Jim Scarantino's Archive
Saving Mountains of Money by Privatizing State Operations
New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie is unveiling plans to save that fiscally troubled state $210 annually by privatizing such current state operations as motor vehicle inspections, state parks and turnpike toll booths. We’re looking at closing state parks to save money. Why not let an entrepreneur show what he/she can do to keep a park [...]
In: Uncategorized
Tagged with: privatization
New Mexico Schools Flunk Transparency Tests: Sunshine Review
Most of the state budget goes to schools, and that’s where a lot of mystery remain for anyone wanting to see what happens to those hundreds of millions of dollars. The nationally respected Sunshine Review checked out the websites of New Mexico school districts and gave a general ‘F.’ But three districts did quite well [...]
In: Uncategorized
Tagged with: New Mexico Watchdog, school districts, Sunshine Review, transparency
Susana Martinez v. Diane Denish: What We Pay For Their Personal Security
Guess which ones wants taxpayer-funded full-time bodyguards and which one carries a .45? New Mexico Watchdog’s latest look at the candidates for Governor.
In: Uncategorized
Tagged with: Denish, Diane Denish, New Mexico Watchdog, Susana Martinez
Martin Heinrich’s Lobbyist Godfather: K Street’s Robert Raben
Who is this lobbyist who took up Nancy Pelosi’s request and adopted U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich? Meet him over at New Mexico Watchdog.
In: Uncategorized
Tagged with: Heinrich, Martin Heinrich, Nancy Pelosi, New Mexico Watchdog, Robert Raben, The Raben Group
Bill Richardson’s Mansion Not for the Little People
On that Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart ceremony in the Governor’s Mansion:
Looks like state subsidies of the film industry include a free event center for movie stars to get married. Also looks like the subsidies are breeding a new class structure in New Mexico. The elite glitterati get preferential and free use of state facilities like [...]
In: Uncategorized
Tagged with: Bill Richardson, Clarista Flockhart, Harrison Ford, New Mexico Watchdog
Whistleblower Sues New Mexico Public Regulation Commission
What a mess.
In: Uncategorized
Tagged with: New Mexico Public Regulation Commission
Changing New Mexico’s Culture of Corruption
I have been in Chicago over the past several days for meetings and training provided by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. Part of the training included lectures on detecting and fighting public corruption. The speakers were a former IRS criminal investigator (think a CPA with a Glock) and a former high-level FBI [...]
In: Uncategorized
Tagged with: corruption, Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, New Mexico Watchdog
Denish’s Own Ad Makes Her A Witness in Major Criminal Case
It’s never a good idea to politicize a pending criminal case just to score points in an election campaign. There are consequences. NM Watchdog reports.
In: Uncategorized
Tagged with: Denish, Diane Denish, New Mexico Watchdog
NM Venture Cap Program Continues Losses
This isn’t how anyone would invest funds for their child’s college tuition and expenses. But New Mexico, under the Richardson/Denish administration, has invested state funds in a fish company, an electric libretto designer (appropriately named “Figaro”) and a company that uses crushed glass to produce toilet bowl scrubbers (what, you don’t have one of those [...]
In: Uncategorized
Tagged with: SIC, State Investment Council
Rio Rancho Solar Plant on Hold
Reality intrudes. Where’s the money? Cut through the hype, the warm fuzzies of “green jobs,” and you still need money, lots of it. There’s lots of gullibility in the mix–from Bill Richardson to Jeff Bingaman to the city fathers of Rio Rancho–what’s missing is real money. New Mexico Watchdog still on the trail of Green2v [...]
In: Uncategorized
Tagged with: GP3, Green2v, New Mexico Watchdog, Rio Rancho
