Independent Source PAC Calls for Federal Investigation into Possible Pay to Play and Bid Rigging in Racino Contract

November 22, 2011 by Democracy for N...

Independent Source PAC (ISPAC)is calling on the the US Attorney to investigate potential bid-rigging at the Downs at Expo New Mexico fairgrounds. Yesterday in a surprise vote Martinez's State Fair Committee pushed to award a large donor a large state contract worth many millions of tax payer dollars.

This from the Susana Martinez who could not say enough of how corrupt and full of pay to play cronyism the Richardson administration was, and who also smeared all the same claims at the Democratic governor candidate Diane Denish and the Lieutenant Governor candidate Brian Colon as well as anyone else with ties to the Richardson administration.

In the article "Downs gets racino bid" within the website onPolitix.com, it is stated, "The Downs, the same group that is there now, is the winning bidder. This is the same group that was just slammed by an audit for not paying its bills to the state, but in the end State Fair officials said they are the best pick."

The article goes on to say, "For the first time ever, Expo New Mexico put out request for bids for the 93 acre plot of land that makes up the racetrack and casino. The Downs has had the lease since 1985 and it expires in January. "We choose this process because that's what we wanted," Dan Mourning, GM of ExpoNM said. "We wanted to see what a competitive bid would do, rather than a sole source."

He said in the end The Downs was the best choice, beating out the other bidder Laguna Development.

To read more about the actions taken at yesterdays meeting regarding the Racino see this article by KRQE.  Furthermore, if you would like to read a historical breakdown of the lead up to the Racino deal see this post by Patrick Davis.

You have to admit this whole deal does not pass the smell test, in my opinion it smells like horse manure. 

On the Meet Governor Martinez link on the States Gov website the first paragraph says,"Susana Martinez is the Governor of the State of New Mexico. She was elected on November 2, 2010, pledging to cut wasteful spending, lower taxes to create more jobs, end “pay-to-play” practices and other corruption in government and fight to reform education."

And if you dig a little deeper you can see what is stated on the Martinez's "Ensuring Transparency and Ethics in our Government" link. A small excerpt states "For far too long, government officials have abused their office for personal or political gain. Politicians have regarded taxpayer money as their own and rewarded cronies, while workers, students and taxpayers are stuck with the bill. Decisions have been made to benefit the powerful and the connected, while New Mexico families pay the price."    This goes on to say " It is time to restore the spirit of public service to government positions. I have proposed harsher penalties for public officials who break the law because restoring confidence and faith in elected and appointed office begins with ensuring that our public servants are the best possible stewards of taxpayer money."