century Bank agreed to repay the difference. Peters says in his e-mail that Century Bank and Con Alma have been positive forces in the state. He says that Century Bank helps keep money in New Mexico while benefiting homeowners and small businesses. “I think a legitimate inquiry into the Bank’s charitable giving will conclude that the Bank is a good corporate citizen,” Peters says. “I don’t see how any public official would be affected one way or the other. I would encourage everyone who can to support Con Alma as well.” In addition, Peters has a number of commercial ventures tied into state government, among them, a bid to build a new train and bus station complex in Santa Fe as part of the governor’s Railrunner commuter train plan. Also, after losing his bid—won by Blanchard’s Zia Partners—to build a new racetrack and casino in Hobbs, Peters has teamed with Jemez Pueblo to lobby for a new casino near Anthony, some 300 miles away from the pueblo. The off-reservation project needs approval from the governor and the US Interior Department. Richardson hasn’t taken a position on the casino, although US Bureau of Indian Affairs has requested his office weigh in on the project. The Risk Factor: “There is no doubt that Jerry Peters is a huge asset to the governor,” Whitney Cheshire says. “Everybody knows that he is a big contributor. Everybody knows that he has a lot of business interests that involve state decisions. But everything beyond that is really speculation. What it will really come down to is if anything comes out of the Con Alma/Century Bank investigation…”
Riordan is also a prolific political benefactor, contributing to candidates ranging from Richardson and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish to Attorney General Patricia Madrid and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM to former treasurers Vigil and Montoya. Riordan has been a successful lobbyist, particularly for legislation benefiting the State Game and Fish Department. Riordan is also an amateur boxing promoter and owns and operates the Rancho de la Joya Game Preserve, a commercial hunting facility. Riordan could not be reached for comment for this story. The Connection: Riordan contributed at least $28,000 to Richardson’s 2002 campaign and has donated at least $11,500 toward the governor’s re-election, money Richardson has since donated to charity after Riordan’s name surfaced in the State Treasury scandal. Richardson has hunted with Riordan at Rancho de la Joya and the two have traveled together to boxing matches, the Super Bowl and a World Series game. Richardson appointed Riordan to the State Game Commission in January, 2003 and also named him to the search committee—along with Peters—that made recommendations for the state investment officer position when Richardson first took office. The Controversy: Richardson swiftly removed Riordan from the Game Commission after the broker was named in the Treasury scandal. Former treasurer Michael Montoya testified in court that Riordan paid him roughly $100,000 in kickbacks in return for Montoya
Richardson spokesman Gallegos reiterates that the governor and Riordan may have been friends, but they weren’t close. “They did go hunting, they did go to boxing matches, they did spend time together,” Gallegos says. “But the governor’s relationship with Guy was different because the governor was never that close to him. The governor believes that Guy deserves due process. He hasn’t been formally accused of anything at this point and, again, the governor is independent. That’s why he removed Guy from the Game Commission and donated his campaign contributions to charity.” With Riordan as its contact, Wachovia Securities handled an estimated $1.2 billion in state investment business during the last budget year. Riordan also heads a management team from Wachovia that handles more than $20 million in investments for the troubled Con Alma Health Foundation. The Con Alma board of trustees recently decided to open up bidding for the financial management of the foundation’s investments. The Risk Factor: “I don’t think Richardson’s affiliation with Riordan is going to hurt him in the gubernatorial race; he’s such a compelling candidate for so many other reasons, and I think he took the exact right steps towards Riordan when he became aware that [Riordan] was an issue,” says Eli Il Yong Lee of the Albuquerque political consulting firm Soltari Inc. “Certainly at the national level there have been a lot of recent ethical scandals involving Republicans so Democrats have to be doubly careful that the candidates they put up are ethical candidates. We haven’t done a great job of that in the past and we ought to do better.” The Others On March 18, State Sen. Kent Cravens, R-Bernalillo, asked the Attorney General’s Office to investigate Richardson’s creation of at least 65 exempt positions in state government for his allies. The Richardson administration publicly dismissed Cravens’ request as a political attempt to discredit the governor. Still, Richardson’s tenure has thus far been marked by the perception that he has put a large number of his allies into positions of power. Whether it’s true or not, it is certainly the case that a handful of Richardson appointments have proven controversial. “I appreciate his loyalty to his friends. I find that to be an admirable trait,” Rep. Dan Foley, R-Chaves, says. “But at some point—after your fifth, sixth, ninth, 10th appointment comes back to bite you in the butt—you need to have a better vetting process.” Here are a handful of the more controversial figures within an arms-length of the governor.
The move nonetheless left Richardson as the undisputed king of the Roundhouse while granting Aragon his wish to transform NMHU into a premier university for serving the Hispanic community. Shortly after taking office, Aragon caused an uproar by firing or denying tenure to several non-Hispanic employees and professors. In March, NMHU paid $250,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by one of the fired employees. Earlier this month, an investigation by the American Association of University Professors found that Highlands’ administration was at fault for firing two of the professors; the group is considering a censure of the school. Aragon has also surfaced in an FBI investigation regarding the construction of the Metropolitan Court judicial complex in Albuquerque. In a lawsuit between two former partners of an engineering firm involved in the project, which cost more than $200 million, allegations were made that the engineering company flew Aragon—then still a state senator—to golf tournaments and paid him at least $50,000. In a court deposition, Aragon—who also has a law degree—denied taking any bribes, saying he was paid for providing “legal services” to the company. Frank Berged III, deputy director of the State Fair, stepped down in February 2003, after allegations that he embezzled money from the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence, where he had previously worked as a bookkeeper. Paul Donisthorpe, a Commission on Higher Education appointee, resigned less than a week after he was appointed in June 2003, following news reports of a prior conviction for a past vehicular homicide conviction. The accident killed an Albuquerque middle school teacher. Tommy Jewell, a former State Children Court’s judge, was appointed to head up the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department in February 2006. Shortly thereafter, Jewell wrote a letter to Richardson declining the job after past allegations of domestic abuse resurfaced. Jewell denied the allegations but withdrew his candidacy. Tommy Rodella, a former State Police officer and husband of Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Rio Arriba, was appointed by Richardson as Rio Arriba County Magistrate Judge in 2005. A few months later, Rodella resigned amid media reports regarding numerous alleged violations, including disciplinary issues during his career as a state cop. Other concerns about Rodella that surfaced involved his alleged involvement in voting irregularities for his wife’s campaign and, most prominently, Rodella’s release, as a judge, of a friend who’d been arrested on DWI charges.
Reginald Whitehead, Richardson’s director of boards and commissions, resigned in February, 2003 after television stations reported that Whitehead was married to two women at the same time for a short time during the early ’90s. © Copyright 2000–2007 by the Santa Fe Reporter |
