Back in March, Larry Barker did a two-part investigative series on Governor Richardson’s misuse of taxpayer dollars to reward supporters with cushy jobs for which they were unqualified. Well, it seems the Governor’s practice has had an interesting ripple effect:
Chino confirms that his wife’s sister’s husband was hired as a low-level employee for the DOL during his tenure but that he had no involvement.
“He applied like everyone else and got the job on his own merit,” Chino says.
You’ve got to love that last statement. Mr. Chino, is your wife’s sister’s husband qualified in the same way an investigative reporter is qualified to be named Secretary of Labor? Because as near as I can tell, that doesn’t seem to be working out to well.
Shall I recap for you?
There was that politically motivated audit of the state GOP that went absolutely nowhere.
A New Mexico Department of Labor audit of the state Republican Party’s payroll records found no discrepancies in wages reported by the party.
The GOP also complied with reporting requirements under laws covering unemployment insurance, the department announced Monday.
State Republican Party executive director Marta Kramer has said she believed the audit stems from the administration of Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson.
Administration officials denied that, saying at first that a computer program randomly chose the Republican Party among more than 200 New Mexico operations selected for audits in the first quarter. The department later said the GOP was chosen by a tax examiner but that the selection was”not one bit political”
Of course, we can’t forget Mr. Chino’s brilliant decision to fire all the TANF employees and hire his own cronies to manage the program, and the result of that decision:
SFR also learned this week that Human Services has decided to shift TANF’s central New Mexico subcontract with DOL over to New Mexico State University during the next fiscal year.
Human Services spokeswoman Betina Gonzales McCracken says the shift is primarily due to new, stricter federal requirements that now govern the program, though she acknowledges “bumps in the road” regarding DOL’s handling of TANF.
The cronyism way of governing may be good for the governor, and may be good for his appointees, but it sure as heck isn’t good for the taxpayers of New Mexico.