Post by The Big Dog on Dec 15, 2008 15:51:54 GMT -5
Wow... it's pretty amazing what is trickling out of different levels of the incoming Obama administration now that L'Affaire Blago has come to light.
Only thing the press likes more than putting someone they like into office is tearing that same person apart with scandal, or at least the sniff of it.
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By Martin Z. Braun and William Selway
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- 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.
<< snipped >>
Richardson’s plan -- known as GRIP, Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership -- called for refinancing more than $400 million of the state’s existing transportation debt and selling new bonds through the finance agency to pay for improvement projects. CDR earned $951,566 for advising on derivatives tied to the bond issues and $443,265 for restructuring the escrow funds of the refunded bonds, agency documents show.
David Harris, the executive director of the state finance agency when the interest-rate swaps were done, was Richardson’s deputy chief of staff before he was appointed to the agency. He was also interviewed by the FBI, said Paul Kennedy, his lawyer. Kennedy declined to comment further. [/quote]
Only thing the press likes more than putting someone they like into office is tearing that same person apart with scandal, or at least the sniff of it.
[/url]
By Martin Z. Braun and William Selway
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- 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.
<< snipped >>
Richardson’s plan -- known as GRIP, Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership -- called for refinancing more than $400 million of the state’s existing transportation debt and selling new bonds through the finance agency to pay for improvement projects. CDR earned $951,566 for advising on derivatives tied to the bond issues and $443,265 for restructuring the escrow funds of the refunded bonds, agency documents show.
David Harris, the executive director of the state finance agency when the interest-rate swaps were done, was Richardson’s deputy chief of staff before he was appointed to the agency. He was also interviewed by the FBI, said Paul Kennedy, his lawyer. Kennedy declined to comment further. [/quote]