Richardson evades charge, not questions

by Mark Silva

A federal prosecutor in New Mexico today acknowledged that Gov. Bill Richardson and former aides won't face any charges stemming from the probe of an alleged "pay-to-play'' scheme there - a shadow that had prompted the Democrat to withdraw his nomination as U.S. Commerce secretary.

At the same time, however, U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt said the decision not to bring charges "is not to be interpreted as an exoneration of any party's conduct." He sent a letter to defense attorneys contending that a yearlong investigation had "revealed that pressure from the governor's office resulted in the corruption of the procurement process" sending state bond business to a Richardson political donor in 2004.

Richardson, who was finishing a weeklong trade mission in Havana, Cuba, steered away from the loaded words in the prosecutor's dismissal: "I'm not talking about that.''

But Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said today that Fouratt's letter "is wrong on the facts and appears to be nothing more than sour grapes."

The Associated Press quotes sources as saying that the decision not to seek indictments was made by Justice Department officials in Washington, D.C., but Attorney General Eric Holder was not involved in the decision to close the case.

The chief federal prosecutor in New Mexico began an investigation last year into the hiring of a Richardson supporter, Beverly Hills-based CDR Financial Products, as a financial adviser on state transportation bond deals. The state work generated almost $1.5 million in fees for CDR.

The firm's CEO, David Rubin, and his firm contributed $110,000 to Richardson political committees from 2003 to 2005. The largest of those contributions, $75,000, was made less than a week before CDR was selected in June 2004 by the New Mexico Finance Authority to handle the reinvestment of idle bond proceeds.

Joseph diGenova, a Republican and former U.S. attorney during the Reagan administration, called Fouratt's letter "stupid" because it makes allegations of corruption in a case which it has closed. "That letter is an outrage and the U.S. attorney who wrote it should be fired,'' diGenova is quoted as saying. "The case is closed. If he had charges, bring them. Otherwise, he should shut up. He's being a politician now, not a prosecutor.''

Richardson became governor in 2003, having served as a congressman from New Mexico, a roving diplomatic troubleshooter and President Bill Clinton's energy secretary and U.N. ambassador. He has returned to the diplomatic front, meeting with a delegation of North Koreans earlier this month in Santa Fe and traveling to Cuba this week.

He ran for president in 2008, and after failing at winning the Democratic Party's nomination endorsed Obama's candidacy much to the chagrin of the Clintons. Obama had nominated Richardson for Commerce in December soon after winning election.

The U.S. attorney in New Mexico was seated in January when a panel of federal judges, addressing a vacancy, determined a presidential appointment wasn't imminent and exercised its authority to seat the prosecutor.

He probed whether Richardson's former chief of staff, David Contarino, had played a role in the hiring of CDR. A grand jury subpoenaed records about CDR and former Richardson aide David Harris and Mike Stratton, a political adviser.

Harris served as Richardson's deputy chief of staff and then became executive director of the Finance Authority, which selected CDR for the bond financing work. Stratton, a Denver-based political consultant, served as a senior adviser to Richardson's 2008 presidential campaign and was a consultant to CDR.

Contarino has said they acted "appropriately and ethically at all times and a fair." The Richardson administration continues to face pay-to-play allegations in a whistleblower lawsuit filed in state court.

Wire services contributed.