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| CYFD Sec. Brian Blalock (Searchlight NM) |
Pressure may be starting to mount on MLG for sticking to a hands-off posture as the headlines continue to blaze. Reader Anne McKinney writes:
If we had a Republican Governor and a Republican dominated House and Senate, Democrats would be out for "blood," requesting the removal of Secretary Blalock, a clean up and full investigation and major changes at CYFD. However with the good halo and support for Governor MLG and ranks closed, mum seems to be the word. Red flag after red flag is overlooked and okay with all. This is not the way to improve child welfare in NM.
Some details:
At least half a dozen high-level employees have been reprimanded, resigned or were fired after they raised questions about Binti Inc., the Oakland, California-based tech company now tasked with overhauling the computer system. “I felt like I was doing the right thing by raising these issues, and instead I was let go,” said one of the departed workers who asked not to be named for fear of further retaliation. Some of the employees expressed concerns that Binti had not undergone a proper analysis or review. Others worried whether a company that was little more than a year old when it won the contract could be trusted to modernize one of the state’s most critical and complex systems. Still other staffers questioned why Binti was selected without a competitive bidding process.
CYFD denies any retaliation but:
Two former employees — Debra and Cliff W. Gilmore — filed a whistleblower lawsuit claiming they were wrongfully terminated in part because they asked questions about Binti. The Gilmores, who were hired in late 2020 to fill high-level positions, had both repeatedly questioned the Binti contract, according to CYFD emails.
If there is a wire job for the $16 million contract, here's how it went down, according to an ethics complaint filed with the AG, Auditor and Ethics Commission:
The path to hiring a vendor changed direction in early 2019 when (now CYFD Cabinet Secretary Brian) Blalock and his wife, Linnea Forsythe, were recruited from their jobs in San Francisco to work for Gov. Lujan Grisham, the complaint states. Forsythe became the Long Term Care ombudsman, but has since moved to the post of interim director of the Governor’s Commission on Disability. Months after his appointment as CYFD Cabinet secretary in 2019, Blalock “pressured CYFD staff to contract with a specific vendor, Binti, for New Mexico’s multi-million dollar CCWIS (comprehensive child welfare information services) project,” the complaint states. It also alleges Blalock told a CYFD chief information officer at the time that his wife “is good friends with the owner” of Binti.
Binti’s CEO told the Journal she is not friends with Blalock’s wife, and has met her once, a couple of months ago.
Then there's the Blalock Bockade featuring secret government communications. But that's another story.
This is another disappointing and worrisome corruption allegation coming on the heels of those leveled against the attorney general. Blalock was seen as a star addition to CYFD, bringing a badly needed set of outside eyes to an historically troubled department. Now he is mired in muck and has outlived his effectiveness. MLG has let other cabinet secretaries go for lesser reasons. Can't she pull the trigger and get on with a needed culture change at CYFD?
AG RESPONDS
Attorney General Hector Balderas came with an op-ed response to that ethics complaint filed against him by enviros, including New Energy Economy headed by Mariel Nanasi, over the proposed merger of PNM and Avangrid. However, Balderas does not address the specifics of the corruption allegations made in the complaint that center on his relationship with attorney Marcus Rael from the law firm Robles, Rael & Anaya. Instead Balderas dismisses the complaint as "frivolous:"
The Santa Fe special-interest group opposing the transition took to accusing me of corruption because its principal is so insistent on getting her way, in the face of overwhelming support for the transaction, that she filed a frivolous complaint. This is the same individual who ostracized herself during the passage of the state’s landmark clean-energy legislation, the Energy Transition Act, again because she did not get her way. Let me be clear – this deal will bring hundreds of millions of dollars to New Mexico and actually replace our existing utility with a clean, well-capitalized company, and has centered the needs of Indigenous and poor communities.
The complaint against Balderas filed with the State Ethics Commission and State Auditor asserts that Balderas switched his position in favor of the Avangrid/PNM merger after visits to him by Rael who had been hired by Iberdrola, the parent of Avangrid. Rael's firm has been awarded a number of contracts to handle major cases for the AG's office.
The complaint describes Balderas and Rael as "personal friends." The pair went to UNM Law at the same time and they once practiced law together.
The AG says his shift on Avangrid came because the corporation made consumer-friendly changes to the merger agreement that he negotiated.
It's probably a good time to reiterate that Democrats, by far the state's majority party, don't get thrown out of office for their ideas. They get the swift kick when they bungle management of government and corruption charges--real or alleged--start to stack up. Just sayin'.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021