NM ripped off by Richardson political ally

A federal grand jury is investigating "pay to play" between Gov. Bill Richardson and CDR Financial of Los Angeles. CDR was "hired" to "advise" the state on municipal bonds used to fund the GRIP program for the state's roads. I put "hired" in quotes because so far no contract has issued, yet the state paid CDR something around $1.4 million for "advice."

Shortly after CDR was "hired" a total of $100,000 from CDR's principal landed in two of Richardson's PACs. (Other reports say the donations preceded the unwritten contract).

Here's what Bloomberg says about the amount we, the taxpayers, paid CDR under orders from someone in Richardson's administration--details the grand jury is looking at right now:

"New Mexico is another place that's been lucrative for CDR. In October 2003, Rubin gave $25,000 to Moving America Forward Inc., a PAC formed by Governor Bill Richardson. Seven months later, CDR gave $75,000 to ¡Si Se Puede! Boston 2004 Inc., Spanish for Yes, We Can, another Richardson PAC. That PAC was formed to help pay expenses for his campaign staff at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Between the timing of those contributions, CDR made $951,566 advising the New Mexico Finance Authority on $420 million of interest rate swaps. Jon Goldstein, a spokesman for Richardson, says the governor had no role in CDR's selection.

The fees New Mexico paid CDR were more than double the $400,000 that New York City paid to its derivatives adviser, Investment Management Advisory Group Inc., in 2004. That year, New York City executed $900 million of the contracts."

The principal of CDR is David Rubin. The firm used to be called "Chambers, Dunhill, Rubin & Co." then opted for the initials of the partners. Guess what? There never was a Chambers or Dunhill. Rubin made them up to make his business sound like a white-shoe financial advisor.

This is the kind of outfit that suited the needs of the Richardson administration.