Readers Ask: Who is Brent Eastwood? Man Who Scorched Ex-Gov. Martinez Over Board Appointment To Daniels Fund Explained, Plus: Inside The Fund: Diane Denish Throws Some Light

Who is Brent Eastwood? That's the question we received from readers after Eastwood scorched Susan Martinez's performance as governor on the Aug. 26 blog in reaction to her appointment to the Board of Directors of the $1.6 billion charitable Daniels Fund. The fund, according to IRS filings, pays directors around $50,000 a year.

Brent Eastwood is not a Democrat, but a conservative Republican who ran afoul of the Martinez administration while supervising international trade in Martinez's Economic Development Department. He joined with another employee to file this whistleblower lawsuit in 2014:

A whistleblower lawsuit filed in state court makes a series of explosive allegations against appointees of Gov. Martinez, accusing high-ranking officials in her administration of public corruption, mismanagement, and intimidation. It claims that officials at the state’s economic development agency engaged in extramarital affairs that could expose the state to sexual harassment charges and that officials tried to silence employees who reported contracting violations and other wrongdoing. . .

Eastwood says the lawsuit was settled for an "undisclosed" amount of money,

Eastwood is a former Army infantry officer, RAND Corporation analyst and book author with a Ph.D in political science who now lives out of state. Eastwood’s wife, Melanie Sanchez-Eastwood, worked as a scheduler on Martinez’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

INSIDE THE FUND

So what about the Daniels Fund, the legacy of Colorado cable billionaire Bill Daniels, brother of prominent NM Democrat Jack Daniels who was the father of Diane Denish, the 2010 Dem Guv nominee defeated by Martinez. How did the fund become dominated by highly partisan Republicans, including Martinez and Hanna Skandera, who is now President of the Fund and who was the controversial Secretary of Public Education under Martinez.

Bill Daniels was a Republican (not a conservative Dem as we labeled him in our initial blog) but as Diane Denish explains he never meant for the fund to veer to the right: 

 Joe, It is an independent and not a family foundation. The original Board members were all designated by Bill--my dad and I were two of them and my dad was chairman until shortly before his death. I left in 2010 as I began my run for Governor. Today, there are only 4 of the original Board members on the 13 member Board that knew Bill. (One of those is Jim Nicholson who is former national RNC Chair). 

The fund has been steering away from Bill's mission for at least 10 years with some Board members steering to the far right and frankly not caring about or adhering to best practices for philanthropy. Highly paid Board members in philanthropy are a glaring example. (I got board fees too and donated all of them to non-profits in NM). 

Bill intentionally created a balance of his Republican and Democratic friends (and relatives) in the original board. In my conversations with him the day before his death in March 2000, he said he didn't intend it to be "political" in nature. At the same time he told me he didn't plan for the money to be used to buy "any damn symphony tickets."

Linda Childears who preceded Skandera as CEO for 15 years left abruptly in March of 2020 after high profile criticism in Colorado and New Mexico of a politically slanted Scholarship Application. Skandera, then a board member, appeared to be waiting in the wings to grab the CEO spot. I wrote about the debacle in the New Mexican. 

The bottom line is not about Martinez -- the bottom line is about continued drift from Bill's original intent and legacy. He was generous, he was kind, he was the epitome of drive by giving. He was a Republican in the sense of the old GOP. Some past and current Board members have steered grants to multiple Catholic causes (Bill was not a Catholic) and the Boy Scouts -- their pet projects along with others. One member had even suggested they partner with (far right radio host) Glen Beck. You get the drift. 

Martinez and Denish 2010

The lesson is this to anyone who has enough money to make a difference: give it away before you go. Don't leave it in the hands of others and hope that they will follow your directive. Sooner rather than later, the money becomes their money not the donor/founder's money. They will try to put a square peg in a round hole and disguise it as donor intent. This is what has happened at Daniels Fund - allowing Skandera to put Martinez on the Board -someone who knows little about philanthropy and needs the Board fees. Am I disappointed? Embarassed for the fund? Yes, but confident I can carry on Uncle Bill's standard of giving and caring without worrying about the dancing duo of Martinez/Skandera. 

Diane Daniels Denish  

Denish was Lt. Governor from 2003-2011. 

CANDELARIA RESPONDS

ABQ Dem Senator Jacob Candelaria, who came under criticism on the Tuesday blog, came with this response to the reference that he received profanity-laced phone calls at his home and criticism of his job performance by Dem Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino:

 . .The state police were called to my home for a death threat. . .You have published. . . that my family received "profanity laden" phone calls with respect to this incident, or other factual allegations to that effect. This factual allegation is demonstrably false. I attach for your reference a copy of the District Court order granting a three year injunction against the white supremicist that made one of the death threats against my husband and I in October/November of last year. . .You have a right to have your own opinions which lead you to dismiss and mimimize a death threat, motivated by racial and homophobic hate, against my family. You do not however have the right to publish false or deliberately misleading factual allegations about the events of that evening. 

It sounds like the senator’s problem is with the New Mexico Human Rights Act which prohibits Senator Stewart from taking any retaliatory action against me or anyone else who has demanded that she be held accountable for her mismanagement of the Rachel Gudgel situation. If Senator Ortiz y Pino does not think that Senator Stewart’s actions to further institutionalize racism and homophobia at the Legislature in that case are acceptable that is fine, but they are not acceptable to me. Way to be a progressive champion, Jerry. 

The ABQ Journal reported that Candelaria received "profanity-laced threatening" phone calls. A link to the court order Candelaria mentions is here. 

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021