By Jim Scarantino on June 3, 2010
Democratic Candidate for Governor Makes Herself a Witness in Major Criminal Case
An ad from the Denish for Governor campaign claims she “investigated” corruption in the New Mexico Housing Authority and states that “today people are under indictment and the housing authority has tough oversight because Diane Denish wouldn’t back down.” A lawyer in the Housing Authority case says there is not “one shred of evidence” Denish was involved in any investigation. And the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office says, “The Attorney General’s Office is solely responsible for the criminal investigation which led to the indictments in the housing authority case.”
Denish’s Housing Authority Whistleblower Ad Makes Her Out to be the Crime Fighter
Weeks before primary election day, the Denish for Governor campaign began airing an ad on New Mexico television stations that discusses Denish’s role in the Housing Authority corruption scandal. That scandal involves allegations that millions of dollars were embezzled and laundered by former District III Housing Authority Executive Director and former legislator Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos and three others. In June 2009, a grand jury impaneled by the Attorney General returned criminal indictments. The criminal case is now in the discovery stage.
The Denish ad features Frances Williams of Las Cruces, who served on that community’s public housing authority board. She is generally credited as the whistleblower in the case, though the klaxon call that galvanized attention was when the District III Housing Authority defaulted on $5 million in bonds it had sold to the State Investment Council. Williams ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Las Cruces in 2004 and has been a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
