This weekend, Barry Massey of the AP, reported Harold Field, secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration under Republican Gov. Gary Johnson, is confident that a letter drafted by then Tax & Rev chief Janice Goodwin, requesting the AG investigate the State Treasurer's office. But the Attorney General's office says that letter was never received and raised questions it was ever sent.

However, Field responded to such doubts by noting the importance of the letter's subject, saying of the Treasurer's office that "It was just really messy and didn't smell right. So my assumption is I did sign the letter and I did send the letter."

As Massey noted in his article, the letter has fueled questions why the AG didn't uncover the kickback scandal sooner. But given the letter's undelivered status, or missing status, similar questions have been raised about the seemingly partisan spin put on the scandal by the U.S. District Attorney for New Mexico, and 1998 GOP Candidate for Attorney General, David Iglesias, who's office has almost solely focused on Democrats throughout the case.

But as anybody who's been around New Mexico politics long enough will tell you, when it comes to money, it's all just one big party. And if ever this party had a party animal, it would be Harold Field.

When Gary Johnson was elected governor in 1994, he handed the reigns of his company, Big J. Enterprises, over to his associate, Harold Field. Field became president and trustee of the company (which was held in a blind trust) when Johnson was sworn in. According to this article in the Amarillo Globe from Sunday August 29th, 1999, in 1998 "Big J was in the news when it became a subcontractor on a $3.3 million state building project. This despite the fact that in 1996, Field said Big J would not directly bid for state contracts to avid the any appearance of conflicts of interest. However, attorney's for Big J did think the company could work on state projects as a subcontractor.

But putting your company in a trust to avoid conflicts of interest doesn't mean much when the person in charge of the trust has as many if not more opportunities to use his position within government to enrich the company than you do. And that's what Gov. Johnson did when he appointed Field as the executive director of the State Finance Board and to the New Mexico Finance Authority. It was the New Mexico Finance Authority, upon Johnson's authorization that issued the bonds that funded the construction of the Metropolitan Court.

On August 19, 1999, Johnson sold Big J. Enterprises to Richard Teater. Teater became president and CEO of Big J, keeping Field on as President, despite his still serving as Director of the State Board of Finance and the New Mexico Finance Authority. The terms of the sale including payment terms, loans, etc. was not publicly disclosed- so it is unknown if the transaction including ongoing payments or stipends or was a single lump sum deal to Johnson.

On September 8, 1999, Johnson and Field re-named an existing business to call it GEJ Enterprises, Inc. (PRC SCC # 1309145). Johnson is/was president, Field is/was treasurer and registered agent (note that this was done while Johnson was governor so he had this "consulting business" while a full time salaried state employee). GEJ Enterprises, Inc was a "construction consulting company" (SEC Profile of Johnson filed with a security firm that he's involved in).

In 2001, Big J. Enterprises (with Field still a part of the company) was awarded a $5,000,000 "subcontract" on the Metro Court House construction. According to Big J. Enterprises website "About Big J." section, this was the "largest non-industrial mechanical project in company history awarded to Big J".

At a minimum, this was a clear cut conflict of interest, since Field was still associated with the company while also the state official responsible for overseeing the issuance of the bonds for the construction of the courthouse. All this raises concerns not to mention that we dont' know the terms of Big J's sale and whether or not Governor Johnson, was part owner of Big J at the time the construction company was working on the Courthouse.

In 2002, Big J. Enterprises gave $250 to Albuquerque area Legislator Ted Hobbs (it would be helpful to know if Hobbs co-sponsored any legislation regarding the court and what committees he sat on back at that time). Since 2002, Big J. Enterprises has routinely given campaign contributions to Heather Wilson.

In January 2002, Field as Director of Finance and Administration allegedly asked AG Madrid to investigate kickbacks in the Treasurer's Office (All the while knowing that a company he was associated with had received $5 mil in work on the Metro Court building, despite his being a department head. Madrid is now denying that she ever received this request.

Rumor has it (Monahan) that target letters went out on the Metro Court case in June, but Iglesias is a Republican, and its doubtful that he would be willing to look into this information. It is believed that Iglesias is looking only at Aragon and possibly one of the Saavedra's.

Presently, Harold Field is the secretary, treasurer and a director of "Americans Against the War on Drugs", which is a non-profit that is active and in good standing. (PRC SCC#22532350.) Coincidentally, Kelly Ward, John Dendahl's campaign manager, is the President of this very same organization.

All this may not amount to a hill of beans, but at least it gives a better- more detailed picture of what's occurring in the current round of life or death Politics in New Mexico.

Technorati Tags: Blogs, budget, Congress, corruption, Democrats, Elections, New Mexico, Patricia Madrid, Politics, reform, Republicans