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Fulton's $12 Million Gift to Sunland Park Tangled in Consultant Lawsuit
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| Sunland Park City Hall |
And the outcome, which is pending trial, could possibly cost city taxpayers money — or result in them being reimbursed, to the tune of about half a million dollars.
The owner of the contract, Annette Morales, and her Las Cruces-based company, Medius Inc., sued the city at the start of the year, contending she was owed money for consulting work that went unpaid when the city ended her contract abruptly last fall.
But a twist in the months since now has the city alleging that Morales was the one in the wrong and that it's she who owes the city of Sunland Park nearly a half-million dollars.
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| Stan Fulton |
"We attempted to try to settle. I don't know if that's going to happen," she said. "I just want this nightmare to end."
Morales was awarded up to a $1 million contract in the first quarter of 2011 to carry out a city infrastructure review and create plan for accommodating a proposed international border crossing between Sunland Park and Juárez, according to court documents.Payment for Morales' work was set to originate from the Border Crossing Fund, a nearly $12 million donation to the city from racetrack and casino owner Stan Fulton that was meant to benefit the proposed port of entry. Read full story here: News New Mexico
King Rips GOP Over Records Request
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| Gary King |
KRWG - A request made by the New Mexico Republican Party under the state Inspection of Public Records Act is drawing fire from Democratic Attorney General Gary King.
The party sent the request to King's office two weeks ago. It sought any emails and attachments concerning public business that were sent by King from his personal email addresses.
King said Friday his office has delivered some of the requested documents to the party. He calls the request a "political ploy." He says he was suspicious of the request given that it came four days after two state lawmakers raised questions about employees in Gov. Susana Martinez's administration possibly violating state governmental conduct rules. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Richardson Never Used His State E-mail Address
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| Bill Richardson |
But don't go over to the State Records Center and Archives in Santa Fe expecting to find state e-mails from form er Govs. Bill Richardson and Gary Johnson.
"Richardson was the first governor we got e-mail from, so this is a learning experience for all of us," Martinez continued.
And while the archive received more than 2.5 million e-mails from Richardson administration officials, archivists were surprised when they checked Richardson's state e-mail address.
"Well, it appears that the e-mail wasn't used," Martinez said. "We found there were no records in his in or his sent or his deleted boxes."
That's right. It appears Richardson never used his state e-mail address even one time during his eight years in office. Instead if his staff needed to communicate with him, they used one of the governor's private e-mail accounts. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Not Every Pet Doing Well With High Unemployment
It may be hard on owners, but Animal Humane said it's hard on the pets, too.
A majority of the cats surrendered were adult cats, so Animal Humane is having a Name Your Price adoption special for any adult cat.
Along with encouraging residents to adopt adult cats, Animal Humane said it wants current pet owners to know it has support services if they are having a hard time affording their pets, like a pet food bank, low cost vet services, pet friendly apartment listing and even a pet behavioral hotline. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Homeowners View Fire Damage in Ruidoso
Rose said her family feels lucky they still have a place to call home in Albuquerque.
"I'm very deeply saddened because I told my children we have a home. We're not homeless. This guy right here is homeless. The people over there are homeless because they lived up here full-time," Rose said.
However, Rose said it's not easy to see their summer home gone.
"What we're worried about, of course, look at the sky. With the flooding and everything, if we were to rebuild, there's no guarantee we won't have floods or another fire," Rose said. The concerns were heightened as Mother Nature took another jab at the scorched land with heavy rains. Officials said the ground can't soak anything up when it's covered in ash, making it very dangerous and flood prone. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Despite a String of Bankruptcies Richardson Will Lead Energy "Forum" at the Democratic Convention
Critics suggest that former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson is proving once again that a record of failure in the world of energy investing doesn’t matter to progressive media outlet Politico or the Democratic Party.
New Mexico Watchdog reported earlier this week via Politico that former Governor Richardson will “lead an energy forum” at the Democratic National Party’s convention sponsored by Politico.
By almost any measure it is an amazing invitation. Despite a horrendous investment record in New Mexico where virtually every solar venture Richardson plowed public funds into stiffed creditors and filed for bankruptcy protection, apparently the Democrats still want Richardson to deliver a lecture on the subject of energy investing.
Not surprisingly, Richardson’s results are not dissimilar to those of the Obama Department of Energy. The highest profile failure to date by the administration is the more than a half a billion dollars it threw at Solyndra, only to see that company go straight into bankruptcy. Energy industry observers are astonished that Democrats continue to be insistent about trying to pound square taxpayer funded "investment" pegs into round economic reality holes. Here is a partial list of other recent solar bankruptcies besides Schott Solar, Advent Solar, and Solyndra: Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt, Stirling Energy Systems, Photowatt, Solon, Energy Conversion Devices, Scheuten Solar, Odersun, Q-Cells, and Solar Trust of America.
The NM Watchdog is waiting to hear from Politico on why considering Richardson’s dismal track record, he was selected to lead the forum. And curiously, nobody at the DNC has plans to host a forum to see what could be done to build the Keystone XL pipeline or encourage Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Conoco Phillips to grow their businesses so they can increase income taxes paid to the government above the current $37 billion per year.
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| Bill Richardson |
New Mexico Watchdog reported earlier this week via Politico that former Governor Richardson will “lead an energy forum” at the Democratic National Party’s convention sponsored by Politico.
By almost any measure it is an amazing invitation. Despite a horrendous investment record in New Mexico where virtually every solar venture Richardson plowed public funds into stiffed creditors and filed for bankruptcy protection, apparently the Democrats still want Richardson to deliver a lecture on the subject of energy investing.
Not surprisingly, Richardson’s results are not dissimilar to those of the Obama Department of Energy. The highest profile failure to date by the administration is the more than a half a billion dollars it threw at Solyndra, only to see that company go straight into bankruptcy. Energy industry observers are astonished that Democrats continue to be insistent about trying to pound square taxpayer funded "investment" pegs into round economic reality holes. Here is a partial list of other recent solar bankruptcies besides Schott Solar, Advent Solar, and Solyndra: Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt, Stirling Energy Systems, Photowatt, Solon, Energy Conversion Devices, Scheuten Solar, Odersun, Q-Cells, and Solar Trust of America.
The NM Watchdog is waiting to hear from Politico on why considering Richardson’s dismal track record, he was selected to lead the forum. And curiously, nobody at the DNC has plans to host a forum to see what could be done to build the Keystone XL pipeline or encourage Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Conoco Phillips to grow their businesses so they can increase income taxes paid to the government above the current $37 billion per year.
Schott Solar’s not alone: Lots of green energy blues in New Mexico
In January of 2010, the administration of then-Gov. Bill Richardson touted a series of “green” industries coming to the state, pointing to at least three projects that “will create nearly 500 new green jobs” in the state. But a review shows that the optimitism of just a couple years ago has crashed into economic reality.
Here’s a look at what has happened with some of those projects:
The shock came from the 250 employees who will be laid off by the end of the summer. The outrage came from New Mexico taxpayers who learned one day later that Schott Solar isn’t legally required to return one dime from the $16 million in grants given to the company because the Richardson administration did not attach any “clawback” provisions to the money (something that the city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County did when it gave Schott $1 million and $500,000, respectively).
“It’s infuriating,” Gov. Susana Martinez told KOB-TV of the money that was awarded through the Economic Development Department and approved as part of a larger capital outlay bill passed by the state legislature. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Here Come the Floods in Ruidoso
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| Scorched Mountainside at Ruidoso Downs |
Resident Kenneth Dixon, 86, is trying to stay positive about the rains while preparing for the worst with his grandson and daughter to keep the water off his property.
"(The water is) making a mess," Dixon said.
"It's very sad. It's so devastating to (our neighbors) because they know in their lifetime it will never be the way it was," said Dixon's daughter, Jeannette Perkins.
Several miles away, Bonita Lake sits empty after draining over the past week in anticipation of monsoon storms that circled the burn scars of the Little Bear fire. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Martinez Trims Mansion Spending
The governor spent $21,112 from the account in the first quarter of 2012, but the early months of the year are a particularly busy time at the mansion, in part because legislators are in town for their annual session.
Martinez accused Richardson of wasteful spending at the mansion. She hasn’t entertained any celebrities, her office said. Read full story here (subscription required): News New Mexico
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