Bahrain Investors Collect NM Taxpayer Funds

Some people may be worrying about grand jury investigations, but whatever the grand jury finds is nothing compared to what the Rio Grande Foundation is likely to dig up:

Even some of the [State Investment Council's (SIC)] smallest acquisitions look questionable. Take for instance, its investment in Small Smiles. The SIC's 2007 annual report showed an investment of an unstated sum in this New Mexico company. By directly contacting the venture capital firm that handled this investment, the Rio Grande Foundation learned that about $500,000 New Mexico taxpayer dollars have been invested in Small Smiles. The SIC itself had not been able to answer this question.

Contrary to the SIC's annual report, Small Smiles, is not a New Mexico company. It is a national chain of low-income dental clinics owned by a bank in Bahrain. Furthermore, at the time half a million taxpayers dollars were going to help Arab investors, Small Smiles was being blasted in an Emmy Award winning investigative television series called "Drilling for Dollars."

Small Smiles clinics in the Washington, D.C. area were exposed for abusing children by strapping them to "papoose boards." Small Smiles had engaged in unethical billing practices. Parents came forward with complaints of unnecessary dental work being performed on their children without their consent.

Geez, forcing unnecessary procedures on children in order to line their pockets, it doesn't get more evil than that. As to the use of papoose boards to perform unnecessary dental work, okay, I was wrong it does get more evil.


Mind you, I'm the father of two young boys. My oldest needed to have a dental "appliance " installed at the age of four to correct a problem. It was not a fun experience for him, but I was there the entire time to hold his hand. I can't imagine how he would feel about me or the dentist if we had allowed him to be strapped into a papoose board. I'm thoroughly disgusted.

How is it that the SIC has had so many questionable (I'm being kind here) and ill-fated investments? Well, you might remember that it has been standard policy under the Richardson administration to fire those advisors who did not want to issue rubber stamp endorsements of shady (okay, sugar-coating is not really my style) deals that Governor Richardson wanted to see approved.

That's right, I said, "Deals that Governor Richardson wanted approved." After all, the Governor is the chairman of the SIC. Now, in light of all of the recent scandals, you may be wondering if the Governor has ever received any campaign contributions from anyone connected to Small Smiles.

Well, I'm glad you asked. As it turns out, the Chairman and CEO of the holding company for Small Smiles is Michael Lindley of Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Lindley did indeed donate a $1,000 to our Governor's presidential campaign. He also gave a $1,000 to Congressman Ben Ray Lujan's campaign.

Of course, my guess is that our Speaker of the House Ben Lujan solicited the funds on his son's behalf. After all, other than the imprisoned former State Senator Manny Aragon, the only other elected official to recieve funds cycle after cycle from Small Smiles in New Mexico is Speaker of the House Lujan.

Now, I'm sure none of this is tied to pay-to-play in New Mexico. It's probably all just some strange coincidence.

Jerome Block Jr's Troubled Legal History

In the past, I've picked on PRC Commissioner Ben Ray Lujan regarding his qualifications to run for Congress. However, compared to the guy the Democrats chose to replace him, Ben Ray is a boy scout and stellar candidate:

Aggravated DWI, unlawful riding, urinating in public, ditching out on court-ordered child-support mediation and breach of contract—these are the charges that Jerome Block Jr., the Democratic nominee to represent District 3 on the Public Regulation Commission, has faced in court over the last decade, SFR has discovered.

Wow, are the people in District 3 really going to give this guy a $90,000 a year job that makes policy decisions? There are no Republicans running, but just based on Jerome Block's legal troubles, I suggest that the Green in race deserves a second look.

Wiviott's Attack on Lujan

Don Wiviott and Ben Ray Lujan are battling it out in a very public way for the 3rd Congressional District Democratic nomination. Don Wiviott put up an ad attacking Ben Ray Lujan, and apparently the Lujan campaign is weakly contesting the inaccuracies in the ad:

The Telehealth Commission, which Ben Ray Luján was appointed to, has nothing to do with his elected duties as a Public Regulation Commissioner despite the deceptive tie Don Wiviott tries to make here. His membership on the Telehealth Commission is unpaid. Ben Ray Luján missed meetings to perform his duties as Public Regulation Commissioner, which Commissioner Luján believes take priority since he represents the people of the third district as a PRC Commissioner.

Good thing our unpaid state legislator's don't take this same approach to their voluntary service. Here is the thing. Mr. Lujan makes a point on his campaign website to mention his Telehealth Commission and put it in the best possible light to bolster what can only be described as a lackluster history of personal accomplishments:

He is a member of the New Mexico Telehealth Commission, where he works to encourage a single, statewide effort to create a system to deliver health-related services and information via telecommunications technologies.

Obviously, Mr. Wiviott is just pointing out that when Mr. Lujan uses the term "works" he means it in the loosest sense of the term. What I don't understand is why the Wiviott's campaign just didn't do a little google search to find the truth of exactly where Mr. Lujan worked as a casino dealer?

A simple search would have surely turned up a much better way of presenting Mr. Lujan's curriculum vitae to the voters. If you do follow that last link, I should point out that I believe that Mr. Lujan has in fact now completed his college degree. Apparently, his $90,000 PRC job allowed him the flexibility to work on that.

Ben Ray Lujan Compensation Issues

Looks like Public Regulation Commissioner Ben Ray Lujan has a problem with the salaries paid to CEO's of the utility companies serving New Mexico (subscription):

The Public Regulation Commission wants to know if the pay packages of top utility executives are "reasonable and prudent."

The commission on Tuesday ordered Public Service Company of New Mexico, Zia Natural Gas Co., Raton Natural Gas Co., Southwestern Public Service/Xcel Energy and El Paso Electric to report pay packages of top executives by Jan. 11.

"Not all of the utility executives' compensation is in rates, but a portion of each executive's salary is in rates," said PRC Chairman Ben R. Lujan.

"It's important for us to understand whether the decisions made in awarding those packages are reasonable and prudent."

You've got to love the irony here. A young man without a college degree, has a powerful father who gets him paid political appointments and then works with a Governor Richardson to clear the primary field so he can get an elected position that pays over $90,000 per year.

Gov. Bill Richardson is going to bat for a handful of fellow Democrats in contested primary races this year, but other candidates are questioning the appropriateness of his actions.

Richardson has provided a statement -- a three-sentence quote -- in support of Ben R. Lujan of Santa Fe, a former worker in Richardson's congressional office and the son of House Speaker Ben Lujan. The younger Lujan is running for a seat on the Public Regulation Commission.

Oh, and did I mention that prior to all of these shenanigans the guy's previous job experience was limited to being a casino dealer? I'm sorry, but the last person that should be questioning the "reasonable and prudent" nature of anyone's compensation package is Ben Ray Lujan.

Qualifications of a Congressional Representative

It sort of blows my mind that in 2007, the Speaker of the House of the New Mexico State Legislature has enough power to get candidate after candidate to step aside in an effort to clear a path for his son to run for Congress.

But Solano — who is serving his second term as sheriff and prohibited from seeking a third term — said he's concerned that a small group of Democratic Party officials could effectively choose the next Northern New Mexico congressman before any votes are cast.

And that candidate, he said, likely would be State Public Regulation Commissioner Ben Ray Luján, mainly because of the influence of his father, state House Speaker Ben Luján.

Now, I guess I could understand if Ben Ray Luján was an impressive candidate in his own right with a long list of accomplishments, but that sure doesn't seem to be the case:

By Karla Duarte
(Submitted: 12/05/2006 12:25 pm)

Please get your facts straight: Ben Ray was appointed to be the chief financial administrator for the state cultural affairs department without a college degree and after previously being employed as a casino dealer. Then the full weight of the governor and the legislature went to promoting him and discouraging other qualified candidates for the PRC. I'm sure he is a fine young man, but the point is that government should not work that way.

From casino dealer to Congressional front runner... only in New Mexico.