Gov. Bill Richardson, Barack Obama’s choice for Secretary of Commerce, is under investigation by a grand jury for an apparent connection to a pay-to-play scandal in Alabama. Bloomberg reports:
A federal grand jury is investigating how a company that advised Jefferson County, Alabama, on bond deals that threaten to cause the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, did similar work in New Mexico after making contributions to Governor Bill Richardson’s political action committees.
The grand jury in Albuquerque is looking into Beverly Hills, California-based CDR Financial Products Inc., which received almost $1.5 million in fees from the New Mexico Finance Authority in 2004 after donating $100,000 to Richardson’s efforts to register Hispanic and American Indian voters and pay for expenses at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, people familiar with the matter said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation asked current and former officials from the state agency if any staff members in the governor’s office influenced CDR’s hiring, said the people, who declined to be identified because the proceedings are secret. Richardson, who is President-elect Barack Obama’s designate for Commerce Secretary, has a staff of at least 30 people.
“They’re looking at everything related to CDR,” William Sisneros, the finance agency’s chief executive officer, said of the FBI probe. “They’re just trying to evaluate all the relationships to see what CDR was doing for the money.”
CDR is already scandal ridden, having been linked to the 101-count indictment of Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford earlier this month. CDR’s President has donated tens of thousands to a PAC run by Richardson, as well as Si Se Puede Boston 2004, which Richardson chaired at the time it helped fund the Democratic National Convention.
The fact that the investigation has reached the grand jury isn’t good news for the New Mexico Governor…or his new boss. We might not be far away from seeing charges filed. Is this the hope-n-change we were told about?
Via Hot Air.
by Stephan Tawney on Mon, Dec 15, 2008