Rattner Investigation Snares Bill Richardson?

This just keeps getting better and better. Steve Rattner, who was chosen by President Obama to become the car czar to fix the auto industry, is a fixer whose motives appear driven by pay to play. That's gotten him into hot water in New York as his name has repeatedly come up in investigations in to the NYS pension system when run by disgraced comptroller Alan Hevesi, but it now appears that New Mexico governor Bill Richardson may have crossed the line as well.

Richardson had been expected to be Obama's Commerce Secretary before taking his name out of consideration because of a New Mexico grand jury investigation into whether an adviser won work on state bond deals because of campaign donations.

So, where's the connection between Rattner and Richardson? Let's play follow the money:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's campaigns and political-action committees received at least $102,300 from brokers hired by money managers seeking to handle $11.7 billion of state trust funds, campaign-finance records show.

In addition to those donations, Richardson, a Democrat who ran for president in 2008, received at least $95,000 from the state trusts' outside money managers.

That cash included $20,000 from Quadrangle Group LLC founder Steven Rattner and $50,381 from Leo Hindery, founder of InterMedia Advisors LLC, according to New Mexico and federal campaign-finance records.

Rattner, who directs the Obama administration's auto-industry task force, and Hindery have donated $3.8 million to Democratic candidates and political-action committees, compared with $110,200 to Republicans.

"There's an appearance of pay-to-play," said Steven Robert Allen, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, a public-interest organization.

Thus far, Rattner has not been indicted, but I don't expect that to last very long. Richardson's troubles are far from over, given that this is just the latest in a string of events that go to Richardson's penchant for pay to play:

If it weren’t for the allegations against Morris in New York, this might be just another example of a Richardson donor who won a state contract. But the man in the middle is facing allegations that he took kickbacks in exchange for steering billions of dollars in New York retirement-fund investments to paying companies.

State government in New Mexico has been plagued by pay-to-play allegations in recent years. And Richardson is currently dogged by such allegations in his own administration — which, in the federal grand jury investigation and the separate lawsuit brought by Frank Foy, have to do with state investments. The first, a criminal probe, is what tanked Richardson’s nomination to be Obama’s commerce secretary.

It’s important to note that Rattner and Quadrangle have not been accused of wrongdoing in New York or New Mexico, and Morris has been accused of no wrongdoing in New Mexico. Quadrangle is reportedly cooperating with investigators in the New York case.

I think the operative word for the moment is yet. Rattner and Quadrangle haven't been accused of wrongdoing yet in New York or New Mexico and Morris has yet to be accused of wrongdoing in New Mexico.

Returning to the NYS investigation, there's word that investigators are looking at several Israeli firms because of possible kickbacks between the firms and Hank Morris, another close ally to Hevesi.

The more people look, the bigger this scandal appears to grow.

It also continues to call into question the judgment of President Obama, who thought that both Richardson and Rattner would be suitable advisers and members of his Cabinet. Instead, both are looking like they should be fitted for prison jumpsuits.

UPDATE:
Bob "The Torch" Torricelli of New Jersey was also questioned by investigators into the actions relating to the NYS pension fund chicanery.

Undeniable Proof of ACORN Voter Fraud in New Mexico?

For those who think that all those fraudulent ballot registrations submitted by ACORN and caught doesn't mean anything, or that the fraud doesn't extend to actual votes cast, you've got another thing coming.

New Mexico Republicans have discovered that dozens of votes cast in the primaries were bogus.

The GOP's review was conducted in House District 13 and only included 92 ballots. That means roughly a third of the ballots examined were fraudulent.

“This is a bombshell. We now have undeniable proof that a significant number of fraudulent voters were cast in Democrat primary races for the New Mexico state legislature as a result of ACORN’s voter registration fraud,” said State Representative Justine Fox Young (R.-Albuquerque). “No longer can ACORN argue that their phony voter registration forms don’t translate into fraudulent votes. They do and today we can prove it.”

Conservatives are calling on Congress to defund ACORN of their federal funding. With increasing evidence ACORN is involved in voter registration fraud and voter fraud, as shown in Albuquerque, it become more important ACORN be stripped of their federal assistance.

The ACORN office in Albuquerque has been a beneficiary of generous federal tax dollars. Information from House Minority Leader John Boehner's office shows that Albuquerque's ACORN branch has received $349,253 in federal tax dollars since 1998.

ACORN fraud will cost taxpayers countless more dollars, in Albuquerque and elsewhere, as local election officials are forced to spend hundreds of hours investigating the thousands of fraudulent voter applications ACORN has submitted across the nation.

ACORN's criminality is being investigated across the country with state and federal investigators looking at how the organization operates its voter drives.

Of course, the left screeches back that these claims of fraud are themselves bogus and that there's no evidence of fraud and that any such attempts to ensure that only those who are lawfully allowed to vote is somehow disenfranchising. Or, consider that Rolling Stone and other leftists are claiming that the GOP is stealing the election (where have we heard that one before).

Meanwhile, Georgia's Democrats are busy trying to thwart (HT: DaddyG at LGF) the Georgia's attempts to check identifications prior to voting to ensure that only those who are registered to vote do so. The Georgia Secretary of State fired back hard, noting that checking for proper identification is an assurance that people are who they say they are when they vote and that there's absolutely no evidence that anyone has been disenfranchised by that process.

UPDATE:
It figures that the New York Times is covering for ACORN. They think that the issues are overblown. Then again, the Times didn't quite take much of an interest in election fraud in New Jersey, including dead voters, so live voter fraud isn't going to get their dander up. However, the moment someone asks for identification before going into the polling booth to ensure that people are who they say they are - that's cause for concern

Powering the Navajo; Opposed By Democrats

The Navajo Nation in New Mexico is looking to build a coal-fired power plant on their reservation using the latest technologies and low-sulfur coal, which can also be mined on their reservation. It would be a 1,500 mw power plant, enough to power more than a million homes.

This has gotten New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) up in arms that the power plant might create emissions.

That's pretty rich since the Navajo are among those who are most in tune with the environment and would not damage the land and air they consider sacred.

The only emissions generated thus far the noxious and odious ones by Richardson and the eco-zealots who are seeking to kill a power plant that would generate jobs for the Navajo Nation, power homes not only on the reservation, which as Don Surber notes, is still not fully electrified, and would be a boon to the local economy.

Every plant that gets delayed or fought is an additional cost borne by taxpayers and rate payers - higher energy costs due entirely to NIMBY, eco-leftists, and gordiots (that would be the nitwits who mindlessly follow Al Gore around the world claiming the sky will fall even as they are prodigious users of energy and consume mass quantities).

Richardson and the other eco-leftists fought against the power plant - and lost in court. The EPA ruled against them, but they refuse to cede the issue and are attempting to appeal the decision. Those additional costs are going to be borne by New Mexico taxpayers and the Navajo Nation. Higher charges for power will also ensue as a result.

Richardson doesn't care. Just as I have remarked upon previously, the Democrats are looking to drive up the price of energy so that they can impose their own inane "policy", which is really about dictating what individuals can or cannot do with their property and limiting personal choice. The entire issue of air quality is a ruse for the fact that it is in Richardson's backyard and he doesn't want it there.

It may also stem from the fact that the state is not going to get a customary cut of the taxes and fees generated since the plant would be built on the reservation, and not state or privately held land. Either way, Richardson is pushing an agenda that runs against the needs of the citizens of New Mexico and the Navajo.