Pay to play in New Mexico

Washington Post:

A federal grand jury is investigating how an investment company won more than $1.5 million in work advising the state of New Mexico after making contributions to the political action committees of Gov. Bill Richardson, President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be commerce secretary.

The "pay-to-play" investigation is looking at whether the governor's office played a role in the the hiring of CDR Financial Products -- and the probe is in a highly active stage, two sources familiar with the matter said. Tomorrow in Albuquerque, the grand jury is expected to hear testimony from several witnesses, including officials at J.P. Morgan, who worked with the state and CDR on the state's investments, and from Richard's political action committee, the sources said.

The FBI and federal prosecutors are focused on how the Beverly Hills-based CDR won lucrative fees from the New Mexico Finance Authority in 2004 very soon 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, according to the sources. FBI agents have already asked numerous witnesses whether the governor's aides were involved in CDR's hiring.

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It seems pretty clear that the donations to the Governor and the award of the business to the donors was just a coincidence--not.

I bet the Democrats are going to be sorry they raised such a fuss about the firing of US attorneys by Bush, because there are several they are going to want to get rid of as soon as Obama is sworn in. If Richardson is caught up in this mess, do not be surprised to see him either withdraw and get thrown under the bus.

The Democrat culture of corruption is getting harder to ignore.