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Governor won't keep indictees' donations

Barry Massey/Associated Press
Tuesday, April 3, 2007

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SANTA FE — Democratic presidential hopeful Gov. Bill Richardson received $35,000 in contributions to his 2002 and 2006 gubernatorial campaigns from key figures in a public corruption scandal in New Mexico, including some who have pleaded guilty to federal charges, records show.

When told Monday of the contributions by the Associated Press, a Richardson campaign official said the money would be given to charity.

"We're totaling it up, and any money from any of these individuals, the governor will donate to charities," said Amanda Cooper, Richardson's deputy campaign manager.

Federal prosecutors announced the indictments and plea agreements last week. They accused former New Mexico Senate President Manny Aragon and others of conspiring to skim $4.2 million in public funds meant for construction of the Bernalillo County Courthouse.

The case marks the second major scandal involving New Mexico elected officials in the past 18 months.

According to an AP review of the governor's 2002 and 2006 campaign finance records, Richardson received $9,500 in contributions from Marc Schiff, an Albuquerque architect who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and mail fraud in the corruption case.

The governor's campaign received $5,500 from an engineering subcontractor, Raul Parra, and $15,000 from a company in which Parra is a partner, P2RS. Parra was indicted on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and mail fraud.

Another subcontractor, Datcom Inc., contributed $5,000 to the governor's campaign; its owner, Manuel Guara, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and mail fraud.

Stuart Rothenberg, who edits a political newsletter in Washington, D.C., said the contributions could become "an issue, because an opponent or adversary or critic will say you've got to return that; it's tainted money."

"As long as a campaign deals with it pretty quickly, it can avoid damage," Rothenberg said.

Last year, Richardson donated to charities about $24,000 that had been contributed to his 2002 and 2006 campaigns by a securities broker who was one of the governor's friends and political appointees. The broker was implicated in a kickback scheme by a former state treasurer during testimony in a federal trial, but was never charged. A lawyer for the broker has said the allegations of kickbacks were false.

Analysts say the latest scandal, and the campaign contributions received by Richardson, could create trouble for Richardson if he becomes better known to presidential primary voters and breaks out of the second-tier of candidates.

"It appears as if it would be a stretch to implicate the governor in this public corruption scandal. However, in politics, 30-second TV commercials can be made of almost anything," said Brian Sanderoff, a pollster in Albuquerque who has followed Richardson's career for more than two decade.

Matthew Streb, a political scientist at Northern Illinois University, said, "Scandals regarding political allies are never a good thing for presidential candidates."

But Streb said there likely will be little immediate harm to Richardson's candidacy from the corruption case in New Mexico.

"I think the average voter wouldn't pay attention to it, because they're not paying attention to Gov. Richardson," he said.

Richardson maintains that the alleged wrongdoing in the $83 million courthouse project in Albuquerque occurred before he took office in 2003.

"It shouldn't be viewed as a presidential issue," Richardson said.

However, the governor did sign legislation into law in 2003 to allocate $3.9 million to help pay for cost overruns on the building and he signed a measure in 2004 that extended the time previously appropriated money could be spent on the project.

The 2003 bill was sponsored by then-Senate Majority Leader Manny Aragon, who authorities say received $700,000 in payoffs as part of a conspiracy with others to inflate construction contracts on the courthouse.

Aragon was charged with 14 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering. He has not publicly commented since the indictment was announced Thursday and has yet to make an initial appearance in federal court.

Aragon resigned from the Senate in mid-2004 to become president of New Mexico Highlands University.

According to the indictment, Aragon helped secure financing for the courthouse project and played a role in selecting contractors. Authorities say he received kickbacks in 2003 and 2004, while he was in the Legislature and after he became university president.

Aragon was appointed to the university job by a board of regents that included Richardson appointees. At Aragon's inauguration, Richardson called him a "visionary, a doer, a man of stature known in the annals of government."

Aragon was forced out of the university position in 2006 after run-ins with the school's governing board. At the time, rumors swirled in legal and political circles about the courthouse corruption investigation and Aragon's name had surfaced as a possible suspect.

Richardson's past ties to Aragon could become ammunition for other presidential candidates or their backers if the governor emerges as a leading contender for the nomination, according to analysts.

"The governor has a longtime association with Manny Aragon," Sanderoff said. "Therefore, it would be fair political game, at a minimum, to criticize the governor for guilt by association."