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Pay to Play in Santa Fe

Monahan had a post on those who are donating their past contributions from Riordan to charity. It is interesting to go to Political Moneyline and note those who are hoping their ties to Riordan don’t turn up:

Gary King (2004) – $500 – currently running for Attorney General
Eric Serna (1998) – $500 – currently being investigated
Jeff Bingaman (1994) -$1,000 – running for re-election to the U.S. Senate

However, what I find most interesting is that despite the portrait that has been painted in the press of Guy Riordan as a longtime big contributor in the Democratic Party, the truth is that there is no evidence at FollowTheMoney.org of him writing the really big checks until Bill Richardson first ran for Governor in 2002. His contributions going back a few years to folks like Manny Aragon were chump change compared to what he started writing to the Governor.

Which brings us to those nasty rumors that Governor Richardson, not unlike the Treasurers under indictment, runs a pay to play government in the Land of Enchantment. I can’t help but wonder how many of the other large Richardson contributors noted in 2004 and 2002 have coincidentally landed lucrative state government contracts, or seen the terms of their pre-existing contracts sweetened?