Contempt charge sought in N.M. pay-to-play

SANTA FE, N.M., June 18 (UPI) -- Whistle-blower lawyers asked that a former campaign staffer for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson be held in contempt for not handing over subpoenaed documents.

In court papers, attorneys for Frank Foy said Amanda Cooper should be cited for contempt because she failed to hand over documents on a non-profit foundation founded by Richardson and which Foy's lawyers claimed was used to receive kickbacks in the pay-to-play case, The (Santa Fe) New Mexican reported Thursday.

In its motion, Foy's team claimed Moving America Forward Foundation "was used as a conduit for making kickbacks" and that "donors used MAFF to launder kickbacks and other illegal inducements in exchange for investment business or other valuable consideration from the Richardson administration, while perhaps making kickbacks tax deductible in the process."

However, a lawyer for Cooper and the foundation told The New Mexican the motion is nothing but "an irresponsible publicity stunt" and that none of the defendants or other people named in Foy's lawsuit contributed to the defunct foundation.

Foy, a former investment officer with the state Education Retirement Board, claimed his board and the State Investment Council were pressured by former Richardson chief of staff and campaign manager Dave Contarino to invest with Vanderbilt Financial. Contarino and other defendants denied wrongdoing.